At night, my bike accompanies me in my house. Creating an obstacle course that all guests have to pass, if they want to get to my lounge.
Iād be interested in hearing where London Cyclist readers leave their bikes at night. Do you double lock it outside or do you bring it in to the warmth of your home?
Leave a comment below.
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Garden shed. Otherwise my insurance doesn’t cover it.
In the flat – up 3 flights of stairs and then into the flat. Somehow a bicycle in the hallway feels right in London – almost adding to the aesthete. Helmets hanging up – hiViz jacket on the hook – shoes in the corner – rucksack on the bannister – lube under the stairs. I like stepping past the clutter.
In the same block of flats – bikes left chained to rails on the 2nd floor stairwell (inside the ground floor security door) were stolen 2 weeks ago – boltcutters…..
For years I double locked an old beaten up mountain bike (never used) and my hacked together single speed (used daily) to an anchor in my front garden in Tottenham and covered them with a plastic cover. My wife’s shiny new bike was in the hall (as yet unused).
One day we had friends over who needed the hall for their pushchair and so I moved the shiny bike in to the front garden – I think my single speed must have been at work – and covered it as I always had.
That night we were woken by thieves in the front garden who stole both the new bike and the barely usable old mountain bike. They chopped straight through a thick kryptonite cable lock and a very heavy chain motorcycle type hardened steel lock. Both done with bolt cutters it looked like.
Since then all the bikes have stayed inside or in the back garden.
Both my bikes live in the flat with me, just easier and safer that way… I live in a small 1 bed flat but will always make room for the bikes. It’s a combination of them getting stolen and weather damage that stops me from leaving them outside.
I’m pretty lucky – I’ve got a small bit of external hallway outside our flat which no one else needs to access so the commute bike lives there. The only downside: it’s up 3 flights of stairs that narrow significantly as you gain height. The other two live in the spare room, one stood in the corner raring to go (road bike), the other (MTB) packed away under the spare bed.
One in the hall, one in the bedroom
4 normal bikes and one brompton all inside. Have had 2 stolen from out the back in a “secure” fenced in area and they were locked up. Building managers are proposing secure bike parking outside but unless high quality video surveillance accompanies it then would still leave bikes inside. Aren’t most bike cages only as secure as the lock that locks the door?
On my living room wall…its a feature š
I have a garage, one of the benefits of living in zone 5. Makes the commute a bit longer but on the other hand I can escape to the country more easily.
Three and a bit bikes(frame). All indoors.
2 x Road bikes in our bedroom (wifes + mine). MTB, Steel Roadie, 2 x Commuter and 2 x Kids bikes live in my home studio/office. They are like family!
My road bike (used daily) and 2 * mountain bikes (used at weekends) are D-locked together in a padlocked shed, in our garden with a padlocked 6ft front gate. No way the wife would let me keep them inside!
It’s a bit of a PITA to unlock and lockup everything each day, but worth the effort to *feel* relatively confident about their security. Would also invalidate house insurance if I didn’t do it…
I’m a utility biker and believe a bike should be tough enough to live outside come sun, rain or snow.
Theft-wise, I’m lucky enough to have off-street parking so it’s reasonably secure.. and also secured with a gold standard D-lock, just in case.
Two in the conservatory anchored to a massive wall bolt. Acquired the wall bolt after some burglars smashed the conservatory doors to get at the previous incarnations.
One’s hardly used, the other is my daily commuter bike. Bringing it through the house every night is a pain but safer than leaving it outside.
In a locked garage with a few dust sheets artfully chucked on it, for two reasosn:
1st: my insurance wont cover it unless it is “Out of Sight”
2nd: it doesnt look like a bike it looks like a load of crap. it blends in considering the garage is a tip covered in sheets
Inside. Luckily, we have a neat space under the stairs where it fits nicely and isn’t in anybody’s way. Wouldn’t even consider storing it outside locked to something.
I live in a shared house so I keep both of my bikes in my bedroom.
