8 best bike locks to help keep your wheels safe and secure

Best: Overall

Rating: 9/10

• Weight: 2kg
• Material: Hardened steel
• Type: U-lock

As the name suggests, with this one you can lock up your bike and “fahgettaboudit” – just make sure you say it in a New York accent. Only a really determined and extremely well-equipped thief would have a chance of beating it.

This substantial Sold Secure diamond-rated U-lock has been designed to resist attack by both picking and drilling. The 18cm hardened-steel shackle is vinyl coated to protect your frame, and it comes with a handy LED key that you’ll be grateful for on dark evenings, plus two spares. A sliding plastic cover keeps dust and debris out of the locking mechanism.

Tipping the scales at just over 2kg, it’s not the lightest lock to carry around with you but it should serve you really well.

Best: For portability

Rating: 8/10

• Weight: 2kg
• Material: Hardened-steel chain and shackle
• Type: Wearable chain lock

You don’t need to take a bag or pannier with you to carry this one – as the name suggests, it just slips around your hips. The Sold Secure silver rated setup incorporates a chain wrapped in a nylon sleeve and a heavy-duty padlock. When wearing it, you just slip the Velcro strap through a slot on the padlock and then adjust to fit. The thick nylon sleeve with its reflective exterior makes it surprisingly comfortable to ride with it strapped to your waist (fits waist sizes from 28 to 44in).

The Hiplock comes with three keys, and you can remove the sleeve from the 85cm chain to wash it when it gets grubby.

Best: For ultimate security

Rating: 9/10

• Weight: 4.8kg
• Material: Boron-manganese steel
• Type: Chain and U-lock

Here’s a versatile chain and U-lock combo – although its weight means it’ll be one to leave at home or work rather than trying to haul it around with you.

The 130cm chain can be looped around a lamp post or bike stand before being fed back through a big ring at the end. The whole thing is then secured using the little U-lock with its picking-resistant disc mechanism.

It’s rated Sold Secure gold and the chain has a tough nylon cover to stop it marking your precious bike. The sleeve does tend to hold water if left out in the rain, but that shouldn’t be an issue, as you’re unlikely to be carrying it any sort of distance.

Best: Cool looks

Rating: 8/10

• Weight: 1.1kg
• Material: Hardened steel
• Type: D-lock

You can slip this handy little D-lock over the rear pocket of your jeans, or a belt, thanks to the flexible plastic tabs on the back. The rubber-coated 15cm loop is big enough to fit through your frame or a wheel while you nip into a shop or a cafe.

The DX is Sold Secure diamond-rated and the key-way is protected from the weather by a rubber seal. It comes with three keys, which are easy to use even with gloves on. If you ever lose them, you can buy a replacement using a unique code.

Best: For protecting frame and wheels

Rating: 8/10

• Weight: 1.61kg
• Material: Hardened steel
• Type: D-lock with cable

D-locks used in combination with a cable are a great idea as they let you secure both the wheels and the frame. This example from Kryptonite is small enough to slip into a rucksack or pannier while still being Sold Secure Gold-rated.

The whole package is nice and light, so is easily portable, and there’s a carrying bracket you can fit to your frame if you ride without a bag. It comes with two keys, too.

Best: For workplace security

Rating: 8/10

• Weight: 2.24kg
• Material: Hardened steel
• Type: Chain lock

Here’s a beefy chain that should keep your bike safe all day at the station or your workplace. As it tips the scales at more than 2kg, you might be better off leaving it at your parking spot rather than trying to carry it on your daily commute.

The lock assembly rotates, so it’s really easy to loop the 110cm chain around your frame and front wheel, while a thick nylon sleeve stops the 9mm links from rubbing your paintwork. It comes with a couple of keys, plus a code card, and gets Abus’s in-house security rating of 12 out of 15.

Best: For garage owners

Rating: 8/10

• Weight: N/A
• Material: 6mm hardened steel
• Type: Ground anchor

For anyone with a garage or shed with a concrete base, a ground anchor is a sound investment. While locking your bikes to each other is better than nothing, thieves could just bundle them together and cut the lock later. Securing your bikes to an anchor will prevent this.

You’ll have to do a little DIY to set it up, as the anchor needs four high-security bolts drilling into the floor, but it will be time well spent as the device is Sold Secure diamond-rated. Once in place, you simply loop your chain through the anchor and then use it to secure your bikes.

Best: Small lock

Rating: 7/10

• Weight: 440g
• Material: Steel alloys with plastic casing
• Type: Folding lock

If you like to travel light, a folding lock like this is perfect for slipping into a pocket. The bordo lite folds down to a neat little rectangle and is made up of six foldable sections with a total length of 60cm. It weighs in at less than 500g, and there’s also a bigger 85cm version available.

Don’t expect it to keep your bike secure all day, but if you only need to keep your machine secure for a few minutes at a time – maybe while you pop into a shop or cafe – we reckon the portability is worth the trade-off.

It comes with a couple of keys and you can buy replacements if they ever go missing, and it’s rated a seven on Abus’s own security scale.