Bike fear

So i'm in the process of building my fixed gear...

It started out as a junker...and has since evolved into a money pit of a bike, that I 'm putting a lot of hard work and effort into...
stripping the paint from the frame, getting it resprayed, getting wheels built, buying new components, buying certiain tools... etc etc...

So when the time comes to take this bad boy out on the road I honestly think i'm going to have real fear of leaving it anywhere. I mean it's one thing to buy an expensive bike and have it nicked... but it's another thing to build a bike from scratch and have some tyke ride away on it...especially in London..

I was just wondering what do you guys do to protect your good bikes, and it's components.. I'm going to buy an expensive lock, but I fear my bike being stripped while i'm in tescos getting milk.

Lock it where you can see it. And/or check on it every few minutes.

that's the nature of having a beautiful bike in london. that fear won't go away, but all you can do is to make sure that you get the appropriate locks (pitlock, d-lock, whatever) to keep it as safe as possible.

speaking of pitlocks, they are good for protecting your front/rear wheels and your seatpost. i know london fields cycles has them in stock and a mate of mine uses it on his front wheel and seatpost and he seems pretty content with its effectiveness.

remember that the bike can serve two functions:
1) eyecandy
2) transportation

if you're really worried about it being stripped, then perhaps build a beater bike?

To stop it getting stripped:

1) Pitlock front and seat post - don't bother with the rear because you can put your lock through it anyway
2) Pitlock aheadset bolt, if you have a aheadset.
3) Glue ball bearings in the stem bolts for the
a) handlebars
b) bolt that attaches the seat post to the saddle

And to be extra safe, you could get a cable to go round your u lock and saddle as well. the ball bearings can easily be removed with a small centre punch or chisel or other pointy object, but how many thieves carry those with them?

don't lock it to anything less than 3 or 4 inches thick either, and don't bother with chains - they can be easily be broken with a pair of good bolt croppers.

Luckily, with fixies/ss there isn't much to be nicked. Different story if you've got mechs, shifters, etc.

Hang onto that saddle.. spotted at Smithfield Nocturne..

great seatstay bridge

he made his own bike,
its alovely beast

Yeah I saw the chain/seatstay trick on the MAKE video podcast...nice idea

ok getting back to scurity...use 2 d locks one for your fron and one for your back wheel, so the thieves would not even get the chance to try to twist the lock, use a cable for your seat and maybe cove the saddle with a plastic bag, it makes it look a bit cheap and doesn't really catch the eye, but i use a cable on one bike and one the other i had some wax melted in the allen key hole, and an inner tube wrapped around the post.
Try to lock your bike near others and leave it where you can see it, there is nothing worst than having that bad feeling and not being able to check out your baby.

I think you really need two bikes in London.
1) Blacked up/taped/inner tubed oil dog - for locking up outside the cinema/dodgy club for x hours at night
2) Sparkling wedge eater - for when you don't even need a lock because your eyes never leave it.

I just spent a shit load of time money and thought building up my beauty - not locking it no where no how...

Now.. where i can get one of those motion sensing machine guns like in Aliens?

I'm with you on that - or pack the tubes with plastic explosive and
a radio controlled detonator. Just remember to avoid the bigger potholes...

am i making it up or can you get a cable alarm system for your bike?
a bit like a rape-alarm-on-a-rope

what - you mean something that goes off if you stretch or break the cable?
that's not a bad idea, though it better not sound like a car alarm or nobody
will take any notice of it. be good if you could record your own alarm, eg,
in your best falsetto, 'help, i'm being stolen!'

or FUCK YOU STOP TRYING TO RAPE MY BIKE, again in your best falsetto

or maybe something more offensive?

haha, fucking right

Some good tips there fellas, I think i'm definitely going to invest in the pitlocks, and buy two d-locks. .. I might even try the superglue and ballbearing trick.

I don't plan on leaving it anywhere unattended, locking it in my flat at night, and leaving it in the bike cupboard during the day at work..locked. but you know best laid plans... as I said i'll forget to buy milk one day grab some from tescos... come out and my bike will be gone/stripped....

also... I want the "FUCK YOU STOP TRYING TO RAPE MY BIKE" alarm

My plan is simple:
1) Insure it fully
2) A single mini d-lock if you're going to be sitting near and watching it
3) A mini d-lock plus a thick cable/chain if it's going to be out of view
4) Never leave it outside overnight

And quit worrying. You've stopped all the opportunity thieves, and if the bike still goes walkies you had it insured and will be fine.

