Bicycle Security Advice

This page provides some advice on how to secure bicycles, both at home and out and about. Other pages have more detailed information about specific products, but this page gives an idea which product(s) may be relevant to your situation.

Bicycles are some of the most commonly-stolen items! Security is important!

Bicycles are very commonly not secured properly and this makes it easy for thieves. By taking some appropriate precautions and using good quality security products, and using them well, should help you to keep your property safe.

Lock your bike *to* something! Use a Ground Anchor or equivalent!

This most important principle for cycle security is that it is critical to lock your bike to something solid whenever possible. Simply putting a chain & lock around the bike and not locking the combination to anything else means that the thief can easily lift the bike and chain & lock and steal the whole lot in one go! This happens very frequently! Many people will unwittingly put a chain around the wheel and frame and this provides almost no deterrent at all. Using a chain & lock or a D-lock and looping it around or through a fixed object rapidly makes a big difference to your cycle's security. Security ground anchors are designed to provide this permanent fixing point, but they are only appropriate when you are at home or an employer providing cycle storage for your staff. If you are a cyclist stopping at the shops, try to chain your bike to a bike rack or to some other large and tough object.

Most bicycles are stolen from homes so home security is the priority. Using a good ground anchor or a good anchor for a wooden shed, or a good anchor for a metal shed, can give a sound foundation for a good chain around the bike(s).

Avoid locking a bike to street signage! Typical 'No Waiting' signs etc are not very high and a thief can often easily lift a bike so the chain comes off the top of the post, allowing the bicycle to be stolen. Thieves sometimes even un-bolt the sign at the top of the post to make it easier to unloop the chain! Full-size streetlights are normally OK as locking points.

Use a good-quality chain and lock or D-lock!

Use the best security you can afford. Don't secure a ?2,000 bicycle with a ?20 lock!

Police guidelines are to spend 10-15% of the value of the item on its security. This is a simple statement that can become inappropriate at the extremes, but it gives you an idea of what might be appropriate if you know the value of your bike.

Try to avoid using cable locks altogether as virtually all of them are very poor as deterrents. There are several ways these can be attacked, not least with cable cutters(!), but hacksaws and wire-cutters etc will often only take just seconds to get through cables.

How does a D-lock compare with a Chain and Padlock?

A chain and lock generally provides a better deterrent than a D-lock, but a chain & lock can be heavier than a mid-range D-lock. Low-end D-locks tend to be very vulnerable to thieves as D-locks can be attacked in several ways that are not applicable to chains and the lighter D-locks can be almost as bad as cable locks. Mid-range D-locks do offer a useful compromise in terms of cost and weight, against security level. High-end D-locks can be very expensive and heavy when considered with the security vulnerabilities all D-locks can suffer. If you do use a D-lock, please try to follow the guidance on how to use a D-lock.

How do you tell a good quality chain and lock/D-lock?

Security products are available at a wide range of prices and a wide range of qualities. The worst are almost useless! The easiest way to check the quality of a security product is to look for a Sold Secure certification. Sold Secure is an independent testing body that are used by the insurance industry and the police to give comparative ratings to a wide range of products for a wide range of situations. Not all Sold Secure ratings are equivalent! Beware that Sold Secure test such a wide range of products and of such a wide range that there are several categories and gradings within each category. Bicycle Gold is *not* the same as Motorcycle Gold! Motorcycle security generally needs to be a higher standard as motorcycles are generally more valuable and they are often stolen by more organised thieves; the majority of bicycle thefts are by opportunists that are using no tools at all or just simple hand tools. Higher-value bicycles are targeted by more serious thieves, however, so some motorcycle-standard security products are very appropriate for better bicycles. Beware of any product that says it is "Gold Rated" without saying which Gold! Similarly, be wary of anything that just says it is Sold Secure approved - it could be just Bicycle Bronze and very limited as a deterrent.

In general, anything below Bicycle Silver is better avoided if possible, and even Bicycle Silver is inappropriate for bicycles worth ?1,000+; Bicycle Gold is a much better rating and to be prefered as a minimum whenever possible for bicycle security. Higher-value bicycles are often better protected with Motorcycle Gold security products.

