How to lock your bike (properly)

I hope that you’ve already read about how to choose the best bike lock. And that you’ve got a good idea which level of security you need, and the type of lock that’s right for you.

But it’s not just about the lock!…

You also need to know how to secure your bike properly. Because whichever lock you choose, if you don’t use it properly, your bike will be stolen.

So in this guide, I’ll show you several ways to lock your bike (and several ways you should never lock your bike!)

As ever, it’s about finding the right balance between practicality and security. You obviously need to use a method that prevents your bike from being stolen. But that method should also be easy to use, every day.

We will go through every possible way to lock your bike and rate each one for security and practicality, so you are fully informed.

The guide is divided into three parts based on the three places where you’ll likely be locking your bike: in the street, at home, and at work or college.

This is a long read, but stick with it, as there are tips and insights you won’t find in any other guide to locking your bike!

Part 1. How to lock your bike in the street

A badly locked bike in the street will disappear very quickly. Luckily, thinking carefully about where and how you lock your bike in the street can go a long way to prevent this happening…

Where should I lock my bike in the street?

Although the type of neighborhood you live in will affect this, there are some general tips which you should always try to follow…

Tip 1: Choose a busy place

Try to choose a busy location with lots of people walking past. If it’s an area well covered by CCTV, even better. Other people and CCTV make thieves nervous. They’d much prefer to be hidden away while they “work”.

Choose a place where lots of other bikes are already locked up. Ideally in the middle of a group of bikes rather than on the end. This serves three purposes:

Firstly, there’s bound to be badly locked bikes that are more tempting to a thief than your well-locked bike. Secondly, lots of bikes crammed together give a thief less room to maneuver and use their tools effectively.

And thirdly, the comings and goings of other cyclists may disturb them and if anyone is going to challenge a bike thief, (and let's face it: most people just walk on by), it's going to be other cyclists.

Tip 2: Secure your bike to an immovable object

A bike is only as secure as the object it is locked to. So make sure you always choose a fixed, immovable object that’s not easily broken.

Check the bike can’t be lifted over the top of whatever you’ve attached it to. Or that the object can’t be easily unscrewed or dismantled. Avoid trees, aluminum or wooden posts, sign posts, scaffolding and chain link fences.

If you choose metal railings, try to get the lock around as many railings as possible. But ideally, the immovable object would be a specially designed bike rack that’s cemented into the ground.

However, you even need to be careful with bike racks! Some sneaky thieves are cutting through the racks when they're empty and then covering up the cut with tape to hide what they've done…

Once an unsuspecting cyclist has left their bike locked to the rack, the thief returns, prizes open the cut section and makes off with their bike! So check any rack you use hasn't been tampered with.

Tip 3: Don’t give thieves clues about where you are

If you’re going to the cinema, the leisure center or anywhere else where you might be away from your bike for a significant amount of time, consider locking your bike a couple of streets away.

Why? If a thief sees you locking your bike and then going into any of these places, they’ll know they’ve got a fair bit of time to work on your bike!

Tip 4: Take extra precautions in high risk areas

If you know an area is dangerous, avoid it. Or if you can’t avoid it, take an extra lock. And don’t leave your bike for too long!

A summary of where to lock your bike in the street:

• Choose a busy area with CCTV
• Lock your bike in the middle of lots of other bikes
• Always secure your bike to a fixed, immovable object, ideally a bike rack
• Don't lock your bike outside places that it’s obvious you’ll be at for a long time
• If you know it's a high theft risk area, take an extra lock

How should I lock my bike in the street?

This will vary depending on what sort of bike you’ve got, which lock you use and where you secure it. However, there are certain tips you should always follow…

Tip 1: Always secure your frame

Always make sure that you’ve locked your frame to the immovable object. If you only secure your bike through the wheel, a thief will simply remove your wheel and walk off with the rest of the bike.

This may sound obvious, but it happens all the time…

This is a particularly easy mistake to make in a particular type of “toast holder” bike rack, where only the wheel is in contact with the rack. It’s almost impossible to lock anything but the wheel to these bike racks, so they should be avoided completely!

Tip 2: Keep your lock off the ground

Try to keep the lock away from the ground. If it’s on the ground, a thief can use a hammer to smash the lock against the hard floor, and this will break open cheaper and weaker bike locks.

But even if it is close to the ground, a thief can use the floor for added leverage in a bolt cutter attack. This enables them to use their weight to cut locks that they would ever have the strength to crop otherwise:

However, if you’re using a u-lock, you should also avoid the top tube. If the lock is around the top tube of the bike, a thief can use the bike frame itself to try to break the lock by lifting and twisting the whole bike.

