If you love your bike (and you will) and don’t want it to get stolen, you need to think seriously about security. An unsecure bike makes an easy steal for an opportunist thief as they can be off and around the corner with it in seconds.

Any cycle security device is only as strong as the weakest link, so a £100 mega chain with a 50p padlock will be a total waste of money!

Adding your bike onto your house insurance probably won’t cost much (if anything) and it will give you that peace of mind that if your bike does go missing you have it covered. You can also look at separate bicycle insurance policies too.

Chain Locks

A flimsy chain that costs £4 won’t stop a thief with bolt cutters. The thicker the better (think ship’s anchor). A big chain might weigh a lot but it’s worth it to keep your pride and joy safe. It’s even worth popping to a motorcycle shop and buying a motorcycle chain lock if you want the ultimate deterrent as these tend to be huge. If you cycle to the same place every day, leave your chain there, it’ll save you having to carry it about.

D Locks

D Locks are harder to cut through than a chain. Some manufactures even promise to replace your bike if it gets stolen. They aren’t as big as a chain so you can’t secure as many points of the bike as you can with a chain so you may want a chain too. The more the better, a thief will always pick the easiest target, so make yours look impossible.

Obvious but worth pointing out… always secure your bike…

…to an immovable object

…in a designated cycle parking area where possible

…somewhere with CCTV (thieves tend to avoid these areas)

…somewhere that’s busy and well lit (hustle and bustle will put thieves off)

…with a good quality lock (or lots of good quality locks)

…through as many parts of the bike as possible

…by making sure ‘quick release’ bits are locked up too (a thief might fancy your front wheel)