A contradiction in terms?(removable ground anchor)

Hi all,

What I'm after may not actually exist, indeed it may be a contradiction in terms, but I need a removable ground anchor!

Thing is, I'm in rented property and will only be here for 6 months. When I move, I'm going to a different rented property. As you can understand, a concrete or permanent bolt-down one is no good, but I'm wondering if anyone knows of anything that is secure once a locked chain is in place. Maybe something with a shield that covers the bolt heads?

Cheers,
Chris.

You could use a normal bolt down ground anchor and just grind the bolt heads off (with an angle grinder) when you are ready to move!

i just made a portable ground anchor after some advice on here. basically you fill a bucket or whatever with concrete and put the ground anchor in that! it's heavy enough that you can't easily move it with the bike attached, but it IS possible to move (e.g. when moving house).

I've got it for the very same reason as you, i'm in a rented place, plus it isn't actually my land (it's the private car park but spaces are not assigned, it's permit based).

i reckoned a bucket should weigh somewhere near 25kg, which is quite heavy. I went OTT and i've made one that weighs 50kg+ as i took one of those storage boxes you can get for your home, and filled that instead, and concreted the anchor in (so i have a concreted in rather than bolted in one). I was also limited to a few anchors because i wanted one that fitted either the almax 16mm or 19mm chain, for future bikes as it happens it fits the larger of the 2 but i will go for the smaller almax chain i think.

i haven't got pics to hand but will post them if requested...

btw another interesting one i heard of was that someone got a large sheet of metal and put a hook in the middle. so basically as long as the sheet of metal is big enough, to pick the bike up you have to be standing on the metal! of course you have to make sure it can't be bent or otherwise cut/altered, and have to make sure the anchor in the middle is secure and cant be cut either, but in theory it sounds pretty good - would **** a thief off anyway, which is even better

I got two x 20kg weights of the type with handles cast into the shape that industrial scales companies use when calibrating their equipment. I have put my chain through both the handles then around my bike in the garage.

Granted it can be moved but it would make life very difficult. To get it in a van they would still need to break the lock or chain just as they would with an anchor. The bucket full of cement sounds like the easier solution though.

Edit: I like the sheet of metal idea although no idea where I would get one!

Originally Posted by Toypop

Edit: I like the sheet of metal idea although no idea where I would get one!

the practicality/realism aspect got me too lol

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by muffles

the practicality/realism aspect got me too lol

I've seen this done, one of the practical problems is riding onto a sheet of steel when it's wet (very slippery), this was over come by the choice of construction materials.

The one I saw was made of 4 rectangle secondhand manhole covers (about 2' x 3') welded together, and an eye of a 3" section on 1/4 inch box welded in the middle, about an inch step onto the plate mind, but fully portable (3-4 man lift mind). Good idea.

Cheers Mark.

Some great ideas there!

My mate just found me this:


A Motrax ground hog 6, which in a bucket of cement and some non-security bolts would be quite flexible.

Thanks guys!

[tinpants]

I've got an old stripped down engine block from a Ford P100 pick-up that I use to chain my 'Storm to. Fairly portable with loads of different height settings depending on the length of chain you've got. Thing is, its heavy enough to deter all but the most determined of thieves.

that sounds even better, they must weigh what 100 or 200kg?

on a completely unrelated note (apart from the fact it happened to this thread) who is it that keeps going round adding explanations in brackets to the thread titles? lol!