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So, I got robbed a couple of weeks ago, and as the insurance payout has been made and we are in the process of replacing two bikes, I have been working on bike shed security. Here is my situation:
Small garden with low gate. 2 sheds - one bike shed and one normal shed. Both contained bikes.
The thieves went immediately for the bike shed. There are two of them and they operate on foot - my Genesis CX bike was moved out of the way to get at the mountain bike the road bike. Had there been more than 2 or they had a van then I think the genesis would have gone as well.
They use bolt croppers, although they don't seem to be much good. They cut into, but did not get through the padlock latch. Instead they ripped the hinges out of the doors.
So far I have don the following:
1) Replaced the gate with a full size one. I will be putting some trellis over the top as well, to make it a little more difficult to gain access.
2) All shed hinges have been secured with coach bolts.
3) The main shed now has three locks on the front, one of which is a motion alarmed padlock. Obviously the secret is out that we have nice bikes, so it is pointless making the shed look non-descript any more.
4) The remaining bikes have all been moved to the normal shed and the bike shed is now full of garden furniture, camping gear etc, and is double locked.
This is what I plan to do:
1) get a shed alarm
2) Buy a motorbike chain and secure all 4 bikes in the shed together. Should the thieves gain access to the garden, break into the nike shed to find there are no bikes then break into the other shed through 2 noisy alarms they will then have to either cut their way through the chain or attempt to get 4 bikes simultaneously through the shed door and down a very narrow alleyway (which would be impossible). I am considering an Almax chain - possibly overkill, but I want it to be as tricky as possible.
So, the first question is, am I going over the top on this?
Second is, have I missed anything (apart from the obligatory set of bombers (I only have rebas lying around doing nothing).
You need to anchor the bikes down really. A concrete pad for the shed with an anchor sunk into it and then a chunky chain will mean the only way to steal them is by using noisy and heavy equipment.
The problem is, they know you have bikes and its a case of when, not if, they come back for the insurance replacements. Can't you keep the bikes in the house?
Get a shed shackle from Pragmasis. It really is very good when coupled with one of their chains.
True, but I was trying to avoid getting the wooden floor up and cementing something in.
Although I could just have a thick concrete paving slab on the floor.
Devash - we live in a very small house with 2 children, so no, bikes in the house is not an option
Oh, and make sure the chain can't be moved too close to the floor. All of the cropping vids online use the floor to brace the croppers
or a bucket of concrete attached to the chain/ bikes.
Almax series iv and a large plant pot to make a bucket o crete
Cheers guys. Some good ideas here.
Saw the almax video and the bolt croppers bent, which pleased me!
They're expensive bet you can't grasp how big and heavy they are.
metal shed like Asgard? They need an angle grinder.
Looked at asgard. Unfortunately I don't have over 500 quid spare. Keeping an eye on the bay for a local one that comes up though.
I have internal hinges on my shed door with a normal Yale lock and a heavy duty mortice lock. On the inside I have a cage that the bikes go in which is bolted to the floor. The bikes are double chained inside and to the cage, the cage won't come out of the shed without removing literally everything else from the shed. To top it off I have lined the shed with 15mm chipboard and reinforced all joints with a substantial amount of builders band. So even if they strip the outer shell off the shed it will still be solid with its 2x4 frame and the lining.
Not going over the top at all 🙂 I put CCTV in my garage after my bikes got nicked.
Nice, I like the way your thinking.
I have a steel mesh cage in the shed, motion sensor linked to main alarm and CCTV covers the front and rear of the house.
Put this place to protect not only the bikes but the windsurfing and other gear.
They know its there. So will be back and may damage a bike.
Ultimately, the thieves have the advantage, it's a shame we are not allowed to run mains voltage into the security system, a simple unprotected and bog standard padlock and chain discretely connected would shift the balance 😈
Ultimately if they want your bike they will find a way but it's about making it tricky for them. what I have done is:
1. shed alarm that sounds in the house
2. I've built a metal frame that the bike sits and is then locked in by removable posts, these have steel mesh over them meaning that the whole lot has to be cut off not just a section.
3. fitted a kitchen worktop on top of the frame to let me store stuff above it so more chance of making noise and also prevents access from above the bike.
4. massive chain, and lock going into a ground anchor.
the shed sits on a concrete base so the frame is rawl bolted into this and its all welded, the shed could fall down but the frame would stand independently.
