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I've ordered a ground anchor kit but instead of ground, I'll be bolting it to as big a chunk of concrete I can manage. I was thinking of mixing and allowing to set in a 13 litre galvanised bucket. This would create a 30kg weight. I will then drill into the concrete and fit the ground anchor with 2x Rawl bolts. I'll then chain two bikes to the concrete and hopefully have an undesirably awkward lump in the eyes of scumbag thieves. Also I've got a good shed with security hinges, bolt + good padlock and a wireless PIR that will trigger the main house alarm.
Any advice on the concrete bit would be appreciated.
Why let it set and then drill? Can you not just embed a loop of metal into the concrete (suspend it half in until it sets)?
Just put the ground anchor in the bucket of concrete and let it set.
bit late but just putting an old U lock in the wet concrete so the loop sticks out would be a good solution.
It maybe a pain but I'm sure if they want it that much they will take the concrete too.where as bolting it to a concrete floor that would be pretty hard to carry
Lift couple of floorboards in shed, dig big hole, fill with concrete? You could even shutter to bring it up to the floor level of the shed and then trim the floorboards around it...
They'll just bring a sack trolley and wheel it away 😉
there are specific ground anchors for setting in concrete. Like this [url= http://www.fastbikebits.com/product/629/mammoth-ground-anchor?gclid=CJmmqsnGhLgCFavHtAodSTQAWQ ]here.[/url]
Buy a length of good high grade steel chain, embed half in the wet concrete.
Might reduce the issues of having a lump of concrete with a big steel bar or hoop sticking out of it and you bashing your frame/elbow/cat off of it.
But serously you weren't really going to "drill" into the set concrete were you?
Why let it set and then drill? Can you not just embed a loop of metal into the concrete (suspend it half in until it sets)?
OMG - I am so embarrassed...
I need to do something like this too. Good thinking (apart from the setting then drilling bit)!
best concrete mix for bike anchor in a bucket?
3:2:1 (sand:cement:gravel)
or just go and buy a bag of premixed 'just add water' from a DIY store.
Be aware, if they cant grab your bike they may try and dismantle your bike, taking all your parts instead! Happened to me. Twice. They ruined the alarm too so it never went off.
Bikes should be kept in the house IMO
Why not make it even more difficult for them to take the concrete block away by embedding a load of broken glass into it too 🙂
Get an old car tyre from ATS or somewhere.
Get some old wire fence netting.
Get some bricks and or pebbles, and cement
Tip the tyre on its end. Stuff the wire in so it 'fills' the whole tyre.
Fill the bottom of the tyre with bricks/stones. Fill the spaces with concrete.
When it dries, rotate it slightly and repeat the stones/concrete thing.
Repeat until the whole tyre is stuffed with reinforced concrete.
Wrap in polythene to keep everything clean. Finish with Duck tape.
Voila, hight security Polo mint. Around 60kg for a fairly small tyre. You can roll it round to move it but once a bike is locked to it you can't move it.
There is no small section for a thief to bolt crop.
The rubber protects the concrete from hammer attacks.
etc
It's never ideal to keep thousands of pounds of bike in a couple of hundred quids worth of shed. Maybe a shed upgrade to something more secure in the first pace is what's needed? Thieving eejits simply dismantled half my shed after I fortified it after it was broken into. They just removed nails and took away half a wall. Did it while I was in too so must have been quick and quiet. So I ended up with a trashed shed and a nicked bike, though the bike wasn't expensive.
I've done this. It's a great solution in my opinion.
I've got a bucket with two loops in - it's about 60-70kg.
I used the ready-mix stuff for fence posts. it's a lot easier to get to an even consistency for putting in a small space like a bucket. the normal ready-mix stuff has big lumps of stone in and it's really hard and messy to get it even for a small space.
it will be difficult to use the ground anchor as you need to sink it in deep enough so it can't be pulled out whilst leaving enough outside the concrete to get a chain/ lock through.
EDIT - loving the tyre idea.
Mate used an old landrover engine block with a chain through the middle bore
Bury some wire fencing into the concrete to give it some reinforcement.
The tyre idea is a great one
Wish this had been posted earlier. Just has to change a tyre as I'd ripped a hole in the side of it. Could have kept the tyre and made a nice anchor.
I went for a ground anchor in a hole full of concrete after giving up on trying to get my mother in-law to have her nose pierced.
B&Q was pretty good for all I needed.
Old u-lock works well for your anchor. Agree with wire mesh or similiar for reinforcement, poured concrete isn't the most impact resistant.
Tyre approach is clever, I like it.
Buy a big Barky dog
Watch Home Alone!!
If I were a thief, I'd just cut your frame.
Until people stop leaving £2000 bikes in sheds, the problem won't go away, and all this super security is a waste of time.
Old calor gas bottle (empty!). Take reg union off, fill to brim with water, drain. Angle grind a hole in the base, cut 2 holes in the cylindrical section, feed suitable length of hefty chain through the holes and bung up the hole in the top. Turn upside down, fill with concrete. If you were clever, you'd have joined the chain together inside the cylinder already - which is what I'll do next time.
I went for a ground anchor in a hole full of concrete after giving up on trying to get my mother in-law to have her nose pierced.
