advice on locks

NesTea

Hello,
I'm after some advice on locks....after recently becoming a victim of bike theft (and looking at every single bike around thinking it could, just could, be mine) I've now moved on a bought a new bike. OK, it's only a cheap bike (£100) but, living in a high crime area, I don't want to get another bike nicked so I'm willing to spend about £50 on locks. Right, from what I know I think it's best to have 2 different types on lock - one D-lock and one cable lock. I'm thinking of getting the Abus Granit Plus 51 (found for about £40) and then spending about ten pounds on a cable lock. But...is a cable lock worth £10 actually worth getting? Or would it be better to spend £50 on a D-lock - or £30 on a D-lock and £20 on a cable? Whatchareckon? Any help appreciated!

(Also...I'm going to paint my new bike a hopefully unattractive shade of black/brown/luminous pink....hehheh )

equus

If in doubt, buy the better quality locks, even if they cost nearly as much as the bike. Just a false economy to buy cheaper locks!

SEAcarlessTTLE

Sorry to hear about your bike getting stolen. My humble advice as a carless cyclist who'd be mighty pissed at having their bike stolen would be to get a damned good D-lock (um, U-lock depending on which side of the pond you're on, I guess?) and a good, solid cable (not a cable lock). My guess is that the lock part of most cable locks is the weakest point.

At the risk of insulting a seasoned commuter with a novice question, may I ask how you had locked up your recently stolen bike? What kind(s) of lock through what bike parts and to what? My question is motivated by the tons and tons of nice bikes I see around here locked in ways that might tempt a thief. If your area is similar, the name of the game is to make your bike look harder to steal than those unfortunate folks' rides.

Hope some good bike karma comes your way...

SEAcarlessTTLE

Another issue...

My advice is to get the smallest D-lock that you think will accommodate whatever you normally lock to. The idea is to fill as much of the D as possible with your bike and the post, rack, or whatever sturdy, stationary object you find. This will make it difficult to fit a jack in there to bust the lock. I use a mini D-lock and a cable as advised by bike guru Sheldon Brown:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html

If you have a regular destination, consider investing in a lock you can leave attached to the rack/post there, so you don't have to lug it around on your regular commute.