Locking your bike to the ground

phil · Post by **phil** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:38 am

http://www.thecoolhunter.net/Gadgets/IN-LOCK/

It's a screw-in-the-ground anchor with a small eye - with the chain or cable through the eye, the inventor says, you can't get enough grip on the anchor to unscrew it. shrug I'd guess it would be hard enough to get candycaned rebar out of the ground to give some thought pounding that into the ground with your locking chain or cable in the loop.

Thoughts or other suggestions on a similar means to lock our bikes down at our campsites on the playa?

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:04 am

Looks interesting but yet I'm highly skeptical and wonder if it's marketing b.s. Has anyone tried this? Also the playa surface varies in consistency from year to year...I wonder if this lock is long enough to bite into the playa and hold?

Plus who wants to stop and screw some kind of stake into the playa anytime they see some shiny, blinky thing they wanna see? I plan to stick with a simple thin cable lock through the wheels and frame so someone has to carry the whole thing back to their camp which makes it look very suspicious....and that lock can be easily worked even in altered states of awareness. Do you wanna be bent over twisting some little stake into the ground at 2 am after leaving the Meet and Greet and being a wee bit intoxicated? I hope you brought a barf bag....

phil · Post by **phil** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:23 am

yeah, I'm not thinking of it as a carry around thing, I'm thinking of a way to lock my bikes at night when I'm asleep in my tent or during the burn, so the bikes don't get stolen out of our camp.

Rumors are that people drive around in pickups - free-locked bikes are no problem, as they just drop them in the back of the truck to work on later. Who knows?

Whether these specific devices will work is of less interest than, say, rebar which we all know is tough to get out.

Tiara · Post by **Tiara** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:57 am

I've always found it quite easy to find a stationary vehicle or structure in camp to lock my bike to when I'm not using it. Some sort of ground screw just seems like something extra to trip over.

meincoif · Post by **meincoif** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:16 am

I'm pretty sure there aren't actually pickups that drive around stealing bikes... That may be a little suspicious. Unless, of course, the pickup is decorated as a giant anteater or something.

That said, I always chain my bike to structures or a couple of friends' bikes to keep her safe and sound. I had my unlocked bike lifted one year and was oh-so-sad.

Tiara · Post by **Tiara** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:19 am

meincoif, there are actually instances of people in trucks cruising through camps and taking bikes, generators, etc during the burn almost every year. Rangers and gate staff volunteer to work instead of witnessing the burn to try and prevent the worst of it, but there's just not enough volunteers to completely stop the problem.

I'm one of those people who usually works during the burn.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:24 am

I discovered a system to make a difficult-to-remove groundscrew anchor- You need two screw-in ground anchors, and either a VERY long eyebolt or a length of rebar with a closed loop bent into one end. Screw the two anchors into the ground, as close together as possible, and then thread the rebar/eyebolt through the loops on the anchors. Add your lock, passing it through both anchor loop AND rebar loop. (Make sure the hasp on the lock is long enough to go through both!) Now neither anchor will turn until you've removed the crossbar and lock, or bribed a DPW dude to swing by with a bobcat. Really, this system is overkill if you've got a car to lock to; But maybe if you had a big camp, and needed to secure multiple bikes in a car-free area...

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:05 pm

Get about 40 feet of 1/4 inch steel cable. Fix one end to the axle of a vehicle. Coil the remaining cable nearby and coat with a little dust. Fix the other end of the cable to the seat post.

If someone attempts to steal the bike, they will get about 40 feet away. The bike will suddenly stop allowing the thief to vault over the handlebars and find a landing spot somewhere in front of where the bike stopped.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:50 pm

AaaUp, nother reason to ride a ugly three wheeler. I have a short log chain. Turn the front wheel and lock it to the frame . It's real hard to pick one them up.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:41 am

Inspired by this thread I took an old bikeseat off the junkpile and stripped off the upholstery, replacing it with several rows of glued-on roofing nails pointing up. When parked at Center Camp or elsewhere for any length of time the regular seat comes off and that one goes on. (But it STILL gets locked up, too- SOMEBODY in BRC would ride a spiked bikeseat.)

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:13 pm

Tiara wrote:meincoif, there are actually instances of people in trucks cruising through camps and taking bikes, generators, etc during the burn almost every year.

just curious, do you think they are nevada locals?

geekster · Post by **geekster** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:39 pm

We always leave someone in camp on burn night for this reason. Might instruct said person (might actually be me) to take note of any trucks with generators and bikes on them cruising through and note license numbers.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:13 pm

spectabillis wrote:
Tiara wrote:meincoif, there are actually instances of people in trucks cruising through camps and taking bikes, generators, etc during the burn almost every year.
just curious, do you think they are nevada locals?

/
Hard to say. When I lived in Az. some one took hundreds of bike in one night. That was in 1966. Back when a kid could leave his bike and come back and get it. They traced the truck to LA. Only after they made a second run. This time they hit every office machine store in town. I understand the BM bandits use rental trucks. I did not go to the burn last year. Stay in and rested. I kept an eye on camps around me. My gennie was bolted to the trailer frame and the trailer was locked to the van. I believe in keeping honest people honest. Lock it up.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:31 pm

How easy is that going to be for you to remove from the playa after the burn?

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:58 pm

Just drive it out. no questions asked

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:45 am

Back in the Eighties in Ann Arbor there was a biketheft ring that had a truck with a custom hydraulic pole which they used to pick up and haul off entire bikeracks full of bikes. They'd drive it out to the country (I envision the family compound from The Hills Have Eyes) and cut 'em off with a welder at their leisure. I think I lost a bike or two a year there, for six years.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:38 am

You'd think that would attract attention. Unless it was camo'd as an art car.

phil · Post by **phil** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 11:23 am

Just drive it out. no questions asked

There's a lesson in there, peeps.