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  • Garage Cycle Security – Tips and Kit
  • SSB_UK
    Free Member

    There seem to have been a few threads about bikes being stolen recently, many of which seem to have been stolen from garages or sheds.

    I’m looking at beefing up security at home and have done a little reading up, googling and even chatting on the phone with people in the know. I’ve found information on other forums which I think people here will benefit from.

    For instance:

    Locks and Chains:

    London Fixed Gear and Single Speed – Locks that Work – recommended locks

    Ground anchors:

    The Y anchor – I think this is a cracking design and worth considering installing at home (assuming you don’t mind doing some concreting). The larger version can accommodate multiple chains for several bikes.

    Hardie – Good quality ground anchors. Speaking to Alex at Almax (chains) he recommended siting close to a wall, presumably to make it more difficult to attack or lever.

    Other Tips – credit to Alex at Almax for many of these:

    For D / U or shackle type locks:
    [*]try and ensure there is as little space as possible to attack the lock – you need at least the width of a tennis ball to get a small bottle jack in to spread a lock.[/*]
    [*]Opt for one with at least 16mm+ bars.[/*]
    [*]Lock with the lock facing downward, to reduce ability for glue or corrosive fluid to be introduced into the lock[/*]

    Security in the Garage or Shed:
    [*]Electricity and Alarm – if you have electricity in your shed or garage, you can use this to install a shed / garage alarm with PIR sensor[/*]
    [*]Install a digital baby monitor – with the transmitter in the garage and receiver in your house, you are more likely to hear your alarm and attempts to gain access and defeat your locks[/*]
    [*]Install a ground anchor and lock your bikes to it[/*]
    [*]Also lock multiple bikes together – making removing a single bike difficult[/*]

    Perhaps if other people have ideas, they could add them.

    SSB_UK
    Free Member
    thepurist
    Full Member

    Accept that you can only deter the casual thief, a targeted attack will probably succeed. Get good insurance, stop worrying.

    DaveGr
    Free Member

    All good stuff but my take on it

    Step 1 – insure the bikes and make sure that your locks etc. meet their minimum standards. Therefore you get paid if anything happens.

    Step 2- look at your house / garden as zones. Look at stopping people at the outermost zones if possible. Security fencing round the house maybe a bit OTT but nice thorny hedge in places is good. You might have a solid gate but access via your neighbours property and then over the fence is easy….how can you stop that?

    Step 3 onwards – spend as much as you want to so you sleep easy at night.

    Oh, and remove power tools like angle grinders from the garage – at least make them bring the tools to steal the bikes rather than them using yours….

    albino
    Free Member

    After having my garage broken into and a couple of bikes stolen I’d say there are some good ideas on here. Have to agree with DaveGr and say that good insurance is important – if someone has specifically targetted you and wants the bike the chances are they will get it. I’d highly recommend M&S insurance as they were excellent at paying out on mine with the minimum of fuss. Definitley keep as many receipts as possible as record all frame/serial numbers.

    Something you might want to think of if you have a detached garage with a tiled roof, is some kind of method to prevent entry through it. The scrotes who broke into mine just took the tiles off the roof and kicked through the batons and felt. Despite having a PIR in there as part of my alarm system, it only covered the main point of entry – the door. The alarm didn’t sound until they were making their escape. (Needless to say, it has now been seriously beefed up!)

    Without being too blatant here’s a link to a new and unused wireless alarm system which I put up on the classifieds a couple of weeks ago. More detailss here:
    http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-ot-new-wireless-house-alarm-response-alarms-sa5-1

    kaiser
    Free Member

    Thanks SSB…… great effort and some good stuff in there

    big_n_daft
    Free Member

    don’t share picturs of it on the t’interweb

    http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/show-us-your-shedsgarages

    Cheeky-Monkey
    Free Member

    Some good info and products to be had on here:

    http://www.torc-anchors.com/security-chains.php

    I’ve had an 11mm chain cropped using 42″ croppers during a burglary, however, I think that was mostly down to my poor placement of chain (too close to the ground so they could get good leverage on the croppers) and the fact that one chain secured all the bikes (one link cut and take your pick of 7). Plus once they were in they had the garage as cover so they were out of site and noise was muffled.

    Now alarmed with a PID linked to the house system. Trembler on the door. Upgrading to two 13mm chains. Dusk til dawn lioghting around side and back of house. I’m sure they could still nick stuff but at least it’ll be harder.

    I funking hate burglars and theives 😛

    si-wilson
    Free Member

    I have just got myself a load of kit from here http://www.torc-anchors.com/torc-ground-anchor.php after having my own shed cleared out after getting to complacent.

    A ground anchor and GOOD chain is and padlock is very important. They will really struggle to cut through a GOOD chain and padlock. Line your sheds to give a bit more protection, use decent thickness ply if you can, make sure all bolts are coach style bolts, and use a couple of good quality hasp and padlocks on the doors. Just as important, dont advertise where your kit is, im pretty sure i was done over by someone knowing that i had bikes through one of the many forums i frequent.

