Video: How to protect your bike from bike thieves

How to protect your bike, is a new video release from the London Cycling Campaign as part of its new Beat the Thief initiative (watch it below). The video's central message is that having a cycle lock is not much good if you don't use it properly, oh, and two locks are better than one. During the short film Barry Mason of the Southward Cyclists branch of the LCC talks us round the locking methods used on real bikes by real cyclists on some sheffield stands somewhere in London – Barry isn't that impressed.

Barry's recipe for keeping your bike out of the hands of thieves is to use two locks one through the front wheel and one through the frame, and preferably also something to lock any other jewellery, like leather saddles, you might have on there too.

Two locks doesn't necessarily sound that practical to us, especially if you can simply whip your front wheel off and lock it to the rest of the bike with a good gold rated Sold Secure lock rather than lugging Silver and Bronze rated locks about. Barry is also spot on about cheap cable locks – a visual deterrent only as far as we're concerned, but we're not sure the chain in the video would last much longer – a small pair of bolt croppers would be through that in a trice says our man in the hoodie and turned down baseball cap… although he might not have used the word 'trice'.

road.cc's bike locking  Dos and Don'ts

Do lock your bike to a secure, immovable object - ideally one designed for the purpose
Do make sure the frame and both wheels are inside your lock, or use two locks, or locking wheel skewers on the front wheel
Do use a lock, and use it properly even if you are leaving your bike unattended for even a moment
Do remove lights and anything else that isn't securely fixed to your bike when you are locking it up
Do lock your bike when you get it home, especially if you keep it in a shed or garage
Do buy the best lock or locks that you can afford

Don't leave your bike unlocked and unattended even if you are just nipping in to shop
Don't  lock your bike up in a secluded location where a thief has time to work on your lock undisturbed
Don't lock your bike to trees or fences that can be easily cut through, or, posts or signs that it can be easily lifted over
Don't leave space in your shackle - that gives space for evil bike stealing tools to do their worst or leave your lock lying flat on the ground for the same reason
Don't forget your lock

We're strong believers in always filling your shackle but we're always looking for new ways to help beat bike thieves so if you've got any bike security tips you'd like to share with the crowd let's hear them!