A good lock won’t succumb to this kind of attack, but it’s likely to severely damage your bike!

Since there’s generally more space left inside the lock when it's on the top tube, a thief could also insert a length of metal that can be used to twist and pop the lock open.

Or they could simply cut through the immovable object and ride off on your bike (if the lock was around a wheel too, they wouldn’t be able to ride away without cutting through the lock as well).

So, ideally the lock should go high up around the down tube, the seat tube, or the seat stays. And of course one of the wheels.

If you’re using a chain lock, then it’s even more important that you keep it far from the ground, as chains are much easier to cut with bolt croppers.

And since they’re not vulnerable to leverage attacks, wrapping the chain around the top tube is OK (although the seat stays and a wheel would be better, if it also keeps the chain away from the ground).

Tip 3: Prioritize protecting the rear wheel

After the frame, the rear wheel is usually the most expensive part of a bicycle. It therefore makes sense to prioritize protecting the rear wheel from thieves.

So, if you only use one bike lock, secure it around the rear wheel and frame. If you have two locks, use the primary (more secure) lock on the rear wheel and frame, and the secondary (less secure lock) on the front wheel and frame.

Tip 4: Make the lock difficult to access

Try to make the lock as difficult to access as possible. Because if it's difficult to access, it will be difficult to attack.

And if you can position it so the keyhole is facing downwards, even better. This will make it more difficult to tamper with the locking mechanism...

Thieves may try to put superglue in the keyhole to prevent you unlocking your bike, forcing you to leave it in the street overnight, and giving them more time to steal it when the streets are quieter.

Bike thieves don’t generally pick locks. But if the keyhole is hard to access, all of these forms of attack become more difficult.

Tip 5: Always fill the inside of a u-lock

If you’re using a u-lock, try to fill as much of the space within the “U” with the bike and the thing it’s attached to. This is really important…

The most common way that the better u-locks are broken is with leverage attacks. A length of metal or scaffolding pole is inserted into the space within the “U” and twisted until it pops open.

Hydraulic bottle jack attacks are less common but also depend on there being enough space inside the u-lock to insert the tool.

However, if there’s no spare room inside the “U”, a thief can’t use either of these methods. So keep those u-locks full!

Tip 6: Don’t forget your components

Your general locking method should protect your bike frame and both your wheels. But don’t forget about your other components.

Thieves will rob anything that’s easy to get off your bike. So make sure you take any lights, bags, electronics etc. with you when you leave your bike. Things like gears and brakes are harder to remove, so you just have to hope a thief won’t bother!

But your saddle is particularly vulnerable. If it’s attached with a quick release lever, it will almost certainly be stolen if left. You could take it with you, or lock it with a cable, but both of those options are a hassle.

Instead, I would recommend swapping the quick release lever for a regular bolt or, even better, a security bolt.

Find load more info on the best way to protect your bike components (including wheels, saddles, headsets, and everything else).

A summary of how to lock your bike in the street:

• Always lock the frame (not just the wheel!) to the immovable object
• Keep the lock as far from the ground as possible
• Don’t use u-locks around the top tube
• Make the lock difficult to access
• Fill as much of the internal space in a u-lock as possible
• Take all easy to remove components with you

5 ways to lock your bike in the street

Making use of those general tips, here are five popular ways to lock your bike on the street. Which one suits you best will depend on how expensive your bike is and which locks you have.

1. Secure your bike with one lock and a cable

This is probably the most common way to lock a bike in the street. And it usually combines a u-lock and a cable lasso.

It could also work with a chain or folding lock in place of the u-lock. But since many u-locks are sold with supplementary cable lassos, this is the set-up you’ll usually see.

When done correctly, the u-lock should secure the frame and the rear wheel to the bike rack. While the cable loops around the front wheel as a lasso, with the free end attaching to the u-lock.

To protect the frame, the lock can go through the seat tube, the seat stays, or the chain stays. However, if you’re using a thinner u-lock, I would advise against the chain stays as it positions the lock very close to the ground where it’s more vulnerable to bolt croppers.

And if you're using a chain or a folding lock (which are much more vulnerable to bolt cutters than u-locks), I would try to keep them high up around the seat stays, if possible.

The advantage of this method is that it’s a very lightweight way of protecting the frame and both wheels (as the cable weighs next to nothing).

But the problem with this method is that the cable is the only thing securing the front wheel. And since all cables can be snipped through in no time using a pair of tiny, handheld cable cutters, it’s not very secure.

