Improve Your Bike Security

The Chester Cycling Campaign has been working with the local police in order to try to reduce the incidence of bike thefts in Chester, both from the home and in public places.  In addition, Cheshire West and Chester council have been improving the facilities within the city to secure bikes and this has seen a reduction in the amount stolen. However, the majority of bikes are stolen from the home, not when out and about. Local police routinely take crime reports of £500 mountain bikes stolen from within garden sheds secured by nothing more than a £5 padlock on a rusty stable latch.

Ideally keep your bike inside a brick structure. If this is not possible and bikes must be kept in a shed, then make it as difficult as possible for a burglar to remove the bike. This includes doing as many of the following as possible.

These measures will slow or deter thieves by making it a noisy prospect to break in to a shed:

• ensuring that the shed has solid door hinges
• fitting a mortise lock on the door with the mechanism on the inside
• locking the bike to an immovable object inside the shed
• securing and covering any windows in the shed (to prevent thieves just removing the window beading)
• installing passive infra-red (PIR) motion detector lights
• installing a shed alarm

All the above might seem like a lot of trouble, but about 60% of all bikes stolenare taken from the home, mostly by breaking into sheds.

Cycle Registration Schemes

A number of cycle registration schemes are available. These are usually online systems which hold various details of cycles and their owners, including frame numbers and make/model of the bike, as well as photos of the cycle.  Two of the most wides used schemes are Bike Register and Immobilise:

Bike Register

Immobilise

Note that Cycling Campaign members can join Cycling UK at a discount, which, in turn, offers a discount on various Bike Register registration methods.

Bike Security Resources

Check out these articles and advice leaflets for more information about the prevention of bike theft.

Protect your bike from theft – Cheshire Police bike security advice

Steer Clear of Cycle Theft – Home Office leaflet with advice for cyclists

Gone in 42 Seconds –  Interesting and useful CTC Cycle magazine article about different types of bike locks