Sheffield style cycle hoop in front garden (with a second waiting to go in), 2 D locks, a cable lock and a cable for the wheels and a modestly priced hybrid for commuting so a theft would not be the end of the world.
Hoop from bollards.co.uk and probably, cutting the hoop is easiest, but it would need 2 cuts with a power grinder, so not practical. I have used this system for 6 years with 2 theft attempts about 4 years ago, but the security meant that the scroats made too much noise with their hacksaws and got chased off!
At work, I have access to a hoop in a fenced area accessed by swipe card and I leave a D lock there which I can carry when I go out on site.
My four diamond framed bikes are currently kept in what my partner refers to my “cave.” That is the what was once the lounge in this house (extensions have changed its use). It houses my bike, my office space for working at home, the TV, varying levels of junk, boxes of camping equipment and bicycle spare parts and oh a couch which one cannot get to š
My four lovely bikes live in my bedroom so I can keep my eye on them at all times. Plus it is nice to wake up and go “hmm which one shall I ride this morning” depending on weather, mood, etc.
My spacious garage is empty, as I don’t drive and have had four other bikes stolen from there in the past.
My bike is in the gazebo which seems to have collapsed over night last night! It was in the hall until we had some building works. All the other clutter and men’s bikes are in the garage so I guess I’ll need to find some room in there now. Boo!
We live in a semi-detached Victorian house and have covered the space between our house and our “detached” neignbour’s so it is like a lean-between with a 3 metre high fence. The space stores the bikes of two families of 5 plus scooters and a skateboard. Really convenient access from the front. Plan to install scaffolding poles to which bikes can be secured. I find the convenience of access makes it more likely I will cycle on a regualr basis than if I had to retrieve it from somewhere in the house or trail it through the house from the back garden.
I bring mine inside my house with me, to keep it warm and clean, and also because Ive had one stolen from out the front of my house before. Better to be safe than sorry.
I bought a wall mount which hangs my bike vertically and I keep it in my bedroom on an empty wall like a piece of art. My girlfriend chose the bedroom over the living room, as that’s where it would be otherwise!
I saw something interesting the other day. People keeping allen keys at hand in a narrow hallway to loosen the handle bar and turn it 90 degrees to keep bikes in the hallway, which of course is safe guarded by a door.
I am fortunate to have a ground floor flat with some outside space. I leave my bike in a bikecave http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0012MFB2W/?tag=hydra0b-21&hvadid=9556637709&ref=asc_df_B0012MFB2W
Which has served me well over the years.
On the balcony of my third floor flat. Luckily a) there is a lift so I don’t have to carry my bike down and up stairs everyday and b) the balcony is huge so can comfortably accommodate bikes as well as outdoor furniture and plants.
No room in the flat so I keep her out the front locked to metal railings, Kryptonite evo 4 lock for security, bikeparka to keep her dry and Bike Revolution security tags for the worst.
Unfortunately I have no other choice while I don’t own my own property, but would feel a little reassured if I thought the police would be bothered if she were stolen.
2 bikes in the living room.
2 in the hall way
2 in the conservatory
3 in the garden shed.
Husband believes in the N+1 theory of owning bikes……. I have now pointed out that the N+1 = capacity over load and new shed required.
In my secure integral garage.
There’s nowhere outside I could tether her, plus all the drunks passing would make me worry about how I’d get to work in the morning. The bike leans against my bed when I’m not riding! Wish I could have a wall mount but that’s against the terms of my contract and I don’t fancy being evicted…
ha ha that photo of the two bikes is just outside my office, excellent!
(the bikes never move, lol)
In a secure garage, we’re lucky enough to have our flat built in the post war era of individual autonomy where the car was the future. We happily park our bikes there instead.
My one bedroom flat had a cupboard that formerly had an immersion heater and a water storage tank in it. Now they’re gone, I can keep my bike there.
Locked in the larger of the 2 sheds with my flat number on in the communal shed area.
I leave mine hoisted up in the air on a giant crane !