Check with your insurance company to see what security standards they require for your insurance cover to be valid.

Use a chain properly!

Leaving a chain lying on the floor leaves it open to numerous types of attack. Looping the chain through a higher part of the bike and onto a higher anchoring point makes it easier to keep the chain clear of the floor.

Looping the chain through the frame is critical! We generally prefer to put the chain through the main triangle of the frame and the rear triangle of the frame, through the rear wheel as well. Just looping a chain through the main triangle of the frame can allow a thief to cut the frame, twist it to disconnect the chain and then to ride the bike away! A thief doesn't want to wreck the frame, but high-value bikes often have a lot of valuable components that can be very attractive to specialist thieves. Putting the chain through the frame and through the rear wheel means a thief would have to not only cut the frame but also the rear wheel and tyre, which is much harder than simply cutting a lightweight frame! Putting the chain through the rear wheel means the chain must fit between the spokes!

Secure the building as well as the bicycle, if possible!

If you are keeping your bicycle in a wooden shed, you may find our advice on shed security is helpful. Locking the bike within the shed is entirely sensible, but securing the shed itself, and especially the shed door, gives another level of protection and often without costing very much. Similarly, we have another page giving advice that may help if you are keeping your bicycle in a metal bike store/bike hut. These metal sheds are often very poor in terms of security and easy targets for a thief. Conversely, if you are keeping bike(s) in a garage, you are often more able to use higher-grade security products as a concrete floor or brick wall are more likely to be available to fix a proper ground anchor. In summary, try to use the best security option for your situation; don't be reluctant to use a concrete-mounted ground anchor if your wooden shed has a good concrete floor!

Which chain should I choose?

Our general guidelines are that for bicycles below ?1,000, something like our Protector 11mm chain and lock are sensible. Much above ?1,000-?1,500 in value (or in total value if securing multiple bikes), we tend to recommend the Protector 13mm chain and lock instead. Higher-value bikes, e.g. ?5,000, come into the range of our motorcycle products such as the Protector 16mm chain and lock. However, the bigger chains are very heavy! The Protector 16mm chain can be very awkward to carry and to route through a valuable bicycle frame. It can also be too thick to fit between spokes, but the 16mm is the gauge required to be sure that a thief will not be able to cut it with even the huge 42" bolt croppers! If it helps you to sleep at night, using a short 16mm chain may be an option, with a secondary chain that is not so heavy or bulky providing security for the wheels.

We have more information on the Protector range of security chains, including some videos on how to fit the lock as well as guidance on selecting the right chain.

Which length of chain is required?

We can supply chains in a wide range of lengths. It is difficult to give absolute guidance on lengths required as there are so many variables, so we always encourage people to position all items appropriately and to lace a piece of rope through the intended route, and to then measure the length of rope used. It is often surprising how much chain is required!

As a rough approximation only, we would expect a ground-mounted anchor locking a single bike to likely need a 1.5m long chain. A 1.5m chain used with a wall-mounted anchor or Shed Shackle at crossbar/top-tube height, could do a reasonable job on two bikes, and a 2.0m chain could lock two bikes an all four wheels in a similar situation. There is a lot of variability in the length required so please measure for yourself to be sure! Beware that locking the chain usually uses up a chain link in itself, so allowing a little extra length is usually a good idea. We have more general advice on chain lengths.

What about portable security?

Security that works is generally heavy, and often too heavy to carry on a bicycle. There are no easy answers to this problem. The best compromise is either a short length of chain such as the Protector 11mm, but even a 1.0 metre length of our 11mm chain weighs 2.1kg plus the weight of the lock. This can be awkward to carry so a lock bag can help, but a 1.0 metre length of 11mm chain is generally about the limit for lock bag capacity. This is where a mid-range D-lock has a useful role to play as it can provide a useful, although basic and restrictive deterrent, without being too heavy or too difficult to carry on a bike. Most D-locks are supplied with integrated carrying brackets that fit to the bicycle frame to help carry them. As mentioned before, D-locks can be vulnerable so it is import to use D-locks properly.