Good to see some retro 70s humour - like it!
Shed wise we bought sheets of concrete re-bar(about a six inch grid).
Found this very easy to cut to size and lined the inside walls and roof of the shed. Fixed it all together.
And yes last time they took the roof of our shed and dis-mantaled the bikes
If I were a thief, I'd just cut your frame
Did you nick my motorbike? Cause that's how they nicked it. Big chain round seat, back wheel and house.
Had two bikes stolen from my shed. Not my best bikes but good enough. They just cut through the frames !!!
If I were a thief, I'd just cut your frame.
If you were a thief, I'd cut your bollocks off and put them on eBay 😀
^^^^
And I'd buy them, stamp them into a pulp, and then sew them back into your ballbag.
(The thief's ballbag, not yours, Brakes)
Stand a plastic pipe in the bucket, fill with the concrete mix. Gives you a block with a hole through it. Also stuff galvanised chicken wire in the bucket too, helps to stop it being smashed apart.
I'd like a big piece of concrete to drop on the head of the scum that stole my bike 3 weeks ago.
Big plastic tub box thing from b&q, cut hole to match in shed floor. Fill with concrete and wire mesh. One of those ground anchors that sits flush with concrete like a tunnel. Once set, cut off tub handles. 100kg plus bikes.
Yep, bolt cutters or saw would sort out most of that and leave you with a bucket of concrete you can't get rid of.
By all means carry on but if they sort your alarm and get in there they will leave with stuff.
Make sure your insurance covers you.
These look like a good option, buried in shed floor:
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With chain as well. As above, some judicious sawing is going to reduce the expensive bike to a collection of portable bits, but at least this is a first obstacle.
Speaking of the above - what chains are people using to go through frames/wheels?
a few of these
[url= http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Safety%20&%20Security/Security%20Cables%20&%20Chains/Hardened%20Quad%20Link%20Security%20Chain/d200/sd2949/p85267 ]http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Safety%20&%20Security/Security%20Cables%20&%20Chains/Hardened%20Quad%20Link%20Security%20Chain/d200/sd2949/p85267[/url]
It's all about increasing the time and resource needed for an attack. There is no such thing as perfect security.
See Ross Anderson's [url= http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/book.html ]book[/url] on security engineering:
"The typical bank vault is certified to resist attack for ten minutes, yet your local Fire Department can get in there in two minutes using an abrasive wheel."
It's all about increasing the time and resource needed for an attack
exactly. one £100 lock that takes 10 minutes to get through, or 3 different £25 locks that require 5 minutes to get through each and three different types of tool?
this is also why I keep my bike storage messy with paint pots, boxes and bits of wood to get past and trip over before you can get to the bikes.
It's all about increasing the time and resource needed for an attack.
Or noise. I live in a semi with an integral garage, at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac with about 10 houses around in a circle facing each other. My locks could be defeated with an angle grinder, but it'd wake most of the neighbourhood I imagine.
brakes - Memberthis is also why I keep my bike storage messy with paint pots, boxes and bits of wood to get past and trip over before you can get to the bikes.
Or at least that's the excuse you use when "asked" about it... 🙂
brakes - Memberexactly. one £100 lock that takes 10 minutes to get through, or 3 different £25 locks that require 5 minutes to get through each and three different types of tool?
Sure, but see those locks you posted? A properly equipped thief will be able to cut those off faster than you can open them with the keys, and no louder, with a tool that cost about as much as one of the chains.
...This would create a 30kg weight...
30kg doesn't present much of a challenge to a couple of fellas especially if all they have to do is lug your bike (~15kg?) plus a 30kg bucket 20-30 ft into a waiting transit van, alarm or not they'd be long gone before you were out of bed and down the stairs...
If you can excavate a trench/pit of some sort and as others have suggested bury your means of restraint (tied to some rebar) before concreting it in then that is about as secure as you could reasonably manage to make it IMO...
The inherent trouble with portable security arrangements is their portability.
Sure, but see those locks you posted? A properly equipped thief will be able to cut those off faster than you can open them with the keys, and no louder, with a tool that cost about as much as one of the chains.
allowing for a bit of exaggeration, I don't disagree with you. there are of course other security measures that I won't go into.
what tool are you on about anyway? bolt cutters? or something hydraulic?
how's about:
dig a trench 1.75m x 0.5m and 0.5m deep.
fill with 3:2:1 concrete mix
lower bike in and watch, day and night, until fully set.
sleep like a baby, safe in the knowledge that no amount of sawing your frame will yield it to the thieving scum.
brakes - Memberallowing for a bit of exaggeration, I don't disagree with you.
Nah, seriously, I think you'd probably be surprised... Almax used to tour the motorbike shows with a set of big boltcutters, and challenge anyone to bring their locks along and test them. Funnilly enough, none of their competitors ever did, in fact they eventually got Almax banned from the shows... But in the meantime, you could try against their examples, or do your own. And it's literally snip, snip. (unless the link is overhardened in which case, one cut does it, the other side snaps)
I weigh nowt and I have muscles like grapes but I still cut my Sold Secure Gold chain like it was made of cheese.