Before we start it is worth establishing the fact that no lock, chain or ground anchor is 100% effective. The bottom line is if they want it badly enough, they will take it. Our goal is to make stealing your property such a pain in the behind that a potential thief thinks it’s too much effort and moves onto to something else.
We have a variety of locks, chains and anchors so which is the right choice for you? The first thing to say here, is check with your insurance – this is really important. You must follow their rules or you may potentially be in a position where they do not pay out on a claim because you have not secured your bike appropriately. Velosure for example, specific strength of lock depending on value.
As a general rule, I would always say, the most expensive will take the longest to steal so offer the best deterrent. That said, there are other factors to consider such as weight and length – e.g. our Beast chain weighs 15kg, you’re not going to carry that to the paper shop!
Other factors to consider are things like what is the crime like in your area? Where are you leaving your property? How valuable is it? How attractive to thieves is it? And so on.
I think of the types of thief each Sold Secure lock category will protect against like this:
- Bronze – Opportunist thief, not equipped, just walking past and would take an unlocked bike.
- Silver – Prepared opportunist thief, with small tools, would steal something if the opportunity arose but not particularly well prepared.
- Gold – Determined thief, out with the intention to steal, has a range of tools
- Diamond – Targeted thief, has specifically seen your property and has come with the intention, and prepared, to steal it
Sadly, I’ll say again, if they want it badly enough, they’ll take it. Even a Diamond standard lock etc would withstand grinder attacks for over 90 seconds but wouldn’t hold out forever. Hopefully though, your property isn’t in a position where they could work for a period of time making a lot of noise and a lot of fuss to break the strongest locks.
So, that’s talked a little about the type of person we are trying to protect against so now the next thing to discuss is where your property will be.
- Outside work, public place, lots of people – always, always, always lock to an immoveable object. Since you need to be portable I would use two good locks (standard depending on bike value). One to secure the back end to an immoveable object, one to secure the front. If the locks are to a Gold standard or above, this would mean it’s going to take a good bit of work to break the locks and hopefully would attract enough attention in doing so to be a deterrent.
- At home, in your house – I hear of lots of people that just keep their bikes in their house and don’t lock it. The only barrier then is essentially your front door. I would still lock using a good quality chain or shackle, I might even consider mounting a wall anchor somewhere discrete down by a skirting board so that I can lock my bike to something – depends how understanding your other half is!
- At home, in a garage or shed – as I said earlier, always, always, always lock to an immoveable object so it’s really important, and an insurance requirement in some cases, to fit a ground or wall anchor. Because you don’t need your locks and chains to be portable, you can opt for something much bigger to store at home which I would always advocate because it will be left overnight here when a potential thief would have some undisturbed time to work on breaking your locks. Lock through frames and one chain / anchor can be used for multiple bikes. For example, I have a Diamond lock and chain that go through two bikes with a wall anchor.
It’s a shame this is the world we live in but hopefully if we offer up enough of a detterent we can keep our property safe. One other tip – cover your bike. Use something like our Bike Cover to cover up your bike, it doesn’t attract the attention of a potential thief if they can’t see it!
We are always happy to offer free advice so if you do have any questions please do get in touch using info@warwickshiregroundanchors.co.uk or using our contact page.
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