Disk locks

[SRS]

A good many stolen bikes are ridden away, including mine.

It occurs to me that a small disk lock would prevent this. Any attempt to remove by force would severely damage the disk and make riding difficult.

I am going to buy some, generally small and low in weight. Does anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

Whilst they won't stop the bike being nicked they will at least hinder a crook.

 

[EddiePJ]

Nice idea, and I had previously thought about it myself. I just came to the conclusion that if you are talking about motorcycle disc locks, it wouldn't help. All that the thief would need to do is just drop the wheel out or just undo the disc bolts, which probably wouldn't be much of hindrance to them.

 

[Cyclezee]

A good many stolen bikes are ridden away, including mine.

It occurs to me that a small disk lock would prevent this. Any attempt to remove by force would severely damage the disk and make riding difficult.

I am going to buy some, generally small and low in weight. Does anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

Whilst they won't stop the bike being nicked they will at least hinder a crook.

It could act as an additional deterrent when use along with other security measures.

 

[SRS]

Nice idea, and I had previously thought about it myself. I just came to the conclusion that if you are talking about motorcycle disc locks, it wouldn't help. All that the thief would need to do is just drop the wheel out or just undo the disc bolts, which probably wouldn't be much of hindrance to them.

I did think of that myself but decided that the additional faff and time may be some deterrent.

There are some disk locks with integral alarms, I think I may go for one of these. Handy if I am on a cafe stop. Alarms on first cycle movement.

An alternative I had though of would be one of the "U" type disk locks over the tyre and rim.

Just looking for something small to act as an additional deterrent

 

[EddiePJ]

You would think that it would be easy to suggest something, but I can't.

The extra weight of my Abus chain and lock that I carry around, always frustrates me.

 

[Yamdude]

The fact that bikes and ebikes are light enough to pick up and walk away with, I cant see that a disclock would be any deterrent at all to a thief. A bike has to be locked to something immovable like railing or a lamp post.

I have used disclocks on my motorcycles sometimes, although there was one time I forgot it was on there. The first I knew about it was when I went sailing over the handlebars after pulling away.

 

[EddiePJ]

Handy hint with m/c disc locks.
Put the key into the end of a short length of bright coloured silicon tube. You then have to remove the key from the tube to lock the bike, and at the same time place the tube over the end of the brake lever. You just reverse the process when you return to the bike.

It's quick and simple and saves much embarrassment.

 

[Yamdude]

Handy hint with m/c disc locks.
Put the key into the end of a short length of bright coloured silicon tube. You then have to remove the key from the tube to lock the bike, and at the same time place the tube over the end of the brake lever. You just reverse the process when you return to the bike.

It's quick and simple and saves much embarrassment.

Yes, after that incident I always did similar..... I had the tube over the disclock key, then when the disclock was attatched the tube went over my ignition key. Thus I couldn't start the bike without removing the tube from the ignition key.
Nowadays it doesn't matter anyway, as I don't use disclocks anymore.

 

[RobF]

Just looking for something small to act as an additional deterrent

There are quite a few small cable locks with an alarm.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MINI-LOCK-ALARM-BIKE-CYCLE-SNOWBOARD-SKI-SECURITY-CABLE-WIRE-PADLOCK-SIREN-/250991674157?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

 

[SRS]

The fact that bikes and ebikes are light enough to pick up and walk away with, I cant see that a disclock would be any deterrent at all to a thief. A bike has to be locked to something immovable like railing or a lamp post.

I have used disclocks on my motorcycles sometimes, although there was one time I forgot it was on there. The first I knew about it was when I went sailing over the handlebars after pulling away.

Yes, goes without saying that the bike needs locking to an immovable object.

As always, a bike can be carried but more often that not they are ridden off. How far would a thief carry a bike, my guess is round the corner before riding off.

 

[Yamdude]

Yes, goes without saying that the bike needs locking to an immovable object.

