Why is this so complicated
 

Moving buildings for work; Today, I commute 5 days a week by bike and I have a secure, covered parking spot where I do not even lock my bike up.

Where I am going to start working I have to park at a rack that is 15' off of a sidewalk, and barely covered (everything still gets wet when it rains). Seats/posts, wheels, lights have all been snagged of the rack at this current place. I can securely lock up my frame/wheels but the rest is kind of up for grabs.

Unfortunately for me, I am (almost too) attached to my entire stable. Logical solution is to 'get a crappy bike' to commute on here, but I don't want to commute on a crappy bike.

Paceline, what would you ride, if you didn't want to ride a 'crappy' bike, but had to lock it up daily on the street?

I do this everyday.


I have a landshark roadshark that’s missing the original fork and had been cracked and repaired.

Security skewers for the wheels.

Rare earth magnet balls in the stem bolts and seatpost.

Put a star nut in the seatpost and tie a knot with some sturdy nylon string. Replace a seat tube water bottle cage bolt with an extra long one so it snags the nylon not and boom. Unless the thief is smart enough to remove your water bolts you’re covered.

Obviously, the solution is to buy a new bike.

Buy something good but not great and then rattle can it until it looks like a beater. There are plenty of options for a bike that will ride will and cost under a grand to build.

how long is your commute? if it's short enough, I'd go fixed gear or single speed. wheels are bolted to the bike then, so that should help. plus there's less stuff overall to steal from it, and most of the components are pretty inexpensive. plus it's easier to maintain a single speed/fixed drivetrain that faces weather regularly, versus a geared one. could even go with a belt drive.

sorry your new lock up situation isn't ideal. but hey, at least you can commute to work. I live far enough away that it's not a reasonable thing to do. but if I did, I could just bring my bike into my office. figures, right?

I'd definitely look for an aluminum frame. Lots of antiseize on all the bolts. Give it a good once over regularly.

No interior stairwell or maintenance closet to lock it up in (with employer permission)?

I just commute and work (I'm a part time messenger) on nicer vintage frames, use pitlock skewers for my wheelset and seatpost, super glue ball bearings into my stem bolt and saddle clamping bolts (can be easily removed using paint thinner) and use an Abus G x-plus 54 mini u-lock for the frame. Don't lock stupid and you're good to go. I haven't had a problem in years :)

It's too bad you don't feel comfortable using an existing bike...you shouldn't have to buy something else! I would take Ticdoc's advice - find a place inside. Explain the value of your bike(s) to your employer and try to work with them.

See if your employer will let you bring the bike inside?

cd

Thanks for the responses; Building isn't owned by my employer, and the building wont budge, I will keep poking.

My commute is about 8 miles there, and I regularly turn it into 15-20 on the way home (father of 2 under 5, this is my riding time, ha)

I forgot to mention in my previous post that 2 weeks ago a bike was stolen from the same rack. Owner said he was using a u-lock and cable lock (I didnt see it myself). The bike stolen was a early 90's Cannondale road bike, the kind with the plastic clips on the tt for the rear brake (all but 1 was broken, brake cable dangling), and was pretty beat up. My bikes are pretty much all more attention grabbing than this one.

Buy a cheap beater cargo van and leave it parked in the lot. Put bike inside!

That is a better idea than you might think; I have to have a parking spot in a garage for my car anyway, ha!

What else is in the neighborhood? Maybe you can join a gym and work out an indoor storage solution there.

See if they've got a loading dock/freight elevator you can bring it through instead of the main lobby.

I don't know what type of job you work in, but this is one of those situations where it would cost very little for the employer to do something that would make quite a few employees happy. Sounds like they have garage parking for car drivers, so why not convert one or two stalls to bike parking. At least it would be out of the rain.

Take note employers: in a knowledge economy, your best bang for your buck in attracting and retaining talent is little stuff like this.