Locked Bikes In London

When I was in That London the other week, I took some photos of locked bikes around Angel tube station, for my other blog.

Firstly, here’s a picture of one way to stop your bike being pinched. Have a bike that no-one would want to buy. Actually, it’s just the sort of bike I’d buy, but your average scroat in a pub wouldn’t be interested - not enough gears, no suspension, non knobbly tyres.

In short, not enough bling.

When you ride this sort of bike, you’re obviously more interested in your own sartorial standards, than going fast or over mountains. You can also lock it with a simple combination lock, because there are much richer pickings for bike thieves near-by . . .

Of course, they probably won’t be taking this one though. It’s got both wheels and the frame secured by seperate D-locks (or, if you prefer, U-Locks). On the down side, two locks of the same type mean that they can both be defeated with the same tool (a mini-jack), it’s secured to railings (somewhat flimsy), and the owner’s left the front light on the bike.

But overall, a fair effort - I’d give the owner an 8 out of 10 for this.

So what happens if you don’t lock your bike like this?

Well, take a look. Firstly, we see here someone who’s only locked the back wheel and the frame. Some thieving toerag’s made off with the front wheel. OK, so it’s not the most expensive component on the bike (back wheels and frames are far more expensive), and there’s a bike shop about 300 yards down the road . . . but all the same, for the price of the new wheel, tyre & tube, the owner could probably have bought two or three perfectly good locks. And they wouldn’t have the inconvenience that this obviously causes.

Of course, if all else fails, they could get in touch with the owner of this bike. If all you lock is your front wheel, don’t be surprised if that’s all that’s left when you get back to your bike. Between these two bike owners, I suppose they’ve got the wherewithal for one of them to ride home . . .

The alternative explanation is that these two photos are the ultimate bike locking strategy - dismantle your bike and lock the various parts in separate locations.

Filed under: Bike Culture, Bike locking strategy, Bike theft, Bike to Work, D-Lock, How to lock, Partially Locked Bike, Stolen Bike, Unlocked Bike