Commuting on your favorite bike to someplace where you need to lock and leave it behind is definitely a more serious concern to a few people who live in a town that easily gets bikes stolen. And this stress becomes two times more concerning when you don’t have the bike rack available to lock.
That’s when some tips and tricks on how to lock a bike without a rack will help you the most.
Sharing Some High-Key Useful Tips on How to Lock a Bike Without a Rack
If you follow regular updates from go-to bikers, you’ll already know that a bike rack is one of the most useful things out there for riders. For those who are new to cycling, it’s a special accessory that helps in securing a bike in concerning spots. These are pretty common and usually seen in parks and numerous town sidewalks. Also, you will get to see these outsides of stores and businesses.
First, Learn About Things That Can Work as Bike Racks.
It’s okay to not have a bike rack around if you can manage to find stuff in that area that could be used as a substitute. Now this list of things is surprisingly pretty long. Because there are a lot of elements that can very well pull of a similar role, but unofficially.
When you look around, find stuff that comes with the following characteristics:
- Restrict any try of lifting the lock over it.
- Pretty heavy and solid that is hard to move.
- Avoid foot traffic since this can later turn out to be a bit rude.
- No cars around because you don’t want it to get hit.
Some ideal options that go very well with most of these characteristics are benches, posts, poles, trees, road signs, fences, rails that do not allow sliding the bike lock off, and more. Good examples of things you should avoid are parking lots that seem busy, moving items such as gate or truck, sidewalks with people walking around, shopping cart corrals of course, and handicap ramps because you’ll seem pretty mean.
Pay Attention to Not Just the Frame but Also Both Wheels.
This is a rule that people who are using rack also need to follow. But the importance just gets two-three times more serious once you are in a situation of locking bikes in a secluded area. These are usually the main spots where bikes will become more like a target to a thief or burglar.
And so, don’t be in the group of people who leaves just sound after threading their lock around only a single tire. Similarly, don’t leave after threading around the frame only. Both will lead to terrible outcomes.
When someone tries to thread their U-lock or cable through only a single tire before securing it with a thing, they’ll be protecting that one wheel merely. The remaining part of bike still invites vulnerable theft chances. Since it’s pretty easy to remove that wheel and take the bike away.
Now let’s come to what happens when you put a lock around the bike’s frame and then go for mooring with your chosen object. Well, here as well you are still inviting theft for both of your wheels. And usually, it will take only a few seconds to get those tires out.
So, you must not follow any of these two mistakes. Instead, make sure you are threading the lock around both tires plus frame.
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Stay Away from Chain Link Fences
Unfortunately, this next thing is pretty common with riders. There are several urban areas with chain link fences that are vulnerable with stretches almost flooding. It may seem like a decent idea at first to lock your bike in this place.
But most of the time, these are just public property abutting areas. A bicycle thief with not much talent can also easily cut through this fencing type using a minimal bolt cutter. There are tons of similar objects for such thing too.
And this sadly brings us to the brutal reality that random metal is not a thing. In fact, locking your bike to any metal is not going to guarantee safety from thefts. The only way you can avoid such consequences is by ensuring the metal object is secure-metal quality.
Big No to Private Properties.
It’s definitely hard to tell by yourself if an area is a private or public property. However, even this no-brainer thing becomes severely problematic when folks get the wrong idea and locking their bikes to other people’s property.
In some cases, you end up losing your bike for real with no chances of getting it back. Since the property owner will most certainly have legal rights to getting your bike removed. So, if you are living in a place where even the public areas have rules for bikes, don’t dare of locking it in a private property.
If There’s Literally Nothing!
Now, not locking your bike is surely inviting thefts. However, if there’s almost no way and nothing weighty enough suitable for holding your bike secure, one simple trick might help you.
Usually, a thief won’t be able to spend much time stealing your bike. So, if it takes him or her much effort or makes things too obvious as a burglary, then chances are that he or she will just give up.
The easiest way to ensure that is wheel immobilization. If the wheels can’t rotate and stuck to the bike, it’ll most probably stay intact.
Wrap Up
And that was all about how to lock a bike without a rack. Now sometimes, it’s just that you don’t know where the bike rack exists. If that’s so, simply use your online map’s street view before going to that particular area. You will most probably find out about the rack even if it’s next to or behind a building. Try to plan ahead of your short trip, it’s one of the finest ways to keep such tragedies away.
