How do I secure my bikes outside?
December 16, 2020 2:28 PM   Subscribe

I've got a covered area at the side of my yard where I want to store our bikes. What should I install that I can securely lock the bikes to?

The covered area is about 4' x 24' and is a roof supported by 6x6 posts spaced 4' apart. Two sides of it are my fence so have walls and the other two sides are open. There's good space for the bikes but I need some kind of strong posts or rods or something that I can lock them to.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm to Home & Garden (11 answers total)
 
If it's a brick or concrete or masonry wall, you might use an anchor eye bolt, they're perfect to attach a chain and a padlock to. (You'll need a masonry bit and a hammer drill to make the hole first).
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 2:51 PM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]


McMaster Carr has kind of your bog standard bike racks you’d see outside a store. They also have lots of other creative hardware solutions.

The weak point is not likely going to be whatever you’re locking the bikes to, but the locks themselves. Storing bikes outside can be risky; I wouldn’t on a regular basis without an intense lock situation.
posted by furnace.heart at 2:55 PM on December 16, 2020 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: I'm OK with the lock being defeated because then I can send a picture of it to Kryptonite and they'll pay for the bike.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:51 PM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]


- Go to Home Depot or equivalent. Buy a sack of concrete, a mixing pan, and a 10' length of rebar.
- Dig two holes about 18" deep and 12" in diameter, about 24" on center.
- Bend the rebar into a U shape with the tips about 24" on center. You might want to play with those dimensions.
- Mix up the concrete, pour into the holes. Embed the rebar tips in the holes. Prop up the rebar while the concrete sets.
- You'll probably want to cover the rebar with something to protect the bikes, like a couple layers of gaffer's tape

I would not store my bikes outside if I could avoid it, but this will give you a relatively convenient lockup.
posted by adamrice at 5:07 PM on December 16, 2020


How many bikes are we talking about total? Different sizes (like, adults and kids bikes? standard size vs. longtail or cargo? any e-bikes with batteries in awkward places?) What's the fence made of?

I used to lock my bike directly to a similar post in the backyard of my previous house, though it was not covered (but the post height was such that it would have been impossible for anyone to lift my bike up and over without bringing in loud tools, plus it was capped with a wide top). But that was a 4x4 wooden post, skinny enough for my Kryptonite U-lock to fit around and still attach to my bike frame. You might be able to lock your bikes by their frames to your wider posts directly with Kryptonite chain locks, but I assume the configuration is such that they'll only be half-covered then?

Suggestions that may be overkill, depending on your preferences and budget (and both assume that you have a concrete "floor" to mount the racks to):

* My personal Dream House Bike Racks are Ground Control's Double Dockers, because I am 5'0" and I can still get bikes down off the top rack of these. I wish these were EVERYWHERE there's a parking garage or large lot.

* Of the McMaster Carr racks furnace.heart linked to and other vendors of similar styles, I would strongly urge you to pick one of the U racks (style A); they'll give you a lot more flexibility for locking up bikes of various sizes and configurations securely. Style B is going to make it difficult to lock your bike *frame*; locking wheel-only is a recipe for theft, *especially* the front wheel like pictured on their website, ugh. And Style C is too skinny for many types of bike wheels to fit through in order to lock your frame to the rack (and not all bike shapes will "lift over" the top wheel over the rack easily, which is the suggested alternative practice; mine won't).

On preview, if you're handy and we're only talking about a couple of bikes, adamrice has got it.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 5:15 PM on December 16, 2020 [1 favorite]


If you have standard upright bikes, bolt a 4' long horizontal metal rod from one 6x6 to the next. You can then throw the front wheel over so it dangles, and the bike frame and the rod are right next to each other for easy locking.
posted by aniola at 6:03 PM on December 16, 2020


You could get a KryptoFlex 410 Double Loop Cable and then just loop it around one post, through the frames of the bikes, and then around the other post. Secure both ends with your guaranteed bike lock.

Or you could just create a big loop with the cable, secure the two ends with a kryptonite lock, and then lock your bikes to the loop individually.

Rebar isn't a good choice for an anchor bar. It is way softer than even a cheap bike lock and small sizes are easily cut with bolt cutters. Anything less than #10 (nominally 1.25" diameter) will bend out of shape just by leaning on it. It's covered in sharp edges and will rust. A length of 1" electrical conduit bent into a single 3x4 U or a pair of 3x1 Us and then filled with concrete before setting them in concrete in the ground would work better. You can bend 1" by hand with a store bender before leaving the store with your purchase.
posted by Mitheral at 6:05 PM on December 16, 2020


A tip I learned in the Netherlands and have used successfully in Budapest for years (after losing three bikes in our very bike theft-y city.) The safest way to prevent theft is to use several different types of bike locks in combination. Thieves usually can carry only one of two tools for the job - tools are too difficult to conceal if you are carrying more than one. (Usually a battery powered saw for Kryptonite style U-locks and a long handled chain cutter for chains and cables suspended around the neck and hidden inside an overcoat.) I lock my bike to a handrail in the courtyard of our flat with a thick chain, a U-lock, and a thick cable, as well as a cheap cable lock to prevent seat theft (seat chained to frame.) You could also simply chain the bike to a large cinder block as a deterrence to somebody trying to pick it up and walk off with a locked bike. If you do not already have something to lock the bike to, using a combination of chain, cable and U-lock together may deter theft of a free standing bike. It would take a thief too long to cut through all of it to make the risk worthwhile.
posted by zaelic at 3:24 AM on December 17, 2020


Warning about using anything like eye bolts, rebar, and the like: it's way easier to grind through the bolts/rebar than the lock, so your bike disappears WITH the lock and then Kryptonite won't have to honor your claim because you can't show them the broken lock. The anchor points need to be either 1. bigger than what a grinding wheel will conveniently cut (so more than about 1.5" edge-to-center, so more than 3" in diameter) or 2. shrouded by a guard that keeps an angle grinder from getting at the anchor.
posted by introp at 9:54 AM on December 17, 2020


I didn't say it explicitly but that is the advantage of the long KryptoFlex cable. Unless the potential thief is willing to cut thru a 6x6 holding up the building above them, twice, they'll go after the lock preserving the lock's warranty.

Realistically there is nothing you can do to prevent a truly determined thief from stealing a bike. If only because at a certain point the components are worth as much to an addict as the bike itself and the frame/wheel set then becomes the weak point in your security. However that level of thief is a microscopic percentage of bike theft perpetrators in most locations. Most are discouraged by a decent lock.
posted by Mitheral at 11:02 AM on December 17, 2020


Response by poster: I realize that if someone really wanted the bikes then they'll be able to get them. I'm just trying to make it hard enough that they're going to try a different house or cut the lock with a portable grinder. I've had my old bike locked to itself in the backyard for a whole summer but my new bike and my wife's bike are pricey enough that I'd feel bad if I didn't make a good effort to secure them and they got stolen.

I'm liking the idea of the conduit, or something thicker, filled with concrete because the grinding disc that would be good for the metal wouldn't be good for the concrete and vice versa.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 5:57 PM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]


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