Best lock for bike shed in front of house?

andre_xs

Dear All,
My father in law has build a little wooden bike shed in front of the house for which we still need a lock / locks. I think the most stable and convenient way would be one of those locks, where there's a "central" lock (meaning, halfway between bottom and top) which not only locks at the centre, but also has longer rods to the top and bottom, where then little things turn and go beyond a bolt attached to the top and bottom of the frame (not door). Thus, the door is held tight to the frame at the centre, bottom and top, with only one lock and key. Sorry, I have no clue how these locks are called and how to better describe them!

An alternative might be to have two locks (one at the bottom and one at the top), but that's naturally less convenient (handling either two keys or two combination locks, having to bend down for the lower one, etc). I think only one lock in the middle isn't sufficient, it could be broken up very easily by leveraging at top or bottom.

Just for clarification, we don't need it super-safe. We will store our bikes in there, but they are quite old and nothing special, I think no bike is worth more than £50. And also no emotional attachment, so in worst case we just need to replace them...

Best wishes,

Andre

Section62

andre_xs said:

My father in law has build a little wooden bike shed in front of the house...

If you weren't aware, it is possible/likely you would need planning permission for that - which may affect how much more you want to invest in bike shed security until you know whether or not the planners will be getting in touch with you following up a complaint from someone.

andre_xs said:

I think only one lock in the middle isn't sufficient, it could be broken up very easily by leveraging at top or bottom.

The problem with shed security is working out the weakest point, and matching the rest of your security to that.  There's no point having multipoint locking on the door if someone determined to get in can just pull some of the planks off the walls.

Indeed, going overboard with the locks can be an invitation to thieves to break in to see what you are willing to pay so much to protect.  Don't make a shed ultra-secure if the contents aren't worth stealing, because you could end up with a damaged shed costing more to fix than the shed contents are worth.

andre_xs said:

Just for clarification, we don't need it super-safe. We will store our bikes in there, but they are quite old and nothing special, I think no bike is worth more than £50. And also no emotional attachment, so in worst case we just need to replace them...

In which case I would have a low-cost anchor point inside the shed and use that to chain the bikes onto, and then put one standard padlock and hasp on the door to keep out inquisitive folk.

If your neighbourhood has a low crime rate then maybe dispense with the anchor point and just keep the bikes locked together as you might if you were leaving them when out and about.

andre_xs

Thanks for the tips. Re planning permission, you are right, but given our neighbourhood I doubt that anyone will complain (I would say a rather safe area, but not the nicest :-)

Yes, with anchor point inside we also thought about. And maybe even leave doors unlocked then, so that they can see that it's not worth stealing without having to break a lock!

Still, does someone know how these locks I described above are called? I think I once knew it and can't remember, it drives me a little nuts :-)

Section62

andre_xs said:

Thanks for the tips. Re planning permission, you are right, but given our neighbourhood I doubt that anyone will complain (I would say a rather safe area, but not the nicest :-)

Yes, with anchor point inside we also thought about. And maybe even leave doors unlocked then, so that they can see that it's not worth stealing without having to break a lock!

Still, does someone know how these locks I described above are called? I think I once knew it and can't remember, it drives me a little nuts :-)

"Multipoint" or "3-Point".

I would almost go as far as saying don't lock the door, but you do want to keep out inquisitive people who might use the privacy of your shed to steal parts off the bikes, or otherwise do stuff you'd rather people didn't do in your shed.

Hence one standard padlock and hasp - enough to keep casual people out, but with minimum damage potential if someone wants to get in.  Without going as far as inviting people to break in, you want to encourage them towards the thing which will cost you the least if they do.

GDB2222

I suspect that the bolt mechanisms you want are quite expensive. How about:

1. Reinforce the doors with plywood, simply screwed on.

2. A strongish hasp bolted on, so it cannot be removed easily.  Then a single padlock.

3. Cut a very, very small window in the door/side wall at head height, so inquisitive folk can see what it is you are storing there.

Alderbank

Espagnolette 

GDB2222

Alderbank said:

Espagnolette 

Very good!


That leaves the question, how do you secure the Espagnolette, so thieves don't steal it? It's significantly more valuable than the bikes.

Section62

GDB2222 said:

Alderbank said:

Espagnolette 

Very good!


That leaves the question, how do you secure the Espagnolette, so thieves don't steal it? It's significantly more valuable than the bikes.

Quite so.

Just buying timber and fixings to beef up security for fitting the Espagnolette could easily mount up to a bike's worth of costs.

I think a more economical version designed for use with (primarily metal) sheds is more likely to be found with a name like "...point lock".

But probably still not cheap.

andre_xs

Thanks for this. Indeed I found only quite expensive and very robust versions. They are of a type where a massive bolt moves up (to go into a whole in the upper frame) and down (to go into a whole into the lower frame).

But are there maybe cheaper versions, e.g. like in wardrobes? Where a little bolt is screwed in the upper and lower frame, and when you turn the lock, the long bolt doesn't move up/down, but instead turns around its axis. It has like little hooks at the end, which then go behind the bolts attached to the top/bottom frame. Oh dear, this is really challenging to describe.

They seem to come also under the term "lock with rotating bar", but I only found B2B vendors for China...

So maybe just the suggested solutions from above: Solid anchor in the shed to attach the bikes to, and cheap easy to break lock outside.

GDB2222

I really don’t see why rotating would be that much cheaper? 

I think that you are overthinking things. Just beef up the door with some scrap timber from the nearest skip. Add a standard hasp and lock. Job done. 

You need some way to signal to people that there’s nothing of any great value inside. Even if you secure the bikes, so they can’t easily be pinched, you don’t want to have to keep repairing the door. Besides that, most bike locks are easily defeated by bolt croppers, and ALL are easily defeated with a portable angle grinder.