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what do people have and have they actually worked?
don't mind spending to get a good product
The stuff from https://securityforbikes.com/ seems great. I have a 13mm chain, ground anchor, shed shackle and various chains. It seems way more heavy duty than the standard bike shop stuff, nobody has stolen my bike yet.
Another vote for SecurityForBikes.com - top quality and heavy duty gear, and excellent customer service too.
Pragmasis anchor and chain. I think the chain is their second thinnest - it’s still huge and I’m not sure I’d want to manhandle the bigger chains through my frames on a daily basis (and I doubt they’d fit through the spokes if you want to lock the wheels in place).
<span style="color: #444444; font-size: 16px;">Pragmasis anchor and chain</span>
Pragmasis is now Security For Bikes, so that's 3 votes for them!
Almax here, though if I was buying a new one I’d go for the Abloy padlock rather than Squire.
security for bikes here too. I've got a ground anchor and two chains, one with the O-link on the end which I use when the bikes are on the towbar rack.
Someone broke into our shed and tried (and failed) to steal the bikes so they're scumbag tested.
"Almax here, though if I was buying a new one I’d go for the Abloy padlock rather than Squire."
that was the thing I was most interested in given its the weakest link of the security system. not sure what lock to go for.
+1 for Almax great advice and service
Securiuty for bikes here to , they have always given me customer service well beyond what they need to.
After I got broken into recently they took the time to review what I did wrong originally and to advise on really improving things next time.
Just to note that I had the 13mm chain and the scrotes went through it with a grinder in Mins
So depending on the value of your bike(s) it worth investing in the biggest one you can afford (or get two)
going to go for the 19mm chain.
what did they advise?
Poah
As noted they said it's really based the on the value of your of bike as to how much you should spend and two is always better.
But they also said they have had customers report that 19mm chains have been grinded.
Sterling ground anchor £14 and 12mm chain 2m long £29, often £5 off spend vouchers
I know the 19mm chain can be broken with an angle grinder, seen it on youtube. can only afford one chain but have other security measures as well.
whatyadoinsucka
Just worth checking that the links on the chain go through each other otherwise you can't use a decent shackle padlock (like a squire).
Also check if the chain comes with a solid secure security cert like the almax and the pragmasis ones do otherwise insurance may not cover the item.
Also from my experience last month a 12mm chain is useless to protect anything.
My more expensive bikes are d-locked to ground anchors, but if a thief comes tooled with portable grinders, they will get them. My garage isn't easy to get in though.
Anything can be angle grinded (or plasma cuttered) but that's a noise and relatively slow attack- first hurdle is the totally silent 2 second attacks with croppers. I mean, I have an old Oxford 12mm that'll deter kids, but a real thief is going to break it faster than I can unlock it with the key.
So I have a Squire 16mm chain, because they're cheap for the level of security, and a Security For Bikes Roundlock "padlock" which seems a brilliant wee thing and is cheaper than a top end padlock, if a little fiddlier. I ground away a little metal to make it easier to fit but totally worth it.
It's worth thinking about other things- in our breakins they never took a whole bike, they just went off with high value parts, some spares and some ripped out of hte bikes. So in the spirit of bloody mindedness, I added a bunch of cheap alarm padlocks which I can attack to parts, meaning you can't get away quietly, and also used some lower end cheap locks through my spare wheels which are up in the roof of the garage just as an irritation factor.
I also got an Onguard Brute d-lock- it's 16mm shackle and can work as a sort of chain extension if you're locking a lot of things, and is ridiculously cheap. I have no idea if it's as strong as the chain but it'll beat all croppers.
And lastly, a motion sensitive camera- it takes photos and video and can live stream to my phone, and it's small enough to conceal (unfortunately the night vision mode does light it up so it's more visible but hey).
What’s the camera you’ve got
I use Oxford, cheap and sturdy.
Poah, the 19mm chain is very big and heavy. I have 16mm chains from both Almax and Pragmasis for securing my motorbikes. There isn’t anything between them and wouldn’t say one was superior to the other. I wouldn’t want to use a 16mm chain on a push bike with their thin tube walls never mind a 19mm chain.
I use the Torx ground anchors too but I know a few people who have used the ones in the link below along with two of them who have had the misfortune of having them tested by thieves without losing their bikes
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F111874915606
"I wouldn’t want to use a 16mm chain on a push bike with their thin tube walls never mind a 19mm chain."
I've been using a 16mm Almax for 4 years on various bikes and it hasn't damaged any of them.
What’s worked for me is an alarm. If it hadn’t been alarmed the best chain in the world wouldn’t stop someone very quickly cutting through the frame
"Trailrider Jim: I use Oxford, cheap and sturdy"
None of the cheaper Oxfords are sturdy. In fact even the expensive ones are pretty poor. But they do come with good insurance certs at least.
(always worth remembering that literally the only function of Sold Secure, ART, Thatcham etc is for insurance, they are useless as security ratings. Sold Secure is somewhat useful as a comparison- bronze can be cut with edgy satire, silver will resist biting for up to 3 minutes, gold will actually need some tools to break.)
"poah: What’s the camera you’ve got"
Are you planning to break in? 🙂 It's a wee Sricam, it's worked well enough though it gives a few false positives with heat/sunlight changes, so I've turned off the phone alarm, it was too annoying.
I've gone Alamax 19, huge chain I'm happy I went for it. As has been mentioned, if you can cut it off then you're going to need power tools