How To Lock Your Bike In Town Urban Bike Security Guide

Having your mountain bike stolen is about the worst thing that can happen to any of us mountain bikers. If you're going to lock your bike up in public, you better make sure it's really, really secure. Now, we're going to show you just how vulnerable the mountain bike is, and we're going to show you how to make your bike as secure and safe as possible. Even when your bike is locked up, it is not safe. Any lock can technically be broken, whether that's cut, smashed, picked, or prized open. Really, the key to your bike getting nicked is how easy you leave it open for a thief to take. I'm going to try something out here. I'm actually going to try and steal my own bike just to prove a point to you. Let's see how that goes. Yes, you might wonder why I'm wearing a bright yellow vest and not wearing, say, a dark inconspicuous looking hooded top. Well, my theory is thieves don't care, latency is the best policy. They go straight up to whatever they want, and they take it. Well, I thought I'd try and do the same thing. Looks like the coast is fairly clear to go in and blatantly steal my own bike. Well, that was fairly easy, and no one even looked twice, to be honest. All right, so a little bit of a disclaimer. I used a really cheap, nasty lock to do this. The bolt croppers, they're good for an 8mm bolt. You could probably do 12 with these with a bit of hard work. The point is, I just wanted to demonstrate I could just walk up and take my bike. No one paid any attention, whatever. Of course, there's different situations for this, and you might have seen Casey Neistat on his YouTube channel making a lot more noise and still drawing no attention. I just want to emphasize the point, it's about taking a bike in public. Whatever you do, you've got to lock it up properly. Let's go back to the studio and have a look at some proper locks before we show you how to use them. Now, step one to keeping your bike safe, clearly, is by investing in a decent quality lock. Now, you've got to think how much your bike is worth. If it's something that you really love, then you want to take care of it. A couple hundred quid on a lock, relatively speaking, isn't a lot of money to spend, but you could spend 10 quid on a lock. That's entirely up to you. I would always spend the most amount possible and get the best possible lock, if not get multiple locks. I'm just going to take you through some of the styles of locks available on the market and what they're good at and what they're not good at. First up, let's look at the classic D-lock. These are really familiar as bicycle locks. I'll take on the profile of a D, basically, put it on the side. This particular one is made by Abus. We've got a selection here, you might notice, by different brands. We've got some Kryptonite locks, we've got some Abus locks, and we've also got some hip locks. Each of them have their own quirks and their own individuality that's going to suit different types of user. Now, this is granite. This is super heavy-duty. It's a really heavy lock. Excellent for locking your bike absolutely anywhere, corrosion-resistant, all that stuff. The problem is it's extremely heavy. It's not the sort of lock you're going to want to mount on your bike. You don't really want to carry this around in your bag. These are things you do need to take into account with any type of lock. This, perhaps, would be best based for you could use it at home, although we always say that chain locks are better at home, really, because you can do more with them. These might be good, perhaps, if you lock your bike up somewhere permanent every day, like a train station, for example, if you're a commuter, or if you have a bike rack at your office or your place of work, for example. You can leave these outside because they're corrosion-resistant and, generally, nothing is going to phase a lock like this. You might also notice something in particular with this lock, the granite, has a square profile to it. The square profile does make it extremely cut-resistant because you have to cut through both sides. You can't just cut through one and then twist your way free. That said, if you even cut through something that thick, you're a bit of a hero because that is an insanely strong type of lock. D-locks do come in much smaller sizes like these. Now, the good thing about smaller sizes is they are very portable. This one actually has a belt clip on it. It's by Hiplock, a company that specialize in wearable locks, so it's quite a cool concept. This is also a highly secure lock. It's rated, sold secured, gold, so basically the highest rating you can get for a lock. A very secure shackle on that. It's nice and thick. To a degree, actually, a smaller size shackle like this, although it's to use on a bike depending where you lock your bike up. It's actually more resistant to a lot of the methods that thieves might use to cut in. Little bottle jacks that go into lever locks apart, you're not really going to get one in a lock like this. Provided you could use this on your bike and where you lock your bike, it could be a good idea for you. You can get some compact other options in new locks as well. This one by Kryptite, for example, also has an extension on it. It just goes to show you can use this in a slightly different way despite the fact it's quite small. It has the benefit of a bigger lock in a smaller, more compact size. You also get some options that come with cable extensions. This is a fantastic idea. In an ideal world, you want to be locking your main frame to the object, and preferably, if you can link your wheels in in any way, it stops you having to remove them from the bike. Basically, you can increase the protection you have by locking more of your bike. Here we have some solutions for those that travel light with basically want a compact setup. These are folding locks. Like all locks, you can get these in different standards. This one is actually quite a lightweight one, very light. You can fit this inside your bag, even in your pocket, and it gives you quite a good amount of security. They do make incredibly heavy duty versions of the same thing as well, which are very strong, very effective. Because of the shapes of them, you're not limited to where you can lock a bike, which, of course, is something we're going to get to later in the video. That's actually very important. You need to know the capabilities of a lock. I've got some lighter options here as well before we go on to chain locks. By no means should you be