    SSB_UK
    Free Member

    I’d be interested to hear how manageable 13mm and larger chains are for securing bikes – I keep thinking they’ll be too unwieldy to secure wheel and frame. I think the 2m 13mm chain on Torc is about 9 or 10 kg.

    si-wilson
    Free Member

    I have just got a 16mm chain and Squire s60 padlock, and it is very heavy but i dont care, they are not egtting my bikes again, not easliy anyway.

    Cheeky-Monkey
    Free Member

    I had 5m of 11mm and TBH it was a right PITA to handle. However, I’ll be replacing / supplementing it with 2No. 2.5m long 13mm chains each with Squire shielded hasp padlocks.

    I fully anticipate they’ll be heavy but hopefully a bit more manageable than the previous 5m length. Also going to hang them all higher in the garage so the scrotes can’t get leverage on croppers off the floor.

    I really hate burglars.

    DT78
    Free Member

    Just came across this – my chain (kyrptonite) lasts 30 seconds 🙁

    http://www.almax-security-chains.co.uk/index.asp?pg=19

    Luckily I think it will be quite unlikely they could get that amount of purchase on the chain. Still shows how important putting the chain so they can’t leverage off the floor is.

    I’ve heard that thieves sometimes just take a hacksaw to the frame. Often the bike is still rideable (away from the scene)

    Simon
    Full Member

    No matter what security precautions you take, a determined and well equipped thief will get what they want, it’ll just take them a little longer.
    The worrying thing is that many of the bike thefts I hear about on here (and from friends) is that they appear to be targeted, the thieves know there are bikes in a shed/garage before they break in.

    Locks and chains and alarms will deter casual theives though.

    Best thing to do is make sure your belongings are properly insured.

    konaboy2275
    Free Member

    We ahd a speight of thefts last year and our garage was attmpted. They didn’t get past the up and over luckily but did bend it enough that it had to be replaced. It was a Hormann with 4 point locking and a reinforced frame. I have replaced it like for like but got on with the corrugation running verticaly so it’s harder to bend and put a door defender on the bottom. If we go away I also block the door with the other car so it can’t be ram raided easily which I’ve heard happens. I also leave my sacrifical cheap commuter unlocked so if they ever get in hopfully they’ll not take my better bikes and settle for the easy option. I also have an alarm on the garage now and a wall anchor which two oxford motorbike chains. And a dog. And a baseball bat. And M&S insurance.

    Was also looking at a few of these:

    http://www.henrykrank.com/alarm_mine.html

    (at face level with a load of carpet tacks taped to the end of them. As you might guess I don’t like thieving sh1t bags…)

    rootes1
    Full Member

    strengthen the door and the frame in particular how the frame is secured to the floor and walls.

    worth fitting Pacri bolts

    http://www.locksonline.co.uk/acatalog/Garage_Door_Locks.html

    better and less obvious that padlocks and hasps

    The worrying thing is that many of the bike thefts I hear about on here (and from friends) is that they appear to be targeted, the thieves know there are bikes in a shed/garage before they break in.

    too right back in the early 90’s there were lots of bikes going missing from club members in the Mid Shropshire wheelers…. turned out to be a club member… knew all the bikes and where they were stored… scum bag

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    I hear on good authority that a dog is often one of the best deterants.

    incognito
    Free Member

    Konaboy, you’ll get put away if you injure a thief with a booby trap like that.

    Cheeky-Monkey
    Free Member

    Have a dog. Absolutely f-all use when house was burgled last year and when they did the garage this summer. Alarms, locks and chains all far better, don’t need feeding, incur vet’s bills or have to pick up their crap 😉

    A tip for the Pragmasis chains; buy extra locks so you can effecively chain several together on the one length of chain but the scrotes have to cut a link to “free” each bike. Helpful folks that sell that stuff.

    konaboy2275
    Free Member

    Konaboy, you’ll get put away if you injure a thief with a booby trap like that.

    That’s the downside, me and a mate were on about this the other week and we came up with arming the terminally ill to take out as many scrotes as they could in their remaining few weeks…. 😈

    Our dog wasn’t much use when we got robbed as being licked to death by a Spaniel isn’t that scary however next doors 12 stone rottweiler / alsation cross would put them off I think (even though that would probably lick them to death too!).

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    Never said dogs were any good, just that they can be a deterant.

    EDIT : – 😉 (sorry, should have had the smilie on there before)

    Cheeky-Monkey
    Free Member

    They might be although in my case certainly weren’t.

    Hey ho, burglars are the fcukers, not us discussing it 😎

    DaveGr
    Free Member

    Chains – there is a big difference in weight and size between the 13mm and 16mm Pragmasis chains / padlocks. IMO a short 16mm would be OK through the frame only but a 13mm 2m would be easier to handle on a day to day basis and if you were to put it through any wheels.

    Re mines, spikes on gates etc. Only read up on this briefly but you need to provide a “duty of care” (?) for people on your premises even if they’re uninvited – looked at spiked on top of gates and they sell signs to put up so people know they’re there. But I’m sure the whole area is a minefield of legislation.

    SSB_UK
    Free Member

    I spoke to my local Police and they’re setting me up with a Smartwater kit free of charge – people might want to check whether this is something their police force will offer. There had been a spate of thefts from farms and rural businesses in our area and the smartwater packs were purchased for distribution to those businesses in the first instance. I’ve read that some parish councils and neighbourhood watch schemes have also got packs.

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