Where to Put Your Bike Lock While Riding

These days, you would be unwise to leave your bike unattended just about anywhere without locking it up.

Bike theft is rampant, and the purchase and sale of stolen bicycle goods and parts is a booming underground market all over the bicycle-riding world.

Simply put, as long as there are bicycles, there are also bicycle thieves.

This is the way of the world, better or worse.

So, you know you have to have a lock.

But once you’ve got it, where do you put it? Do you thread it across your handlebars? Lock it to a costly, cumbersome rack? Do you put it in a backpack?

There are a thousand different answers to the question of what to do with your bike lock while riding your bike, and, in the end, the answer to the question will always be a subjective one.

There are almost as many bike locks on the market these days as there are bikes, and it’s hard to know what to choose.

Serious city riders with higher-end bicycles tend to prefer either a “U-lock” (an iron lock with a U-shaped feature and a straight metal bar), or a good old chain and combo lock to safeguard their rides. 

These two styles of lock are arguably the most secure and the most trusted means of safeguarding your bicycle, and a U-lock especially is a good investment if you find yourself riding a more expensive machine.

Storing Bulky Metal Locks

A lot of riders like to play it safe and store these kinds of locks in a backpack, tote bag, saddlebag, basket, or other large containers that is itself stored either on the rider’s person, or on the bicycle itself.

The simple truth is that there is essentially no easy, clear-cut way of storing this sort of lock.

If it takes up a lot of space and weighs a lot, it’s going to be difficult to keep safe while riding.

There are no easy tricks here, sadly.

With great heavy lock, comes a great and necessary responsibility to store that lock in a suitable place.

Storing Smaller Locks and Cable Locks

If you’re not a city rider, or if your bike is of a lower market value, you might either already have or want to consider purchasing a lighter lock that’ll leave your bike a little less secure than some of its heavier counterparts.

What these locks, though, (such as the ever-popular cable locks) sacrifice in terms of security, they tend to make up for in terms of increased mobility.

Cable locks, for example, are great to bring around with you.

You can wind them around your handlebars or around the frame of the bike, or you can keep them in a small bag or saddlebag, or even inside a small under-the-seat pouch.

The right cable lock can go just about anywhere, and that’s what makes these locks so great.

That said, there are real security considerations to take into hand here.

Ultimately, it comes down to the rider to decide whether they prefer total security, or total mobility.

Cable locks will let you move around quite a bit, but they’re not going to do a lot for you in terms of security

Innovative Locks

The wild card.

In our modern times, companies are always coming out with problems to the age-old problem of the bike lock: namely, the problem of security versus mobility; of always having one but not the other.

There are a staggering number of new bike locks on the market these days, and many of them are trying to give the customer both security and mobility, many of them successfully.

It’s worth taking a look into the deep end of the market if you’ve got a craving for a bike lock that gives you mobility and security at the same time.

Many of these new locks blend the cable design with the classic U-lock and wrought iron design by building mechanical joints into the iron locks, or by using a variety of different synthetic metals to create a lock that is both flexible, strong, and cheap.

While the future of the bike lock may be near, there are still drawbacks to just about every model, and the customer still has a number of considerations to take into account before purchasing a lock, and/or a new way of carrying the lock that they already own.