Reference earlier posts here, with which I've just caught up, about ringlocks, the kind that attach permanently to the seatstays around about the brake mountings. I have two of those on continental bikes that fall into the "Dutch comfort/commuter" class, and I suspect both (ali) frames have custom fittings to allow their easy fitment. Both have no problem with 37mm Marathon Plus and suitably sized mudguards. I therefore expect that the aftermarket models, though made to fit differently to the bike (by hidden clamps rather than threaded bike-side fittings. I will check and photograph if necessary after Jim's lock arrives; if I'm right about the OEM models differing in their fixings from the consumer aftermarket models, there is no point in confusing the issue with information of limited utility until no other information is available.
I have a third bike on which a front wheel ringlock is an orderable standard fitting, but I don't have the ringlock as it was out of stock when my bike was built. This is a Basta lock, also sold under the Mighty brand, and it works differently to the rear one, is in fact called a "ring" lock only by courtesy, as it consists of a U that fits upside down to the brake sockets (almost always Magure hydraulics on this particular brand of bike, Utopia), with a swinging arm that swivels through the spokes to the other side and locks in; it doubles up as a brake brace. I've not handled it, but from the photographs it doesn't seem to be as sturdy as the standard AXA/Basta rear ring locks, especially the more expensive models I have on my Gazelle Toulouse and Trek Cyber Nexus. On the other hand, Utopia is famed for testing everything three times before fitting it to their precious bikes, so I expect the lock works satisfactorily. The Utopia version is scaled and specially made by Basta to fit 60mm Big Apples with SKS P65 mudguards over them; the standard aftermarket version won't fit a "normal" Utopia but I expect the standard aftermarket version will fit 38mm tyres with mudguards, because that's just about a minimum fitting for a Continental commuter. Utopia designed this lock to suit their own purposes, but I've never understood why they prefer a front wheel ringlock to a rear one, and when I asked why was told there was no space at the back, which is a bullshit brush-off answer (a manufacturer finding no space redesigns until there is space!), so don't ask me to justify it. I merely mention that it's available, and can be found on the net if your look hard enough.
My own opinion, off the top of my head, is that rear ring lock can be fitted at the front as well, and that ringlock at each end, with a relatively lightweight (not that monster Abus cable that Gazelle used to give away! -- that thing must have weighted five pounds!) but longish cable, will secure the bike in all but the most fraught circumstances. I like ringlocks for their low weight for the security they offer, and for the logic of the key staying in when they are unlocked; it's a failsafe design. (On the other hand, the factory fitted ones, when they come to the end of their service life, take the frame with them to the grave. I inspected one of my bikes with the idea of using the ringlock elsewhere, and concluded the lock couldn't be removed, even when open, without severely damaging and very likely weakening the frame, pretty likely destroying it.)
Andre Jute
Andre Jute