using something like these on their own. These are a good deterrent. They're great for using, for example, on the bike rack of your car to make sure your bike is locked to it. These particular ones are essentially metal locking cable ties. I actually carry a couple of these permanently just on my bag on my daily to work because they can be very useful for those little coffee stops. Certainly, only in places where you can see your bike, you can touch your bike, you just might cast your eye away for a second. Don't ever take a lightweight lock like this or even this little combo lock here from Abus. Don't take that as an alternative to a properly secure lock. These are just a little extra you can carry when you're out riding, just as a little deterrent, but deterrent is the key there. Now, of course, there's chain locks. These things weigh an absolute ton. They're so strong. They're made of toughened steel. They have locking mechanisms that are pick-proof. They're acid-proof. They're just about everything-proof. The penalty you have for carrying a lock like this is they weigh a ton. Even in a rucksack, they swing around all over the place. You have to consider where you use them. This is why I recommend chain locks for using at home or perhaps in a more permanent basis like you would do with something like the heavier-duty D-locks. There is a halfway house. Now, Hiplock make chain locks that you can actually wear like a belt. They do them in different ratings. This is a lighter-duty one. This meets sold secure silver. They also have a heavy-duty one like a gold standard. This is a seriously heavy piece of kit. For the locking mechanism itself, you can actually wear it like a belt buckle and actually clip this thing around your waist. It has reflective detailing on it so you can ride your bike with that around your waist. Admittedly, it's a heavy lock, but when it's on your waist, it's surprisingly manageable. Actually, the reassurance you get of having a heavy-duty chain is great. You're also not limited in where you use it. If you lock your bike up in a variety of places, perhaps a chain lock is a good option for you. Despite what level of protection you've got in terms of a lock, the place you pick to lock up your bike is just as important. For example, just coming into a little alleyway here, you might think a place like this is quite good. You've got a nice secure railing here you can lock your bike to, but a problem with this is it's off the beaten track. This would give any opportunist thief the chance to get to work on your lock. If you've got a high-quality lock, they're going to be using angle grinders and anything that makes a bit of noise. If you're making it easier for them by not being in a public eye, that is not a good look. Let's have a look at some other examples of places to avoid. There's plenty of bike loops here. A lot of people use this place for locking a bike. You might think that it's actually a really good place to lock a bike, but you'd be completely wrong. This is actually a really bad place to lock a bike. The reason for that, there's so many bikes here. It's a real easy place for a chance a thief to come along and have a go at your bike and just blend in with what's going on. The latest thing we're hearing at GMBN and GMBN Tech is that thieves are taking a place of would-be delivery riders. They've got a big delivery bags and they come into places like this. They're bending down to simulate unlocking a bike, but they're actually having a go at it with bolt croppers or whatever they have. Then they just ride away on the said bike. Like I say, blatancy is the best policy. That's exactly what thieves do. Again, just to emphasize other areas that are questionable to lock your bike up. Train station is a great example. Sometimes you're forced to do that. If you're going to have to lock your bike up near a train station, one of those mass ranks of bikes, make sure it can be near CCTV where it can be seen. You really want basically any opportunity for thieves to have the least chance of getting to work on your bike. Basically, you want to make them nick someone else's bike, not your bike. That's the name of the game. When locking bikes up in town centers, there is one final thing you want to be aware of. That's locking your bike up if you're locking it for an evening, for example, near anywhere where there's rowdy sorts of nightlife. We've all seen bikes at some point have been locked up and they've been trampled on, the wheels buckled. That's because unfortunately, they're in a bad place. It's not the owner's fault. It's the nightlife and the rowdiness and all that stuff. Just be sensible about where you lock your bike up. Right where I'm stood here is actually a pretty good place. You've got a nice solid railing, which means there's multiple points to lock your bike to. You can get it nice and close by lifting the bars over that railing. It's right near a main road, so there's constant traffic, which is going to put off a thief. As you can probably see behind me, there's plenty of people walking around. It's definitely a good contender for locking a bike up. Let's have a quick look at the options and the styles and the way that you would lock a bike up. I'm going to use this as a great example. Wherever you lock your bike up, there's a lot of options with the locks that you pick and how you can use them. Nice secure railing. I've got the D-lock going around the railing, looping around the back wheel inside the rear triangle of the bike. That is key, because of the fact it can't be removed from the bike. I've also got an additional security cable. That's a Kryptonite one. I've got that looped around the fork and the front wheel back onto itself and onto the lock. That is the bike really quite secure at this location. I've got a handlebar just resting over the top, it's nice and tight up against it. Hopefully, no one will mess with that. If you don't happen to have an extension cable with you, but you do have a nice big lengthy lock like that, I'm going to show you a cool little trick that I like to use just to add an extra layer of security. This doesn't always work and you can annoy people if you do this in certain places, but this railing works quite well for it. Lifting the bike over the railing, it's actually hanging basically over the height of a car over a road and using the lock to secure it there in the same way that it would on the pavement side. The fact that the bike is on the other side of the railing makes it much harder to work on. If it's hard