Comments on: Tempting Fate

By: disgruntled

disgruntled — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:06:06 +0000

I think it’s exactly the sort of situation a wheel-lock is called for – very little hassle and at least likely to slow the thieves down. Although that won’t help with the basket-as-litter-bin problem (which I remember well from my London commuting days)

By: Autolycus

Autolycus — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:00:43 +0000

For what it’s worth I usually stop on my commute into work to buy a paper, and don’t lock the bike – and that’s where Bermondsey shades into Borough and Elephant and Castle. Likewise, don’t lock it when I occasionally stop at my local convenience store on the way home (in Millwall). But in both cases, it’s possible to see the bike from inside the shop, and, as it happens, I know the street cleaner in Bermondsey keeps an eye on it (because he asked me about my wing mirror device) and my local shop owner is for some reason fascinated by folding bikes.

But who knows whether some tearaway isn’t going to take a chance? Once I locked it up outside Burlington Arcade and came out to find someone had decided to use my basket as a rubbish bin.

By: disgruntled

disgruntled — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:51:26 +0000

Dom – we’ll make a cyclist of you yet…
Pete – were you chasing it on foot? I’m surprised you got that far!

By: Pete

Pete — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:21:35 +0000

I have a couple of those lightweight cable lock things – they’re easy to wrap on the frame and I can just lock one frame to lampost if I’ll not be long or can do the whole looping through saddle and wheels if I’m in town. That said, if I lived in the sticks, I’d probably not bother.

I do remember leaving one unlocked in town, however, and chasing after it for about half a mile before giving up exhausted and angry.

By: Dom

Dom — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:35:09 +0000

I have one of those under sadle bag thingies with a cheap Halfords lock in it. I suspect the lock wouldn’t cause any determined thief for anything more than a few seconds but it saves me lugging a D lock about and it means that when I do need to leave the bike for a few minutes it’s at least going to require more than just jumping on it to steal it.

The girlfriend has a much sturdier lock on hers which is long enough to lock my bike too so if we’re out for lunch we don’t need to worry about them. She also has the pump and a bike that isn’t silly so there’s space on the frame for all this stuff