What if your bike is stolen?

If your bicycle has been stolen, you should report it to the Police. Many bicycle thefts go unreported and that reduces the budget and resources that the Police are able to allocate to the problem.

You may find the Stolen Bikes register is useful as a way of publicising the details of the bike, and hopefully helping it to be identified and recovered.

If you were unfortunate enough to have a bike stolen when using any of our product range, we will do our best to support you in communication with your insurance company etc. We can provide copies of your proof of purchase if you are able to give us confirmation of your identity. Contact us and we will try to help.

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Suggested Products

Bicycles are most frequently stolen from homes, but keeping them secure when away from home is also important. The requirements and constraints on the two situations are quite different. Hence, we break down by the situation, and then the need for portability, whilst keeping in mind the restricted weight that is generally practical for a cyclist.

We would generally advise bicycles up to £1,000 in value are normally reasonably protected with a Protector 11mm chain. Bicycles up to £3,000 - £5,000 would normally be OK with a Protector 13mm chain. Bicycles of values higher than that are into motorcycle-value territory and thus those products should be considered. If a previous theft has occurred in the area, going up a level is normally recommended.

Ideally, the chain should be short and kept off the floor, since it is much easier for a thief to attack a chain with a variety of tools if the chain is resting on the floor. This is easier said than done if you will use a floor-mounted anchor, but measuring carefully, and taking advantage of the long link chain opportunity for artificially shortening the chain, can help to get it exactly the right length.

Securing your bicycle in a garage

Bicycles in garages would typically be secured to a wall with a ground anchor, often a 13mm chain passing through the frame of the bike and perhaps one or both wheels if they are valuable, and a suitable padlock or D-Lock. Higher value bikes, or where a previous theft has occured in the vicinity, going up a level or two, is recommended, whilst keeping in mind the weight of the products being considered. It is very unusual for a chain as heavy as a Protector 19mm to be appropriate for securing bicycles. A Protector 16mm chain is often used by professional and serious amateur cyclists, but two 13mm chains that are kept well above the floor, perhaps looped around different anchors, might be better in many cases. These items should usually all be at least Sold Secure Bicycle Gold approved. Beware that long lengths of chain are heavy and bicycles are fragile, so securing multiple bikes is frequently better done with multiple chains, going to different bikes, and potentially multiple ground achors. Usability is important, especially when a high level of security is intended and the bikes are valuable as well as fragile. Trying to avoid a single point of failure means a thief would have to defeat multiple elements in order to steal more than one item, for instance.

The ground anchor should often be placed on a wall behind the bike, or otherwise underneath and behind the bike, such as between the bike and the wall. Bicycles are naturally relatively high with respect to the floor, so having a foor-mounted anchor would mean having a chain long enough to rise up to the bike and then go back down again. All of that makes it more likely that the chain will be close enough to the floor for a thief to be able to get some attack advantage; keeping the anchor and the chain well above the floor can mean a lighter (and thus cheaper and easier to handle) chain can be used.

Notwithstanding the above, the quality of the wall in a garage may force special consideration. If the wall is made of breeze block then it is not going to achieve a high level of security, although we do offer a Block Wall mounting option for our Torc Ground Anchor and that can help. But, a wall made of proper solid concrete blocks or strong bricks would be much better. If the wall is not adequate, it may be necessary to mount the ground anchor on the floor after all. A good concrete floor is stronger than a good brick wall is stronger than a block wall, as a general rule.

Bicycles in garages are frequently hung on the wall and this strongly favours the anchor being fitted behind the bike, also on the wall.

