I just got a Yakima Kingpin 4 from Bonktown (I already ordered Yakima’s Deadlock to lock the bike to the rack and rack to the trailer hitch). After taking it out of the box to put it together, it looks like it would be pretty easy to steal the rack right off of your car. There are 2 nut/bolts that if you took either one off, a thief could just walk off with your entire rack.
I know that if someone is really determined to steal something, they’ll find a way. But is there anything you are doing to make it a little harder to steal? I was thinking about using some sort of a nut/bolt combination set that isn’t easily removeable with common tools (kind of like those special lugnuts on car wheels)? I don’t see myself ever taking the hitch rack apart anytime soon, so that isn’t an issue.
I have that of course, but just looking to replace the standard nut/bolt combination with something else that would make my bike a little harder target to a thief. I’ve been googling a little bit and was thinking of something like this: http://www.brycefastener.com/SecurityProducts.html
but I have no idea how much they cost. I was hoping for something that’ll cost me $10 or less total. Maybe I’ll stop by my local hardware store to see if they have any ideas.
You’re assuming the thief cares about damage to the bike. You could strip the mounting bolts and someone would break the fork to steal the bike. It’s just not safe to leave a bike on a rack mount in an urban area unattended for more than five minutes. A hacksaw could cut through most rack mounts in five to ten minutes so it wouldn’t matter how permanently you mounted the rack.
Definitely get a hitch lock. A hoodlum might be willing to take a crack at stealing your rack if he only needed a small wrench, but I don’t think any really cares enough about stealing a bike rack to bother with trying to crack a lock. In that regard, I think basically any hitch lock would do. I got mine from the Trek store near my house and have no idea what brand it was, and I don’t think it really matters. Just get something you can’t take apart with the tools in the average hood rat’s arsenal and I think you’re good to go. Generally, whatever is on the rack is of a much bigger concern than the rack itself, so I’d spend some time thinking about how you’ll secure your bike to the rack.
On my old Swagman rack, I used to be able to use a regular Masterlock hitch lock and some other lock so the metal piece holding the bikes on the rack couldn’t be opened. But because of the anti-rattle screw type hitch pin for this Yakima rack, I don’t think there are many options besides the Deadlock, as seen here: http://www.yakima.com/shop/bike/bike-accessories/deadlock This is supposed to lock the rear-most bike to the rack (so the other bikes can’t come off) and has another lock to lock the rack to the actual trailer hitch. If you know of other options for this rack, please let me know.
I’ve got a yakima 4-bike hitch rack, and the hitch lock cover looks like it says “Swingman” or “Swagman”–it’s some weird white cursive writing on a black cover. It works with the anti rattle thing on my rack and was like $25 so that was not too bad.
I’ve got a yakima 4-bike hitch rack, and the hitch lock cover looks like it says “Swingman” or “Swagman”–it’s some weird white cursive writing on a black cover. It works with the anti rattle thing on my rack and was like $25 so that was not too bad.
I had a cable lock about (.75" in diameter) that I used for the few times when I had to leave my bike on the rack. I shared it with another bike that I had that I would frequently park and leave on campus while I was in class or in my apartment. That lock got cut while the bike ( a shitty walmart bike) was locked outside my apartment, so now I don’t lock my road/tri bike to the rack, I just rack it for travel, then put it in the truck whenever I have to leave it unattended.
I didn’t leave my bike on there very often–I would typically get it out of my house, rack it, ride it, rack it, and put it back inside my house. The lock was really just on there for the the short periods of time where I’m not with my car while the bike is on the rack (i.e when I run into a gas station, stop for food, do a brick run after a group ride, etc.) I’ve had enough cable locks cut that I won’t trust the cable for long periods of time. I guess my thinking is that the cable would stop crimes of opportunity, and that I’m really only leaving it on the rack for a short enough period of time that the theft would have to be a crime of opportunity and not really premeditated. If someone happens to be carrying around bolt cutters and I happen to park my truck in their hood for a minute and my bike gets stolen then that’s a problem the insurance company will have to deal with…
Also, I had some fucking hood rat steal the lock pins that hold the pivoting parts in place. They cut the little plastic/wire tethers that kept the pins from falling to the ground when you undo it, and took the pins. I was so pissed. It was more of an annoyance than anything else, because I had to take the whole rack off to open the back doors of my suburban. Replacing those things cost like $25 because Lowes, Home Depot, and even McMaster-Carr didn’t carry a cheaper generic option so I had to buy the stupid name brand version which cost like $10 each +shipping.
You’re assuming the thief cares about damage to the bike. You could strip the mounting bolts and someone would break the fork to steal the bike. It’s just not safe to leave a bike on a rack mount in an urban area unattended for more than five minutes. A hacksaw could cut through most rack mounts in five to ten minutes so it wouldn’t matter how permanently you mounted the rack.
Agreed.
Anything you do to “Lock” the bike to the rack and subsequently the car, is really just a deterrent. There are only a select few places where I’ll leave our bikes locked to our Yakima Roof Rack, which is in turn locked to the roof of the car.