Because of this, in the past, I would recommend that you didn’t lock your bike like this. However, after surveying thousands of cyclists, it seems that the visual, psychological deterrent of the cable is enough to stop your wheels being stolen in the majority of cases.

I’m still not a big fan of this method, though, and I never use it personally.

It’s not just the security aspect. I also find threading the cable through the bike in a tight, busy spot to be a hassle. And although they’re lightweight, the cables are quite bulky and not so easy to carry around.

However, if you’re not riding a super expensive bike, it can work quite well as a lightweight and low-cost way to protect your frame and both wheels.

I wouldn’t recommend it for wheels that are attached with quick release skewers though (even for low value bikes).

And the truth is, there are much better ways to project your wheels. Security skewers are lighter, no hassle to carry around, and make locking your bike much easier. Yes, they cost a bit more, but for me, it’s a worthy investment.

One lock and Cable Lasso Summary:

• Security: 7/10
• Practicality: 8/10
• Money saving: 9/10

2. Secure your bike with one lock and security skewers or nuts

This method of locking your bike in the street is more secure than using a supplementary cable, and is also far more convenient. You essentially exchange the cable lasso for security skewers (or nuts) for your wheels.

Many modern bicycles come with quick release skewers on the front and back wheels. These allow you to quickly remove your wheels without the use of tools (you simply flip the lever and unscrew the skewer).

These are obviously a dream come true for bike thieves. However, even those bikes with wheels that are attached with regular nuts are easy prey for a thief with a spanner! Which is why we should always protect our wheel when locking up in the street.

This method involves replacing the quick release skewers or regular nuts with ones that are more difficult to remove. There are too many different versions of these to go into details here (I have a whole article about them).

But they usually require a special tool (which a thief won’t have) in order to loosen them and remove the wheels.

Once they are installed, your wheels are protected to a much higher level than any cable. And locking your bike becomes much easier, as generally you only have to worry about locking your frame.

You could even use a smaller lock, as you don’t need to worry about it going through the wheel as well as the frame (although I would always recommend locking the wheel and frame where you can).

These security skewers and nuts are not infallible: they can be defeated. And when my bike is left for long periods (e.g. overnight in the street), I use two proper locks as well. But I have been using this method for general street security for years, and have never had a single wheel theft!

One lock and Security Skewers/Nuts Summary:

• Security: 8/10
• Practicality: 10/10
• Money saving: 8/10

3. Secure your bike with two locks

This is the most secure way to lock your bike. Ideally, each lock should secure the frame and one wheel to the bike rack.

However, two locks that are big enough to go around the frame and one of the wheels, would usually be a heavy and bulky combination.

So in many cases, a more secure (primary) lock goes around the frame and the back wheel. While a less secure (secondary) lock, either secures the front wheel to the frame, or secures the front wheel to the bike rack.

Securing the secondary lock around the wheel and the frame is the least secure of those two options, as it allow the thief to carry the bike away after defeating the primary lock. While they would have to at least to unattach the wheel if it was locked to the rack, and then they would be stealing a bike with a missing wheel.

Using two different types of lock provides an additional layer of security, since different tools and methods are needed to defeat different locks.

For example, chains aren’t vulnerable to the leverage attacks with poles that defeat many u-locks. And the thicker u-locks aren’t as vulnerable to the medium-sized bolt cutters that will cut many chains.

Although angle grinders will cut through all locks, they’re a bit more difficult to use on chains than u-locks, owing to the links moving about as they are being cut.

So the best combination is a u-lock and a chain. But two chains, two u-locks, two folding locks or any combination of the aforementioned can work well, as long as they are all secure enough.

Since I leave my bike in the street, overnight, I like to use a heavy chain and a smaller u-lock. I leave the chain lock permanently attached to the bike rack, so I don’t have to carry it around with me.

And then I depend solely on the u-lock (and security skewers for the wheels) in the day. But if I know I’m going somewhere risky or to a place where it might be left overnight, I can always take the chain lock with me.

However, it’s worth mentioning that if you choose to leave a heavy lock in a public place, a thief might sabotage the big lock while you’re away, forcing you to use only the other, smaller lock when you return. Whereupon, he will pounce on your compromised security. So be careful!

Two locks Summary:

• Security: 10/10
• Practicality: 7/10
• Money saving: 7/10

4. Secure your bike with one lock and a removed front wheel

You don’t tend to see this method of locking a bike in the street as much anymore. And there are good reasons: it’s fiddly, time-consuming, and can lead to your forks and your wheel being damaged!

But if you find yourself stuck with just one lock and two quick release wheels on your bike, it’s a viable way to protect the whole bicycle.

