Which Bike Locks Really Work?

My son has a Honda VLX. Not exactly on the top of the list for theives but he has one long cable that he wraps around the frame and then to his girlfriends A frame.....on her car. He also has a nice covered chain which he wraps around the frame just behind the bars and thru the spokes of the front wheel and then....he had an internatrix bike alarm installed. So, to recap, he has the standard fork lock, the front covered chain, the long cable and an alarm system. He probably has a tick over 300.00 for all this. If a pro wants your bike he'll take it but if there's an easier target just around the corner, well, you know. It's like the two buddies out hiking in the woods. A bear starts chasing them and one of them stops to take off his boots and put on his running shoes. The other guy says "your crazy if you think you can outrun that bear." To which he replies.....I only have to outrun you. Anything helps, thieves would rather limit their exposure if at all possible. If you get a disc lock spend the extra five bucks for the clutch tether. You'll be glad you did.

I learned years ago in Philly that the best way to keep paws off my old Ford Mustang (stolen and recovered in Camden NJ - my favorite town) was a combination of several low tech devices.



When I park my Harley in places where it could be nicked I use the following; a Brinks pad lock (~$12 from a hardware store), which goes through the front disk brake, a cheap bicycle U-lock (~$12 also from the hardware store), which goes through the rear wheel. Then I shut off the kill switch and gas tap.



The idea behind all this is that the would be casual thief finds more things he has to deal with as he gets closer to the bike and, hopefully, finds it too much to mess with.



In Philly the professional thieves, just pulled a flatbed pickup next to your car, put a chain around the frame or axle and hauled it up onto the bed. They could pull a car out of a line of them against the curb without touching the other cars.



Same with bikes , except that 3 or 4 gorillas would just pick it up and throw into the back of a truck and be off in about 1 minutes time.



Or...just ride an old Suzuki Madura - the ugliest bike in the world!