Yeah I hear you, I think I just got uber paranoid yesterday after walking through bricklane and seeing all the scum selling the wares on the corner... (I was picking up some parts legally from brick lane bikes) ..

it put me on edge.

when i was travelling i heard about these movement detectors / sensors that you slot into your rucksack they have a 30 sec timer once armed it acts like a car alarm any bump movement w2ill trigger the alarm to go off. if you put it under your seat or somewhere not to obvious you will hear the alarm if someone tries to move it not so useful when deep in the bowels of a pub but will give any bike theif a good heart attack

I have a different opinion on the "check it every five minutes if you can't see it" thing. Everytime I get a bad feeling about my bike I purposefully don't go and look at it. Becasue if it has been nicked then I might as well enjoy the rest of what I am up to before discovering the fact.

Unless you are going to check so often that you'll catch the toerags in action. Which would literally be every other minute. If you're up and down that often is it worth being wherever you are?

I agree with David, in principal, but think that insurance is just too damn expensive. Of course, if I had his Serotta...

re. checking every five minutes: have to admit that's what I tend to do. it worked for me once before.
this is my favourite story about how my bike was nicked and I caught the thief twice and got it back all in one day
(though it has a bit a sour aftertaste now that the same bike was nicked properly last week).

About 9 years ago, I locked up my Tommasini outside a shop in Leamington Spa, but I took the front wheel with me. It was a crappy lock and someone cut it and wanders off up the busy high street with a bike on his shoulder. Twat. I checked and quickly noticed the bike was gone, and after the initial sick feeling in the pit of stomach had, well, stabilised I suppose, I started asked people. Of course eveyone noticed a guy with a one-wheeled bike on his shoulder I got a pretty good description of him and spotted him in Tesco a hour or so later. The police hauled him in but couldn't keep him as there was no evidence. So I was gutted, and stared losing hope, but the same evening, I was walking with a fried when two guys come past on a bike, the passenger carrying a bike on his shoulder. My friend says, 'Isn't that your bike?', and indeed it was. So she calls the police while I run after the bike. The police spot them getting on a train and pick them up at Banbury. I couldn't believe it.

so the moral of the story is, have a QR front wheel and take it with you.

Insurance isn't that expensive, usually about 10% per anum for basic "it was locked up outside" cover. I only insure one bike though.

culturalelite: yeah I know what you mean - I was at brick lane on sunday too and it made me sick to see all these wide boys rocking up with bikes that they obviously couldn't have obtained by any legitimate means. Seems to me that anyone who knows what they're looking at can spot the stolen bikes - there ought to be a way to alert people who have had their bikes stolen recently. For example, there was a Pearson fixed-gear that went for 350 sheets - anyone lost that recently? There was also a reddish 3rensho, I think, but I'm not sure as I didn't know the name until last night after reading this forum.

anyway, for what it's worth, I was there looking for my Tommasini (a no show, I'm pretty sure), so if any of you lot see this around (sorry, my words will have to paint the picture):
[ulist]

[li] Tommasini 'Prestige' steel frame, smallish (I'm 5'7), blue fading to white at the back, yellow lettering, chrome forks and stays (like [this](http://www.tommasini.com/telai/sintesi.html) except for the paint job)
[li] cream selle italia saddle w. blue trim
[li] sawn-off profile bars with blue tape and one brake lever in the bar end
[li] oldish (late 80s) campy athena cranks and front brake
[li] mavic rims, very shiny suzue flipflop rear hub + fixed-gear, campag front hub, all w. QR axles
[li] (fucking brand new phil woods 16t sprocket and SRAM hollow pin chain) 
[li] speedplay frog pedals

[/ulist]
well, you could (a) kick the rider in the nuts (though he/she probably bought it in good faith), (b) call the police, or (c) call me (but I don't want to put my number on an open forum).

It was my first fg conversion and it took me 6 years to get to just how I like it (trimming the bar ends being the last step) so I'm absolutely gutted. What are the 4 stages of coping with loss? Denial? Anger? Grief?

natureboy culturalelite: There was also a reddish 3rensho, I think, but I'm not sure as I didn't know the name until last night after reading this forum.

im sure there wasn't a rensho for sale on brick lane...

there is usually a gang of guys who sell stuff down brick lane they usually ride nice bikes