So they have to cut the frame and remove the posts before they can get access to the chain and lock then they have to work on that, all the time my alarm is going off and I'm putting shorts on and getting the pepper spray from my cupboard 😀
Not sure if the pepper spray comment is true but I'm pretty sure it's considered the same as using a knife in the eyes of the law
Bikes are usually kept in the spare room or garage but if it's late and they're mucky they go in the shed.
I fabbed a post which is set 700mm deep on the outside of the shed wall into a concrete bed, a section of it then protrudes through the shed wall at pedal height. My bike is then fastened to it using an almax chain and abloy padlock.
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Since been powdercoated security yellow so if anyone goes round the back of the shed they will see it.
The flat plate on the back is there purely to help it seal against the shed wall. They will still get it/pull bits off it if they want but you just have to slow them down as much as poss.
yep Pepper spray comment is true bought it from Germany, tends to be advertised as "dog attack repellent"
I know all about the consequences of using it but it's more effective than a baseball bat. I've been a victim of a rather violent burglary where a bat made little difference and I was "advised" that pepper spray is a solution that will incapacitate multiple people from a distance of 5 meters.
oooh a 'shed shakle'
ordered!
Pepper spray is assault. Plus I imagine before you got to deploy it you'd be in abit of trouble.
Unless you know from previous/life experience that you are handy in a fist fight with keyed-up people then I'd stay firmly in doors.
Get an old car tyre, stuff it with chicken wire then infill it with concrete. This creates an excellent locking point. It can't be smashed up due to the rubber tyre.
Bluearsedfly - where did you get that post - I would like something similar
cheers
Pepper spray is assault. Plus I imagine before you got to deploy it you'd be in abit of trouble.Unless you know from previous/life experience that you are handy in a fist fight with keyed-up people then I'd stay firmly in doors.
Id prefer upstairs window and catapult with ball bearings http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230491682171?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
STOP POSTING YOUR SECURITY DETAILS ON THE BLODDY INTERNET FFS.
C'mon people, I imagine you're rightly proud of your security measures but scum have internet access too and it'll be ten times easier for them to nick your bikes if they know what security measures you have in place.
Thieves check list..
Body armour
Riot helmet
Gas mask
plasma cutter
chainsaw
9" angle grinder
42" bolt cutters
Getaway driver called Colin
Pikey haircut
Be tooled up.
As mentioned somewhere above, there are some useful bits for shed security [url= http://securityforbikes.com/shed-shackle.php ]here[/url].
Bluearsedfly - where did you get that post - I would like something similarcheers
Made it myself with bits at work. Cheap enough to make if you decided to make your own.
Mine are chained together and to wall with a master motorbike lock in my dedicated bike shed which has 100mm thick walls with a steel lining and Powder coated 2mm aluminium outer skin. Door only opens wide enough to get 1 bike out at a time and best bike has a gps tracker fitted which when armed texts my phone if my bike moves. If they were to ever get it out I can track it on google maps...
shed shackle looks good but could be cut out very quickly.
Id prefer heavy concrete anchor.
Easy to get into a shed, through windows, so bars or grill on inside of windows, and curtains, ,board inside of shed with mdf or thick plywood, builders band under roof to secure roof down long screws, anti climb non drying paint under eaves, so they get covered in it if they try to lever off roof,reinforce door and side frames of door frame,internal and exterior cctv, and a baby minder type thing, so you can hear whats going on in shed, usually need mains power.
But if they have a customer for your bikes, they will be back.
Just keep a lookout for white transit vans in your area.
They'd be either Romanians looking for scrap. I've spoken to a van with these chaps in- very nice, just looking for stuff left out for collection.
I also said morning/tried speaking to two blokes in a transit....they spoke in a accent much closer to the Romanians. Guess which ones I distinctly worried about. It wasn't the former.
Is it worth reporting the latter? Would anything actually happen as really they haven't committed any crime.
Just keep a lookout for white transit vans in your area.
other vans are available, and they may walk up and ride away,thieves are adaptable to the circumstances they find themselves in .
Also isnt it racist reporting people with a non british ukip accent , but then your e not a racist are you.
Here we go...
but then your e not a racist are you
Am I? Or are you telling me I am?
thieves are adaptable to the circumstances they find themselves in
True but also depending where you live in the country etc. I'm not a crim' analyst but around my particular way here in Manchester you tend to see alot of slow driving transits, stopping in odd places at odd times of the day etc. You can spot patterns, instead of pulling into my road by car/bike etc - if you watch them from a distance they sure aren't looking for an address where they are supposed to be fitting plumbing etc.