As always, a bike can be carried but more often that not they are ridden off. How far would a thief carry a bike, my guess is round the corner before riding off.

I guess it comes down to how much faith you put in a disclock being a deterrent..... myself personally, i'll stick to carrying a U Lock that can be locked to street furniture.

 

[SRS]

Seems to be some misunderstanding.

I was not suggesting that anyone abandon their regular security, "D" lock and or chain.

But the addition to the above of a disk lock in the event that the above are overcome.
Should this happen as in may case, the thief could not ride away into the sunset. I appreciate that he could of course still carry the bike away.

 

[Yamdude]

Seems to be some misunderstanding.

I was not suggesting that anyone abandon their regular security, disk lock and or chain.

But the addition to the above of a disk lock in the event that the above are overcome.
Should this happen as in may case, the thief could not ride away into the sunset. I appreciate that he could of course still carry the bike away.

Ah, I see what you mean now..... obviously more locks the better.

 

[Yamdude]

If you are going to use a disclock in combination with other locks....... I remember a motorcycle magazine called 'Ride' doing testing on disclocks a few years ago. The disclock that was hardest to break open was one of those circular stainless steel padlocks that cost about a fiver.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Most bike thieves use small tools, like hack-saws and bolt croppers, to break the lock and ride the bike away. If anybody plans a theft of your bike, and they get a chance to study it first to come back with the correct tools, little will protect your bike. Nobody takes any notice of alarms - check out all the Youtube videos. A decent disc lock will provide extra protection against the ride-away thief, but an uncroppable roller or D-lock will mean that one wouldn't be necessary.

 

[Backin5]

I've just been sorting out how to best protect my shiney new Neo, and after consideration I've not bothered with a disc lock.

I've gone with: 70cm Almax and Squire padlock through frame to something immovable, my old cable lock securing the front wheel, and a bit of thin steel cable and doggy on the saddle.

It doesn't sound it, but it's actually quite low profile, like the bike. Obviously I also take the controller off.

So for me it's a no on the disk lock.

 

[SRS]

Most bike thieves use small tools, like hack-saws and bolt croppers, to break the lock and ride the bike away. If anybody plans a theft of your bike, and they get a chance to study it first to come back with the correct tools, little will protect your bike. Nobody takes any notice of alarms - check out all the Youtube videos. A decent disc lock will provide extra protection against the ride-away thief, but an uncroppable roller or D-lock will mean that one wouldn't be necessary.

Dave, in my theft an alarm would have woken me during the theft and I'd still have my bike.

I thought my Newyork Fahgettaboutit could not be cropped but it went along with the bike as did my cable lock.

I now have amongst other things a 19mm case hardened chain, hopefully this cannot be cut so readily.
My thinking behind any type of alarm would be an alert to myself. I realise that others would ignore.

 

[EddiePJ]

The below may not make any sense with me trying to explain but here goes anyway....

I'm sure that it wouldn't take much of an engineer to fabricate a fold up lock system that could when needed unfold to form a T shape hinged box, that would slide over the handle bar stem vertically and attach somewhere at the base of the fork tube frame section. It could then be locked to prevent the bike from being steered.

 

[SRS]

The below may not make any sense with me trying to explain but here goes anyway....

I'm sure that it wouldn't take much of an engineer to fabricate a fold up lock system that could when needed unfold to form a T shape hinged box, that would slide over the handle bar stem vertically and attach somewhere at the base of the fork tube frame section. It could then be locked to prevent the bike from being steered.

I guess all things are possible, size and weight are the usual constraints

Decent locks weight a ton, I have one or two permanenty
locked at regular haunts.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Dave, in my theft an alarm would have woken me during the theft and I'd still have my bike.

Yes, that's true. I really meant when parking your bike in a public place, where you can't hear it yourself.

My house is surrounded by CCTv cameras with big arrays of red-glowing LEDs that shine like ray-guns. I think they tend to put off would-be thieves.