How does it work? You remove your front wheel, place it next to the rear wheel, and then attach your bike lock around both wheels, the frame and the bike rack.

This ensures that both wheels and the frame are secured with one lock. And if you’re using a u-lock it’s going to be full of more stuff and therefore less susceptible to a leverage or bottle jack attack.

However, bear in mind that this method requires a standard or larger sized u-lock. And using a chain or folding lock instead would be very fiddly.

You’ll also need quick release wheels, which means you’ll have to do it everywhere you go to prevent the front wheel being stolen!

For me, this is more of an emergency method. There are much better ways to protect your whole bike.

One lock and Removed Front Wheel Summary:

• Security: 9/10
• Practicality: 5/10
• Money saving: 9/10

5. Secure your bike with the “Sheldon” method

This is simply another (unusual) way to protect your frame and your rear wheel. For full bike protection that includes the front wheel, you would need to combine it with a cable, security skewers/nuts or a secondary lock.

Sheldon Brown, the renowned bicycle expert, advocated securing just the rear wheel to the bike rack, using a u-lock somewhere within the rear triangle of the frame.

He maintained that by using this method, you don’t need to secure the frame to the bike rack as well because the wheel can’t be pulled through the rear triangle.

One of the advantages of this method is that because you’re only securing the wheel, you can usually get away with a smaller, lighter u-lock. Check out my best lightweight bike lock page for some good examples!

However, I’m not sure about this technique, especially for more expensive bikes. With some effort, a dedicated thief can saw through the rear wheel to remove the lock.

I can also imagine an opportunist thief not realizing the bike was properly secured and causing significant damage to your bike while they tried to remove it.

However, if for whatever reason you can’t maneuver your bike into a position where you can lock the frame as well, I think this technique is OK for short periods. I wouldn’t leave a bike locked like this for longer periods though.

Part 2. How to lock your bike at home

It’s worth remembering that while street theft gets all the attention, over 50% of stolen bikes are taken from the owner’s home. That means from the front or back garden, from a shed or garage on the property, or from inside the house or flat itself.

What can you do to prevent this? Well, although bike security at home is often more difficult than bike security in the street, there’s still plenty you can do to protect your ride.

Let’s look at each of these areas of the home in more detail…

Keeping your bike inside your house/flat

Inside your house or flat is definitely the safest place to keep your bike. However, many people are either unable or unwilling to share their living space with bicycles.

Maybe they (or more often other family members!) don’t like the idea of big, wet, dirty machines cluttering up their home. Maybe they don’t like the hassle of dragging a bike into the building. Or maybe there just isn’t enough space.

If space is the issue, there are plenty of companies now offering storage solutions for bikes inside the home.

Such contraptions vary hugely in design and price. But at the end of the day, they all amount to something you attach to the wall or ceiling to hang your bike from.

They look great in the adverts, but the stylish bikes in the adverts are never covered in 3 months of London street grime...

However, if you can fit your bike in your house and there are no problems with it being there, this is definitely the safest place to keep it.

Keeping your bike in communal spaces

If you live in a flat with shared communal space inside the building, it can be tempting to leave your bike there (often in the hallway, just inside the front door). But this is a very unsafe place to store anything.

Usually there’s nothing to secure your bike to, and because it’s not your space, little opportunity to install something.

So in the end, your unprotected bike sits in the hallway waiting for someone to forget to close or lock the door and someone else to stroll in and off with it!

Because one thing's for sure: no one else in the building is thinking about keeping your bike safe.

One DIY solution is to fill a large bucket with cement and stick a ground anchor or an old u-lock in the wet cement to set. Voilà, you have a pretty heavy anchor you can leave in the hallway to secure your bike to.

I have a friend who added some plastic flowers to the top of the bucket to make it look less intrusive to the other residents of the building!

Now theoretically this will only slow down, rather than stop a committed thief. But in reality, it will foil most opportunists.

Keeping your bike in a shed or garage

If you’re lucky, maybe you have a garage or a bike shed at home. And if you can’t keep your bike inside your house, then this is the next safest alternative.

Usually, garages are more secure than sheds. However, you should never, ever leave your bike unlocked in either one (even if it's on your bike stand, and you're still working on it).

Remember, over 50% of stolen bikes are taken from the owner's home, so no matter how safe it feels, this is where your bike is most at risk.

Finding something suitable you can lock your bike to in a garage or shed can be a challenge though…

Bikes in garages

Garages have the advantage of concrete floors and brick walls. This makes it relatively easy to install a ground anchor, which you can use with a heavy chain to secure your bike.

