Sunday, August 8

Less Piggy Parking

Now I'm Only Using Half the Rack. You can See how Close the Hedge Is
In my earlier post, PM Summer commented that I was locking properly, if not correctly. He was polite enough to not mention that I was sorta hogging the whole bike rack; a byproduct of never seeing other bikes at the gym. Well, I've reformed - a bit. Below, you can see a closeup of the actual locking technique. As you can see, the mini U lock goes around the rear rim and the cable secures the front wheel. A thief would have to saw through the rear rim to get the frame. Even someone wanting to walk off with the front wheel, would have to get through the cable. It isn't really necessary to lock to the frame itself because few thieves are going to want to take the time to hacksaw through a rim and inflated rear tire. Slightly more secure, would be to use the U lock to go around both the rear rim and the chain stays. The lock is just a bit too small to go around the rim and the seat tube. By the way, the lock is the same one I got at the Wally World in Lubbock for $15, as recounted here. I guess I'm now locking correctly, though still not properly, but hey, it's greener since the rack can now hold TWO bikes. Kumbaya!

If you go visit Rat Trap Press, look here, or shown in the second photo down, here. He put together a holster for  his U lock and such are also available in "Etsy." I'm hoping I can get a holster that will carry my lock AND the cable neatly. The stuff that came with the lock only works until you actually use the lock.

No, the Shrub Isn't Actually Overgrowing the Lock Cable, It's Just Keeping it Company

4 comments:

John Romeo Alpha said...

Steve, does that rear wheel have a quick release? Nip that cable and the front wheel and frame are gone, aren't they? I would prefer you grabbed one of the rear chain or seat stays, and maybe a couple rear spokes, instead of just the rear wheel, if it has a quick release.

John Romeo Alpha said...

No, nevermind, I pictured releasing the wheel and now I see that it can't come off without cutting through it. I think Sheldon Brown wrote something very similar to this in his locking recommendations. I don't imagine many thieves would go that far.

Steve A said...

JRA, the pictured locking is EXACTLY the Sheldon Brown locking strategy, using an OnGuard mini instead of the Kryptonite mini. SB talked about locking at:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html

In the event, the wheel doesn't have a QR, but with the locking method, it's secure either way.

RANTWICK said...

Huh! And I thought you incapable of change or of listening to anyone... go and figure. Did sweet kind-hearted un-posessed Kermie put you up to it?

[penzymag]

Post a Comment

No Need for Non-Robot proof here!