Locking your bike to someone elses

[Kylie]

So here's a random (and possibly sh*t) thought. I am off on holiday soon, going to use the free bike parking at the airport. From what I've seen of it its pretty secure area (busy, light, cameras) but no street furniture to lock up to, so my Kylie will be chained, alarmed, immobolised and covered, but still no match for the old lift in to the back of a van routine.

There will be loads of other bikes there, always is. If I put my bike up close to some random other bike I could loop my lock chain through their lock chain, that way neither is being lifted anywhere. If they come back before me, thats no bother, I haven't locked to their bike, only their chain.

Only problem is what happens if they come back and get upset that some random person has linked locks with them. Most folks would probably work out the logic, but most folks ain't all folks. What would you think if you came back from wherever and I'd linked up to your lock?

Wouldn't be too bothered about it as long as the person has been sensible about it, eg not stuck his bike so close to mine that I cant get to it, as usually happens in London parking bays. There is actually a group/club to do that, read it in a bike mag somewhere but cant remember the name.

Personally it wouldnt bother me.

Question is, is it worth doing anyway? If their flight lands 2 hours after you depart and they move their bike then you'll have gone to all that effort for nothing...

would not bother me as long as i could get my bike free & ride off, trouble is what happens if the person comes back just after you have left Then you will be stuffed cos your bike won't be chained to anything. Thus becoming easy pickings can someone not look after it for you , by the way what airport are we talking about i live only 40mins from gatwick soo you could leave your bike with mine in my back garden tis very secure .

[Kylie]

Aye, if they come back way before I do then it makes no odds, but given that my only other choice is chain to nothing I reckon its still better than that.

Secure parking or parking round a mates would be good (cheers for the offer!), but I like the idea of free parking right in front of the terminal like they have in Stansted. I guess thats why its free!

I'd probably think it was cheeky for a few seconds until I worked out the logic of it... then I'd wonder why I'd not done it myself... so long as it wasn't parked really close, etc.

It sounds a bit like the lockit2me scheme for bikes - http://www.lock2lock.co.uk/ where you have a sticker on your bike that basically says "yeah, connect your chain to mine, I won't mind" - then you know you won't get a bad reaction. Not ever seen these stickers out and about though...

I think it's better to lock it to another bike if only for a little while than to just not lock it to anything in the first place... though I'd use a disc lock as well as locking it to the other bike.

[Kylie]

I'm not surprised that someone else thought of this already, thanks for the link. Not impressed by their example photo though, they show lots of bikes locked together, but chains are all laying on the ground, which according to Bike magazine's feature recently is like leaving the key in the lock.

Hmmn, maybe the complexity of linking chains, keeping them off the ground and hoping the other person doesn't mind is too much, might aswell buy a trailer big enough for a pneumatic drill and concrete mixer, then install a ground anchor everywhere I stop. Now if every biker did that for a month, we could anchor the world!

I don't think I'd lock to someone else's chain unless it had a "lock to me" sticker on it/I knew the person/they were there and I could ask them if it's alright to. Main reason being, if you made a habit of it, you know you'd eventually pick someone who didn't know about it and lost their rag and potentially damaged your bike, or someone who tried to ride off with their own chain still on, binning both bikes. There's also the issue of the strength of the other person's chain and how you should chain to them- A chain is only as strong as the weakest link and two chains are only as strong as the weakest chain. EG say you chain your frame to their chain. If their 'chocolate' chain gets cut, your £200 ultra-hardened miracle metal chain is useless if it's dangling from the frame but not preventing your bike from being ridden.

Conversly though, I wouldn't mind if someone chained to mine, so long as they hadn't made it impossible for me to get out/scratched/moved my bike to do so. I'd like MCN/Bike to do a campaign to raise awareness of this policy and get it accepted as common practice, as if everyone did it, it'd work a treat.

I've chained to a mate's bike before, my chain through my back wheel to his frame and vice versa. Bit different though as you obviously both agree to that and need each other to be there to unlock it, although it is that much more secure as both chains would need to be cut to move either bike.

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

Conversly though, I wouldn't mind if someone chained to mine, so long as they hadn't made it impossible for me to get out/scratched/moved my bike to do so. I'd like MCN/Bike to do a campaign to raise awareness of this policy and get it accepted as common practice, as if everyone did it, it'd work a treat.

Would be nice to see some of the bike magazines to raise a campaign to raise awareness.

I'm, with Ceri, wouldn't mind if someone chained to my chain, again so long as they hadn't made it impossible for me to get out/scratched/moved my bike to do so.

[Supervox]

Personally there is NO WAY on this earth that I would leave a bike parked at an airport !!

I would rather take a train / bus / hitchhike to the place than take my bike !!

But, if you're determined to do so - no I wouldn't have a problem given the proviso's mentioned above