Kind of bikes I usually take into town are the un-nickable sort (no-one would want to nick them).
I don't use chains when I lock my bike up, and I don't think this would encourage me to either. I rely on two disc locks and whatever security the bike comes with as standard. Lugging bloody great chains around is a pain in the arse, and if they want it they're going to nick it anyway, end of, so I save myself the inconvenience of some sodding great chain.
Doing 20K miles a year since I started riding and only ever had two bikes nicked, one from a locked council garage and the other from right outside my front door.
A few of us do this on runs just now but through the back wheels as many thiefs would gladly undo a front wheel & lift the bike into the back of a van.
I have found through experiance no one challenges you i had to pick up a m8ts bike from a busy car park without the keys for it & no one even took the reg number of the van let alone challenged me & the van was just a big black unmarked van at the time.
Best thing i could say if your out & have to leave your bike chain it to something solid & through the back wheel & part of the frame & never leave the padlock on the ground. & NO I AM NOT a bike thief i run a bike recovery service. so have found out first hand. My Last point don't have your alarm remote on the same key ring as your bike key WHY? cause if you lose it someone else has a new bike I find if you put the remote on your house keys as 9 times out of 10 you will have them with you to. Sorry for the soap box bit. Most bikers won't bother sticker or not if you are in the middle of nowhere & need to secure your bike as you also secure theirs at the same time.
its all new to me, my bike is old but in good condition, so i use a disc lock when i'm out. also its datatagged, how much use that is i don't know. its chained to a ground anchor at home.
It dose not matter how old your bike is. Like for many of us it's our pride & joy. All you can do is make them think too much hassel lets go else where.
This isn't a new idea, I came across L2L scheme about 18 months ago, maybe a little longer. I've never put L2L into practice but I think it's a useful idea.
The sticker lets folk know for definite that they are WELCOME to link up.
The only problems I can see with L2L is if the second biker links their bike incorrectly making it difficult for the first biker to leave when they want to. The other problem being if the bike is a 'thief magnet' (like a Honda CBR) cos that means the thieves will take your bike as well if it's linked to the other bike.
I believe in securing tatty bikes (like mine was) cos even they are of use to a thief who just wants to rag it round some field for fun or cannibalise it; even tatty bikes need parts. I just remember how inconvenient it was, and how fed up I felt, when my bike wasn't working and off the road, so I know how I'd feel if it had been stolen and I didn't have it at all.
Yep I know that no matter how much secruity a bike has it still could be stolen but at least you know you did your best if you make it as secure as possible.
My ex actually made security systems...nothing is 100% reliable...our garage was purposely built for the bikes, built at the end of a very long garden downhill with extremely hard access to it with no exterior lighting, door and other entrance points sealed with metal mesh and alarmed, with security poles that went into the base of the garage, disc locks etc. We also either datatagged or smartwatered bikes or both.
One day, he left his commuting bike out for a couple of minutes, chained up with disc lock on right outside the back of our house underneath the kitchen window literally it was there one second and gone the next....it happened so quick, there must have been a few of them...they must have just lifted the bike up and onto the back of some 4x4 and gone for dust...because the second we knew it was missing, we both ran outside to see if we could catch the culprits! Other times, we have left bikes unchained with just a disc lock and manufacturers standard security devices on in the absolute middle of nowhere and noone has touched them!
It depends on whether you are the unfortunate statistic or not!
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