For the cyclists - a new secure lock

Not yet available, you can pre-order. Looks interesting..

http://litelok.com/

Thanks Paul.

It looks very good, but why is it so short?? You would have no chance of locking the bike against a tree for example, or two bikes together against anything.

For our use as motorhomers, locking the bikes onto the rack is also important, also looping the cable through the motorised wheels of e-bikes. Not a chance I fear!

At an eye-watering £80 each, or £155 for two together which is still not very long, I think they may have missed a very basic point?

Dave

Hi guys, are we looking for secure locking for electric (or any push) bikes? Then look no further and get yourselves the kryptonite New York M18. Yep it's heavy at 2.7 kg much distane from those in lycra with featherweight bikes. Wife and I have received two of these locks from Amazon with free delivery click and collect at the amazing price of just £59.99 each. This offer just can't be bettered anywhere on the planet! These will surely safeguard our electric bikes. 18 mm diameter U shank and long enough to lock both bikes either side of post, in fact the two locks together. Any would-be numbskull thief would simply walk on by.
Regards

Your post sounds very much like an advertisement from the seller / manufacturer.
Are these your own words or did you cut and paste them from an ad?

I trust the manufacturers tested these outside the McDonalds in La Línea ? That's where la creme de la creme of bike thieves hang out in our bitter experience.

One of the saddest sights I have ever seen was in Toulouse where a brand new lock and chain was threaded through the brand-new front wheel of a scooter, a brand-new full-face helmet and then round the base of a huge street sign.  They were virtually impossible to steal. 

Unfortunately, the brand-new scooter that had been attached to the wheel had been nicked!  

The best laugh I ever had was walking out of Sixhaven marina towards Dam Square and saw two bike wheels both firmly chained to a fence and the person bit in the middle had been stolen.....

redturner37 wrote:The best laugh I ever had was walking out of Sixhaven marina towards Dam Square and saw two bike wheels both firmly chained to a fence and the person bit in the middle had been stolen.....

I doubt if the owner thought it was hilarious!!!

This and Ian's post are very apposite! You need to think like a thief. If he can get hold of an expensive bike frame with all the fittings, having to buy a new wheel or two still makes it a very cheap bike - assuming he doesn't nick them from another bike which is chained by the frame!!!

That's precisely why I voiced my reservations earlier in this topic. I always like to thread my chains through both wheels and the frame, as well as round something like a railing or lamp post. A really determined thief will always succeed, but the best defence is to make your bike more difficult to steal than the one next to it. (Uncharitable, but realistic!)

Dave

Just found this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYv4uq_eML8

I'm considering one of these for my 'new' bike

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kryptonite-keeper-785-integrated-chain/rp-prod81233

Mainly on the strength of this you tube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPfwzSv5rcs

BTW if you watch the videos on his channel, its frightening how fast he can get into many locks, although I think he is a professional locksmith / picker.

Frank

Never assume that criminals are thick!!! That applies only to the ones who get caught!

Thanks Frank - a perfect illustration that a determined thief can always succeed.

I suspect that was a locksmith with a very special tool, but the crims can get hold of one if they want to!!

Dave

After ours ( tatty old small-wheeled Raleigh Shoppers) were stolen in La Línea last year I went through several much more creative and lethal ways to secure bikes. Luckily I' M reasonably law- abiding and live in too much fear of the consequences if I did actually kill someone.

Ours - which, thanks to Local Police we got back- were a) being watched, informally by the McDonalds gate guard, b) locked together, using 2 of Halfords finest c) had a tree in the centre and were both locked to that with a third good lock and d) old, rusty and very uncool so, we thought, not very desirable.

The thief removed one saddle and post and cut brake and gear cables to unravel the locks. 

Reason d) was why we got them back: a policeman thought they did not look like the usual bikes that were stolen on his patch and so stopped the people who had them.

This is why, though I really, really want an electric bike, I would not be able to do what I want if I got one. No lock would be good enough to enable me to leave several hundred pounds worth of bike and go sightseeing.

Quilter wrote:This is why, though I really, really want an electric bike, I would not be able to do what I want if I got one. No lock would be good enough to enable me to leave several hundred pounds worth of bike and go sightseeing.

Insure, enjoy, cease worrying!!

Dave

The Lite lock looks great but like others I think its too short for the job and two would be prohibitively expensive . 

