I’m guessing most bike riders have experienced that gut-punch, sickening feeling of having their bike stolen. A truly awful moment, leaving you full of revengeful thoughts and questions of how you could have prevented it from happening in the first place.
This happened to a friend of mine recently after he’d spent months lovingly building up a dream bike. A Campag Record groupset, deep-section carbon wheels, the full works. It was by far the best bike he'd ever owned and he’d ridden it just a handful of times.
Then late one evening it was gone in the blink of an eye. The thieves got into his garage in seconds and were gone just as quickly. Ignoring all his power tools and leaving everything else untouched. We suspect they knew what they were looking for.
Like me, securing his bike properly was something he was going to do. It was in a locked garage after all. What was the hurry? These jobs never seem that urgent, and then it's too late.
Since that night he’s gone on a mission to turn his garage into a mini Fort Knox, and as he talked me through all the security gadgets that are now available to buy online, I thought I’d better up my game.
We've shared any decent Cyber Monday cycling deals on locks as we find them on our live blog, but you can also check out our recommendations for the best bike locks in our buyer's guide
The first thing he got himself was a solar powered Eufy security camera. No wiring is needed as the solar panel keeps the battery running with three hours of sunlight a day. It connects to your wifi and there's no monthly subscription fee. It's only 10 x 8 cm (approx), is IP67 rated, has 8gb of storage, infrared for night vision and has human detection built into it.
It was a good start, but it doesn't take a genius to know that most, if not all, thieves cover their faces when mid crime. So he also went for a infrared driveway alarm.
Again it charges through a solar panel, but some also have a USB port. The range is around 800m and it claims motion detection can be adjusted to avoid being set off by small animals or falling leaves. There are several versions of these you can purchase, depending on how many motion sensors you need, but we found the eMACROS set starting at $44.99 for one sensor and an alarm.
The video camera wasn't quite right for me as I didn't have anywhere to place it that a) put it out of reach, and b) didn't record the front of my neighbour's house. I instead went for an outbuilding alarm.
I found the Yale PIR Shed/ Garage Alarm for such a great price, I didn't even bother to wait for a deal. It's currently just $35.70 at Walmart or just £11.99 at Amazon UK.
It offers some peace of mind. I've mounted it in the garage, and as soon as it detects movement, it sets off a piercing alarm, claimed to be 100db.
It's easy to use by pressing number the number 4 to set it then getting out of range in 10 seconds. It only has four number buttons, and you set a four digit code to turn it off. Mine's 1, 2, 3, 4.
Kidding.
Next up, I got myself a ground anchor.
There are a lot of brands out there offering these. If you're in the US, brands like Eypins and AKM have very similar products.
Here in the UK, I chose an Oxford Product ground anchor from Amazon. Now the instructions and the wedges weren't brilliant.
We destroyed one wedge hammering it in (the instructions show a hammer knocking the plug in without the bolt in the wedge. Don't do this, as the hammer destroys the wedge), and another bolt didn't pull the wedge into the plug to secure it in place. We picked up some new bolts from the local hardware store to solve the problem.
Two hex key bolts hold the plastic cover in place and while those plugs could be broken out, it would take a while. The ground bolts are secured in place by banging a ball bearing into the hex key slot, so they can't be removed. The only way to get it out of the ground is to take an angle grinder to the concrete floor. My Oxford motorcycle lock secures the bike to the anchor.
I also purchased a cable lock from Screwfix to secure my kids' bikes and have locked the keys in a cupboard. Nothing can ever be 100% protected, of course, people still rob banks, but I'm happy that my bikes are all well secured, and no one is going to make an easy getaway with any of them.
The Black Friday/ Cyber Monday sale period is the perfect time to make sure you up your security game. Even if the locks don't have mega discounts or even money off, you'll be saving money on so many other items that if you ever needed to justify investing in keeping your bikes safe and secure, now is the time.