to work on, it's going to take time to steal the bike and it's far less likely to be worked on. It's a nice little hack that I like to use quite often. A bike loop like this is purpose-built for locking a bike too. This one is actually in a perfect place. It's a fairly busy area. There's lots of public seating everywhere, lots of people enjoying coffees and sandwiches and the like. It's really a bad place for a thief to spend any amount of time working on a bike. He's going to be seen or she's going to be seen nicking the bike. This is a great place, but a few things you need to bear in mind. Obviously, you've got your lock. A smaller lock like this will actually do the job perfectly here. You have to make sure you lock your bike up in a way that it's not going to accidentally slide and remove your paintwork. Now, I like to rest mine on the crank. Just for example, if I lift my back here, it's actually got the weight of the bike on the pedal on the crank and I can put the lock around it and hold it to the post. It's going to be pretty secure, but again, your front wheel will still be vulnerable. It's up to you if you want to chance that or if you want to connect it to the bike using an extension lock. If you get to a post like this and the only available room is the other side of one that's already being used, have a little look and a bit of a think about it. Look at the style of bike. If it's an old clunker like this thing here, look how it's been locked and how it's treated. Are they likely to let their bike slip onto yours or not take good care of yours when they unlock theirs? It's something definitely worth considering. The bike on the other side, I wouldn't feel too bad about. It's a Trek by the looks of it. It's got kryptonite lock on it and it's got an extension cable, which suggests that the owner of that bike cares about their bike and they might hopefully care about yours. Just take that into account when you're actually locking yours up, but the same rules apply. Go for the maximum security you can. In this case, I could use the hip lock, no problem. I could use a kryptonite D-lock or I could go whole hog and use that crazy ABUS lock, but that's a heavier thing to lug around. Got to have what suits you, but as far as places to lock a bike go, this is a great location. Something I've not touched on too far in this video yet is the way that thieves break locks. There's various different ways. The common ones are picking a lock mechanism, but thankfully, most locks these days, certainly the gold secure ones, are pretty much pick-proof, at least to the point of getting your bike away quickly. It's a job that takes a bit of time. The next one is they can freeze them and smash them with a hammer, but a really heavy-duty shackle and a lock is going to resist that quite a lot, which leaves three other options. Using a bottle jack. A bottle jack is only used in the case of some sort of D-lock, in which case you couldn't get one in there because that's a compact lock. Therefore, that compact lock with the extension is a great idea for urban environments. The bigger a U-lock is or a D-lock is, the bigger problem you could have with that sort of attack. The other ones, of course, are bolt croppers. Bolt cropper is not going to come close to something like that. You're going to need massive ones and an enormous guy to be able to actually cut through that. Bolt croppers really will only do cables, although they do, as you've seen earlier, make a cable look like a bit of butter, really. Be cautious of using that sort of stuff. The final type, of course, will be an angle grinder attack. Any angle grinder attack is likely to happen when they need to get a good purchase on it. Doing it on the top tube there, that's not a good place for it. If you were to use something like a heavy-duty chain, make sure the chain, at any point, isn't near the ground. You want it to be high up as possible. If it's on the ground, they've got somewhere to work on it. The same thing really applies to being able to use big cutters and croppers. You need to use a lot of leverage with them sometimes. I have one arm on the ground and the other arm pushing down on it. Just take into account where the lock is when you're actually locking it on your bike. You've probably noticed I haven't got a lock on my bike, but I'm just having a cheeky mid-ride coffee. I've got my Garmin bike alarm on. The cool thing about that is it means that if anyone does tamper with the bike, then hopefully the alarm's going to go off and it's going to stop me. Chris, it's not even an e-bike, mate. Well, there you go. That's pretty effective. I'm just going to turn it off from the app. Here and there, you're just going to have to stop and take a chance. What I've done is flip my bike upside down and changed it into a hard gear, basically. What happens is if someone gets on the bike and goes to pedal away, it's, Chris, what? That happens. What are you doing, mate? It's an e-bike. Bring it back. Those EMBN boys, they're just desperate for a proper mountain bike. What can I say? Absolute last resort, if you want that cheeky coffee stop, I actually use my helmet as a bit of a lock. What I've done, I've just put it around the back wheels. If someone moves it, it's going to skid and they're not really going to go very fast. Just go back to EMBN, go on, and let that be a lesson to you. On a serious note, don't use any of these. Don't rely on these things. What you really need is a good solid lock and lock your bike up properly. There you go. I've just proved the point that wherever you lock your bike up is not invincible, but you can minimize the risks by using a really good selection of locks, locking up sensibly, and choosing where you lock up your bike. Hopefully, that has been helpful for you. For a couple more videos along the same lines, click over here if you want to see how to install a ground anchor, which in my opinion, absolutely essential for home. Click up there for all the home security tips you can imagine, CCTV, insurance, all of that stuff. Hopefully, you found this video entertaining at least. Hopefully, it's some good information for you. Give us a thumbs up and make sure you click that subscribe button and, of course, the little notification bell too, so you'll get a notification every time we put a video up. I'm off to work. See you later. I flipped my bike upside down, changed it into a gear. Basically, if someone gets on it, the gear's all going to mess up. It's not going to. Chris, Chris, it's not even an e-bike, mate.