Thief proofing a bicycle rack

Ive recently moved onto a new housing development which provides residents with public bicycle stores. The stores consists of a wooden building (roughly 15'x15') with an electronic PIN access lock on the door which everyone knows the code to. Inside each store is about 10 bicycle stands which consist of a "U shaped" bit of steel bolted to the concrete. There are about 4 of these stores and at present they all have the same PIN and there must be about 500 odd people on the development so the PIN is soon going to be known by most people within a 10 miles radius .

So I went out and invested in an extremely secure chain (Almax) to secure my two bicycles to the stand. Only today did I realise that the bloody stands are only bolted to the concrete. To get past any chain/lock somebody only has to undo 8 bolts (4 on each face plate where the steel meets the concrete). Ive tried it myself and its silent and quick to do.

So my question is this: Is there an easy way I can make the bolts non removable?

My thinking being that I would pick one or two of the stands and "improve" the anchoring and then always use one of these stands for my bicycles.

I do realise that no method is going to prevent a determined thief but forcing them to use power tools and make noise is the position I want to put them in. Someone being able to walk in with a pocket wrench and have 8 bolts unscrewed in 4 minutes is unacceptable.

I'm thinking maybe I can unscrew all the bolts, inject some resin/epoxy then replace the bolts. Would this work? Are there any potential problems? Would I need to make the recieving hole bigger?

Any advice appreciated

Something like this http://www.fastenright.com/products/security-fasteners would probably work, but you'll need to whip a bolt out and measure it for us if you want a firmer steer. Google 'shear bolts' too.

I'll get a better look at the bolts tomorrow, during daylight. I'll measure them and look for any diameter/gauge markings.

I'd do it now but I'm not too sure it'd look too good if someone caught me in there with a wrench removing a bike rack in the hours of darkness!!

Take a cordless angle grinder and round the edges off the bolts?
Not exactly a stealth option though!

For stealth use one of these,



in the dead of night,

using very light strokes,

prison escapee style!

But it may take a while.

Main problem is it being in a 'shed' , it should be a wire cage so the bikes are visible and so would a thief be.You could add a padlock alarm but it a shed unlikely it would be heard.
You can get a security bolt which uses an allen key head then a ball bearing is jammed in the top after fixing to prevent removal.

my first thought was superglue a ball bearing in the allen bolt as foxhole suggested.

as an alternative:

fill a bucket with concrete and an old D lock, and lock your bikes to the bucket as well as the frame.
No it won't prevent a determined thief but dragging 30kg of concrete attached to a bike frame will hopefully mean your bike is not picked for theft.

pinetrees said:

my first thought was superglue a ball bearing in the allen bolt as foxhole suggested.

as an alternative:

fill a bucket with concrete and an old D lock, and lock your bikes to the bucket as well as the frame.
No it won't prevent a determined thief but dragging 30kg of concrete attached to a bike frame will hopefully mean your bike is not picked for theft.

Click to expand...

No glue required as ball bearing cannot be levered out of a allen head.

foxhole said:

pinetrees said:

my first thought was superglue a ball bearing in the allen bolt as foxhole suggested.

as an alternative:

fill a bucket with concrete and an old D lock, and lock your bikes to the bucket as well as the frame.
No it won't prevent a determined thief but dragging 30kg of concrete attached to a bike frame will hopefully mean your bike is not picked for theft.

Click to expand...

No glue required as ball bearing cannot be levered out of a allen head.

Click to expand...

but with a magnet it can!

No not even a magnet would remove a ball bearing hammered into the bolt head.

Chemfix it down with some round headed bolts?

Make up a bucket of strong cement with unibond and fibers in it and trowel it round the base of the frame covering the bolts.

When a thief see's that he'll just take the cordless dremel multi tool from his pocket and slit your chain and cycle off into the sunset with your bike. Simples.