There are over 300,000 bike thefts a year in the UK with ebikes being three times more likely to be stolen than a regular bike. The sad fact is that you cannot do anything to guarantee the safety of your bike but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it as difficult as possible for any would be thief.
With the increasing cost of fuel, ebikes are an attractive alternative to cars for commuting but this means leaving them in public.
Below we have listed our top tips for making your bike as hard to steal as possible and therefore, hopefully, making any prospective thief move on to easier prey.
Table of Contents
Lock it
The first point seems obvious but this is more about thinking about the quality of lock. Some locks are literally useless and can be cut with a pair of scissors. Like most things, you get what you pay for to an extent.
Sold Secure are a not-for-profit, independent testing house here in Rugby. They certify locks as either bicycle bronze, silver, gold or more recently diamond. For obvious reasons they do not give specific details for their testing procedures but our Sold Secure Ratings Explained blog gives you an idea.
Essentially, the higher rated lock, the longer it will take a thief to break. I would also go for the highest rated lock you can afford, or even two – remember the only thing you can do is to make your bike look like such a pain to steal that the thief decides to nick something easier.
Two gold rated locks, such as the Oxford Shackle, would provide quite a challenge to destroy without breaking the bank. These come with the added bonus that they have a long cord making it easier to lock to an immoveable object.
Location
Where you lock your bike is super important too. If it’s not visible and if people do not know it is there, they are not going to try to steal it. I would always suggest using a bike cover too purely so no-one can see you bike – it cannot attract a thief if they can’t see it.
The next part of location is what you lock it to. You bike has to be locked to an immoveable object – preferably something stronger than your lock, not like a chain fence that they could easily cut through. Think like a thick lamp post, purpose build bike racks and things like that.
At home, most insurance companies will insist on an immoveable object – being locked in your garage / shed / front room is not enough. Velosure for example would need a picture of how you lock your bike at home. If it is not locked to an immoveable object like a ground or wall anchor with an appropriate level of lock, they would refuse to pay any theft claim.
It sounds terrible, but lock your bike next to lots of others too. If there is a bike with a cheap combination lock next to your Gold rated u-lock, which are they going to take?
Maximum Destruction
Sometimes an opportunistic thief may steal a bike to get home quicker but this wouldn’t happen if you have locked your bike with a lock of any reasonable standard. So, we have to assume your bike is being targeted to be sold. In that case, we don’t want them to be able to take it without causing serious damage and therefore significantly reducing any money they can sell it for.
If you’ve locked it to something stronger than your bike frame with a good strong lock, are they going to cut through your frame to steal your bike? If the components are worth a lot, maybe, but this sounds like a lot of work and a thief would most like pick something easier.
If you’ve placed your lock tight to the frame in a hard to reach place, are they going to damage the frame if they are trying to cut through the lock with a grinder? If they can’t sell it, there’s no point it stealing it. This goes for using a chain too – make sure it is wrapped tight to the bike with no slack so they can’t pull it away from the bike to cut through it.
Need Advice?
You can enter your bike value in the sidebar to get an idea of products that would be suitable for your bike. That said, I would always go for the best lock I could afford.
If you would like to talk to us about your needs, we offer free advice and can talk through where you keep your bike, value etc etc to recommend the best solution. Either call on XXXX email using or fill in the form below and we’ll get back to you ASAP.