To make a bike safe the strap or chain needs to go round whatever it is the bike is secured to and though both wheels and the frame.. Great looking device and awesome if its as good in practice as they say it is but way to short... Shame

Gromit wrote:Insure, enjoy, cease worrying!!

Dave

Try this philosophy at 6.30 pm in winter, just as it is getting dark, and you are 5 miles from home with no bikes and worn out after a day walking the length of Gibraltar, twice.

Gromit is right, insure and enjoy.

Many years ago, I got into conversation at Portsmouth ferry terminal, with a fellow motorhome owner, and on telling him it was our first trip abroad in our MH,
he put the fear of God into us by warning us to nail everything down and beware where we park and so on and so on. Always leave one person in the MH when shopping.

During the first week of our trip, we were afraid to leave our motorhome anywhere. I said to my wife, are you enjoying this holiday, her response was "NO" I said neither am I. We are supposed to be enjoying ourselves, so lets do it, what the hell, we are insured. That was the turning point for us and that has been our attitude ever since.

Just enjoy.

Bad Penny wrote:Gromit is right, insure and enjoy.

Many years ago, I got into conversation at Portsmouth ferry terminal, with a fellow motorhome owner, and on telling him it was our first trip abroad in our MH,
he put the fear of God into us by warning us to nail everything down and beware where we park and so on and so on. Always leave one person in the MH when shopping.

During the first week of our trip, we were afraid to leave our motorhome anywhere. I said to my wife, are you enjoying this holiday, her response was "NO" I said neither am I. We are supposed to be enjoying ourselves, so lets do it, what the hell, we are insured.  That was the turning point for us and that has been our attitude ever since.

Just enjoy.

You've got me wrong ! I'm not bothered about the money loss which, as you say, will eventually be repaid by insurance. What does bother me is that electric bikes are much more likely to be stolen in normal circumstances than tatty old Raleigh Shoppers ( and La Línea was rather a special circumstance) . Being stuck miles from base, bike- less, is not something that insurance will help with.  Besides, a normal bike keeps me far fitter than an electric one and adds less to our rear axle payload.

Charliefarlie wrote:The Lite lock looks great but like others I think its too short for the job and two would be prohibitively expensive . 

To make a bike safe the strap or chain needs to go round whatever it is the bike is secured to and though both wheels and the frame.. Great looking device and awesome if its as good in practice as they say it is but way to short... Shame

I found this on another forum. The member had contacted the company regarding the length being too short, this is the company reply..

''Thanks for your message and your kind words.

Currently, the Litelok length has been optimised to be as light as possible while still being able to be attached to the majority of fixed objects from the bike. We have tested this out many times in the street and other settings.

However, there has been a few enquiries like yours to make a longer version of the lock. The product that is for sale now is the first version of Litelok. After we deliver this to our Kickstarter backers and pre-orderers, we will be working on bringing out new product ranges in the near future.

Many thanks on your feedback of Litelok, it's great to get the views of enthusiastic cyclists like yourself and helps us see what positive changes we can make in the future.''


so may be worth waiting if you don't want to have to buy two to join.

Honestly this is my own appraisal of the Kryptonite M18 bike lock. My wife and I are also somewhat paranoid of losing our electric bikes. Hopefully the likelihood of theft is slim as they are locked to approved posts in busy town centres/car parks. Assume all professional locksmiths are honest, and only demonstrating their skills for the benefit of security. As for the M18 lock, I should imagine a would-be thief would have to have access to mains electricity to use an angle grinder to cut through the 18mm shank twice, and how much time would that take? I must confess that the one year kryptonite warranty against failure of the lock against theft is not much cop for electric bikes as it does not cover lose of battery.

Paramedic wrote:Honestly this is my own appraisal of the Kryptonite M18 bike lock. <snipped>

I'm far more likely to take notice of this post. Your first one about this lock sounded like an american telesales advert.
I too should hope that all locksmiths are honest but don't underestimate thieves, there are lots of you tube videos on lock picking and you can buy cordless angle grinders. If I was going to attack one of these locks, I would go for the barrel rather than the shank, only one cut needed? but I'm not a thief.

Frank

Just happened to come across this post. Depending how we decide to cycle, we use older bikes and lock them together with a multude of locks when we use for going long distances. If we are town cycling we use the folding Bromptons, they never leave our sides, fold and take them into shops, cafes or restaurants and on the bus. If you put the cover on they never know it is a bike