I find it rather odd to be agreeing with Hora, but i once had a conversation with a police officer after an incident in which he told me that in his opinion, it was reasonably common for certain types to drive around in flat bed transit-type vehicles with a little scrap metal in the back looking for thieving opportunities.
The idea is that if stopped (as they tend to be known to the police) they simply claim to be looking for scrap to collect and sell on.
All our roads (6 or 7) are dead ends in our area and its pretty obvious that there are no through ways. If your localish you'd know this too. Yet I've watched this...usually happens before 6am.
Funny that but then again as project says I must be a racialist.
You get a lot of the pikey vans driving round here - usually with the orange light on top. Usually they are just looking for scrap metal.
One of the lads who works here used to park his R1 outside the front of the building with an Oxford lock wrapped around the rear wheel. It disappeared one day, and when we checked the CCTV, we saw one of those vans drive up, park in front of his bike (a usual occurrence - vans come and go here) then drive off less than a minute later and the bike was gone - they just opened the side door, threw the motorbike in and drove straight off.
The number plate did not exist apparently.
One of my mates used to work on a farm and said a transit van of travelling chaps came into the yard one day and asked if they had any scrap, when told no and asked to leave they got out and started snooping round anyway. Eventually they got back in the van and noticed my mate noting down the reg of the van. The driver laughed and wound down his window and said theres another 5 plates under that one would he like to see them as well?!
C**ks
pikeys in a van turned up at a friends house whilst they were working on it/had garage open etc, asking about buying tools on gumtree, friends said they didn't know what they were talking about, nothing for sale. pikeys left after giving the house/garage a good viewing and that night the garage got broken into and loads of tools nicked. coincidence? i don't think so...
also we used to get it at our old flat (tyneside upstairs/downstairs type), every other week or so a tipper van would go down the back alley with 2 lads on the back looking over the fences/walls into gardens for stuff to nick! good way of getting rid of a washing machine tho...
interested in peoples bike cage solutions - how they were made/materials etc for beefing up my shed. any pics?
I dont go for buying all these really expensive bike locks and shed protection things.
Our local Police said that the things thieves dont like is noise, bright light, and having to work for their knickings. So noisey shed alarms, stuff that means they have to work to get to the bikes etc etc.
If they can just open your shed door and your bikes there with a £100 lock round it, then all they will do is knick the wheels or cut the frame.
My shed currently has currently stopped 2 attempts, and both times it was the alarm that made the difference.
If you can a slab under the shed with a Rawlbolt Eyelet through floor into it. The padlock chains to that. Also if you have anything brick build, a 4x2 with exhaust clamps through it and plated and bolted at back, then rawlbolt this, with bolt head to wall, to brick wall.
Firedoors and multiple locks on brick built bike shed, bikes still locked up and alarmed. Wooden Shed has lock and padlocks, with bikes still locked and alarmed in shed.
And metal bar beside back door!!!
When I had a shed I had Pragmasis Shed Shackle in it. Easy to fit and use and keeps the chain off the floor (harder to crop). Also coach bolted the door hinges.
Decent locks/chains are hard work for them. Anything that costs them time or causes them to make noise will put them off.
If you buy a long enough chain it will go through the frame, both wheels and above the fork crown. They can cherry pick the other bits off but if they are still there the undisturbed once they're past all the other security measures then fair play to them!
End of the day if they want it odds are they will get it.
At the end of the day if you have a decent carbon bike with decent kit and they were could break down/sell the parts off seperately they'd easily (and very quickly) saw through your carbon frame. That gives you a bike.
Not so long ago I saw a pic on STW of a sawn tube - about 10cm long in someones hand saying this what was left behind.
they will be back 🙁 a mate of mine had an expensive metal shed and it didn't stop them, and a brick outhouse that had the roof destroyed just above the door
you need alarms and security lights and CCTV, and think about security tracking for the high value/emotional value bikes
if you have the option and can stand the lowgrade, ride cheap nasty bikes for a while so they don't bother a third time
should live in doors.high value/emotional value bikes
Leave the bikes that are work horses to the thieves.
Just keep a lookout for white transit vans in your area.
I'm not a crim' analyst but around my particular way here in Manchester you tend to see alot of slow driving transits,
You may be or not be a racialist, but you do have a thing about transits eg tranyphobia,