Sheldon Method

[Everardo Frost]

Backbefore Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and MySpace, we had a form of social media called Usenet. Sheldon Brown became frequent and popular participant in the Usenet bicycle forums after AOL became linked to the Internet. He sadly passed to a heart attack on February 8, 2008, only six months after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

His website at SheldonBrown.com remains a treasure trove of technical information, helpful tips, personal anecdotes, and archives of his Usenet conversations. His close friend John Allen keeps the site updated with current information.

Not only was his site an excellent source of bike knowledge with an emphasis on retrogrouch solutions but also where bike humor was promoted. ShelBro Chain Cleaning method & kits: Shimano Deluxe only $199.95 versus the more expensive SRAM at $249.95. A great man and giant in the promotion of cycling.

I've read a lot of opinions about the Sheldon Brown lock strategy ( -strategy.html). I understand that it can be defeated by cutting through the wheel, and that this is not as difficult to do as Sheldon claimed in that article.

I have an Abus Futura Mini that is too small to lock through both the frame and wheels (they have deep V rims which make them a little too wide (but maybe these are also a little harder to cut through?)). I really love the light weight and size of this lock and I would like to find a way to make it work rather than replacing it with something bigger and heavier. It is the perfect size for the Sheldon Brown method. Alternatively, of course, I could lock it through only the frame (but not the wheel). I'm wondering which is the better course of action.

Potentially-relevant details: I never leave the bike outside overnight. Usually when I'm locking it it's because I'm shopping or at a bar or restaurant, so it's there for a few hours maximum. The bike is a new (but low-end) single-speed hybrid/commuter/utility type bike. Wheels are bolt-on, not quick-release.

Sure, it can be done and the rest of the bike stolen minus a rear-wheel. But then, any form of security *can* be defeated with appropriate tools and time. I have and will continue to lock up using Sheldon's method.

If the thief has the means of cutting through a wheel, then they could just as easily cut through a u-lock. Given the choice, why would you destroy the wheel (the second most expensive part on most bikes?). It may be quicker to cut through aluminum than steel, but you'd also have to cut the wheel in two places to get it off. When using a hack-saw or angle-grinder, you attract a lot more attention than a thief with bolt-cutters and/or an allen wrench.

DUG, where are you manners? Please elaborate or leave your ignorance somewhere else. If you can't be bothered to explain how my statement is wrong, then you offer nothing more than unfounded opinion. I've cut through a wheel before... have you?

But please don't use his leaving the lock on the rack technique. The bike rack in my office building is so littered with mostly abandoned bike locks that some of the spaces are actually un-usable.

Jason said:

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

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

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.

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. Voila, you have a pretty heavy anchor you can leave in the hallway to secure your bike to.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

1.) There are occasions when I might be riding around parts of town with telephone poles etc. and no bike racks.

2.) I live in a townhome with a fenced-in back yard accessible from the alley. Low to no monitoring or traffic. Maybe I should have a ground anchor and chain to give me the option to lock it up overnight, outdoors.

If you could create a set up in your back yard where you could use a u-lock, then a combination of the NY Noose and a Fahgettaboudit would work really well. As the Fahgettaboudit would act as the un-croppable lock.

Keeping the lock high makes it less vulnerable to bolt cropper attacks (where using the ground for leverage greatly increases the force of an attack). Fitting the lock around the seat tube, rear wheel, and pedal decreases the space inside the lock (where a length of metal or car jack could be inserted to pop the lock open).

In your case, the Brute has a super thick 16mm shackle. Even close to the ground this is impossible to break with bolt cutters. However it could still be popped open if a thief can fit a bar (or more likely a car jack) inside.

I doubt the Bell lockhas been tested by anyone reputable Alain. Make sure you regularly clean and lubricate both the mechanism and the ends of the shackle as these locks have a bad reputation for seizing up.

Thank you for such a wonderful resource about bike locks. I wanted to share my locking strategy, because it involves the type of lock you did not mention on your site. My new e-bike came with a frame lock, Abus 5650. I already owned Fahgettaboudit Mini, but given the size of frame and wheels on the e-bike the Mini could only lock the frame, locking wheel tire using Sheldon strategy did not make sense given the frame lock that already provided decent deterrent with the rear wheel. My bike came with two quick releases, front wheel and saddle post, rear wheel did not have quick release because of the internal gear hub. So, I replaced front wheel quick release with locking skewer, and installed pitlock pit stopper on the seat post clamp. Then I purchased the Abus noose chain that plugs into Abus frame lock, and I use that to secure front wheel to the rear wheel around bike rack and through the Mini. I also use seat leash cable that locks into the same frame lock. The entire setup can be seen here:

Thank you for the information! Very informative as I have decided to dust off my old bike and start using it again. I was trying to find information on the best lock to use. Now I just have to find them in Canada!

I used that Sheldon method for months in New York and Brooklyn with the orange kryptonite lock and cable chain. Even ended up leaving it locked in Bushwick for over a month, the front wheel was toast but that SHELDON METHOD WORKED. No one touched the U lock.

1. Do the standard U-lock method for the frame and rear wheel.

2. Instead of the cable feeding into the U-lock, use a separate cable lock (e.g. a combination lock); one with a good length and wrap that around the front wheel and frame multiple times, like a coiled snake.

I live in a fairly rural area with not much in terms of bike-specific immovable objects to secure a bike to. My future bike will mostly be for fitness activities, so the use case will be me removing the bike from my home, riding it for some time, and bringing the bike back inside my home. But I can imagine there will be times in which I will need to leave the bike outside for some amount of time. If I need to secure the bike to a sign post (not ideal), a tree (not ideal) because I have no other option, what would be a good (/least bad) method for doing this?

Rural=opportunistic crime only; so no bolt cutters envisaged. Go to your local hardware store and buy a chain and reasonably good lock. Length of chain to go around your local typical tree diameter (and loop through the bike frame and wheels). This will be the least expensive and most effective. Depending on your tree diameter you could look at cable locks but will find that for a reasonable length cable these will become expensive. Personally I disagree with Carl and see the Litelok as complete overkill given its cost. Given the rural location, where walking around with, and operating,a BOAG (battery operated angle grinder) would cause no raised eyebrows; pretty much everything past a chain is a waste of money, if there are thieves and they are targeting bikes. As I remember the record on a BOAG vs. Litelock is 20 secs using a diamond blade (Check on YouTube); talk about a knife through butter!

In ADDITION (this was included in a good London Met Police video on bike security). Etch a number onto your bike and email a photo of this and your bike to your local police (record it as being done before a theft). If your bike is subsequently stolen give this photo again to the police; they have about a 100x better chance of finding your bike and catching a thief.

3a8082e126