Suggested Shopping List
The following are alternatives for the ground anchor: (Select according to recommendations above):

Torc Ground Anchor
Beefy Bridge Ground Anchor
Double Doofer Ground Anchor (Removable)

Then, usually the Protector 13mm Chain (or Protector 11mm Chain if cost is a major issue)

The following are alternatives for the lock: (Select according to guidance in the Padlocks Selector):

DIB D-Lock, or...
RoundLock (not suitable for the Protector 11mm chain), or...
Squire SS50CS

Securing your bicycle in a wooden shed

Bicycles in wooden sheds are invariably well protected with our Shed Shackle fixed to the wall of the shed. We designed the Shed Shackle for precisely this scenario. It can be used to tether one or more bicycles by means of Protector security chains up to 16mm gauge, but ordinarily an 11mm or 13mm chain will give good protection to a very wide range of bicycles (see the chain gauge guidance, above, for help in selecting the appropriate chain), plus an appropriate padlock or D-Lock. The Shed Shackle can be used to secure more than one bicycle, if they are leaning against each other.

Important: The value of bicycle(s) secured to a single Shed Shackle should not normally exceed something like ?5,000, and you should confirm with your insurance policy wording if a Shed Shackle is considered adequate, if insurance is important to you. Many customers simply use more than one Shed Shackle, distributed across different walls of the shed, to allow higher value bicycle groups and collections to be protected. Distributing the risk and having multiple, independent, deterrents, is always good practice, especially if values are high. We have numerous customers keeping e.g. ?20,000-worth of bicycles in wooden sheds, with multiple Shed Shackles, and bikes hung up on the walls (as that makes the chain harder to atatack for a thief).

We would strongly recommend that you check, and probably upgrade, the security on the shed door. Our HS1 Hasp & Staple and our BeefUp Kit products can give a substantial boost to the door security. If you can keep a thief out, you have won!

If you need to protect higher value bicycles, or groups of bikes, you should consider using a proper ground anchor mounted to a concrete floor. If your shed has a wooden floor, you can cut a hole through it and either fit an anchor to concrete below (if concrete is pesent and of sufficient quality), or to lay an area of fresh concrete. Achieving high security in a shed with a wooden floor is not easy! We would suggest that you should consider storing the bike(s) in a more solid building such as a garage, if the risk is a concern.

Suggested Shopping List
The following are alternatives for the anchor: (Select according to recommendations above):

Shed Shackle (for Wooden Sheds)
Torc Ground Anchor (usually with the Mediocre Concrete fitting option)

Then, follow the chain and lock guidance in the section above about bicyles in garages.

Securing your bicycle in a metal shed

Metal sheds can have their security upgraded by fitting one of our Metal Shed Shackle products, or a ground anchor if the floor below the shed is accessible and of adequate strength. Note that many metal sheds/bike huts have very inferior locking provisions on their lids/covers, and also on their doors. We would recomend that you give serious consideration to upgrading the security of the metal shed itself, wherever possible.

Suggested Shopping List
The following are alternatives for the anchor: (Select according to recommendations above):

Torc Ground Anchor (with either a Mediocre Concrete (for floor fixing) or Van (for wall fixing) fitting option)
Shed Shackle (for Metal Sheds)

Then, follow the chain and lock guidance in the section above about bicycles in garages.

Portable security for bicycles

Portable security for bicycles is a particular challenge due to the limited weight and volume constraints that apply. To some extent, these can be offset by using some kind of frame or saddle bag or pannier or rucksack, but we are typically still limited on what we can do. Hence, products that give a good level of security with some versatility can be very helpful, such as a Protector 11mm Noose chain. At 2.1kg weight per metre of length, they can still be a significant weight to carry if cycling up hills! The padlock is an extra weight, and a relatively lightweight lock, such as the Squire SS50-P5, can be a popular compromise with the 11mm chain.

An alternative to a chain & padlock can be a DIB D-Lock, typically at around 1.5kg, and that can allow the frame and rear wheel of a bike to be secured to some street furniture, depending on proximity and dimensions.

Companies such as Restrap manufacture belt loops that allow a D-Lock to be carried, hanging from a belt, with reasonable comfort.

Suggested Shopping List
The following are alternatives: (Select according to recommendations above):

Protector 11mm Chain (select the Noose option, where required) and Squire SS50-P5 padlock, or...
DIB D-Lock (beware that the larger ones are also heavier).