Just like locks, anchors vary widely in levels of security and price. Luckily, they’re also rated by Sold Secure and ART, so it’s pretty easy to find a good one.

And since they will probably provide the biggest improvement to your security set up, I've written a complete guide to choosing and installing a good ground or wall anchor to help you find one!

Ground anchors can usually be attached to the floor or walls of a garage and are best used with chain locks.

Since you don’t need to worry about carrying these chains around, get the thickest chain you can afford. But make sure the chain is not so thick it won’t fit through the shackle of whichever anchor you choose!

Bikes in sheds

Wooden sheds don’t usually have concrete floors, which makes installing a normal ground anchor difficult.

You could rip up a section of the floor, dig a hole into the earth below, fill it with concrete and then add an anchor such as the Oxford Terra Force to set in the wet concrete. However, this is a lot of work and may be completely unpractical.

Luckily, Pragmasis now offer a “shed shackle” specifically designed to give you something secure to lock your bike to in a wooden or metal shed or bike store. I think these are great.

They’re relatively cheap, practical and easy to install. What's more, if you couple one with a good chain, a thief would have to virtually demolish your shed to steal your bike.

There's loads of things you can do to make your shed more secure. From simple DIY tweaks like blocking the windows to more technological solutions like installing a shed alarm.

See my tips for boosting your shed security for lots of useful ideas!

Keeping your bike in the garden or yard

If you don’t have a garage or a shed but do have space in your garden or yard, consider buying a specially designed bike storage unit. The best (and most expensive) are made by Asgard.

If there’s no space for a storage unit, then you’ll have to just keep your bike under a bike cover. In this case, if you’re able to install a ground anchor somewhere in your garden, then do it.

Maybe there’s a patch of concrete to attach an anchor to. Or you could dig a hole in the earth, fill it with wet concrete and add an Oxford Terra Force to set firm. Or you could use the bucket trick I suggest for communal spaces.

One very elegant solution, which unlike the other options, requires no installation and will actually make your outside space greener and more attractive, is a PlantLock.

These are giant (90 x 40 x 52 cm), steel troughs, in which you can grow all sorts of shrubs, herbs and flowers. And on each side, there's a 19 mm thick, boron steel handle that you can lock a bike to. So each PlantLock can secure two bikes in all.

Once the PlantLock is full of earth and plants, it will weigh around 75 kg (or even more after rainfall or watering), which certainly qualifies it as an “immovable object”. And for extra security, there are even holes in the base, so you can bolt it into the ground.

The 19 mm handles are impossible to bolt crop, case-hardened to resist sawing and tempered to repel any kind of brute force attack. The only way the PlantLock is likely to be defeated is with an angle grinder.

But in reality, a thief is far more likely to attack your bike lock instead (unless you're using an angle grinder resistant lock like the Litelok X1 or the Hiplok D1000).

Whichever of these methods you choose, the most important thing is that don’t leave your bike unsecured in your garden, no matter how private or out of the way it might seem. If you do, your bike will eventually be stolen.

Part 3. How to lock your bike at work

Many workplaces now offer private spaces where you can leave your bike if you’re commuting. This is great news!

Obviously the security levels in these places will vary. But the most important thing to remember is that if anyone other than you has access to the space, you should lock your bike as if you were locking it on the street.

It doesn’t matter how small your office is or how secure the space seems. If other people have access to it, there’s a very real chance of it being compromised at some point.

While I was living in London, I lost count of how many times bikes were stolen from office lock-ups that seemed impregnable.

Wrapping up

Buying the best bike lock is only the first step. You need to know how to lock your bike properly too. And you need to lock your bike properly everywhere: in the street, at home and at work or college.

In the street, locking your bike to a strong, immovable object in a busy area with lots of other bikes and CCTV cameras is a great start.

But make sure you lock it in the right way too: locking the frame and the wheels, keeping the lock off the ground, and making sure you fill as much of the space inside a U-lock as you can.

If possible, use the same techniques you use in the street to lock your bike at home or at work. It doesn’t matter how secure your home or work environments seem, never leave your bike unlocked.

At home, often there is nothing really secure to lock your bike to. If this is the case, it is certainly worth investing in ground or a shed anchor.

Of course, none of these precautions will protect your bike if you use them with poor quality locks.

The latest bike theft statistics in the UK and the US are particularly worrying, so it's important not to skimp here.

In the street you’ll need a good u-lock or a portable chain lock. At home, you should use the thickest, strongest chain you can afford.

If you’re not sure which is best for you, check out my simple guide to choosing the right bike lock. And don't forget: if you don't want a jammed bike lock, you need to clean and lubricate it every 6 months or so!