How to make a quick release wheel lock

If you’re an urban dweller like myself, you’re probably familiar with the unfortunate need to keep your bike (and its parts) away from the grubby hands of crackhead thieves. Thieves love three things: transit stations, cable locks and quick releases. In other words, easy pickings. Cable locks are easily cut and quick releases live up to their name and release quickly often leaving a sad wheel-less, saddle-less bike. In my last post, I showed you how to lock a saddle and in this post, I’ll show you how to make a cheap (or free) lock for your quick release wheels.

IMG_1073 (Custom)

You will need:

  • A suitably sized hose clamp. Stainless would be best
  • A piece of inner tube to protect your frame (if you care)

IMG_1075

Unscrew the hose clamp all the way until it opens. Slide the clamp on to your fork leg or chainstay or seatstay and with the quick release lever position parallel to the frame, tighten the clamp around the quick release elver.

Voila, you’ve made it just difficult enough to remove your wheel that most thieves won’t even bother and will just move on to a vulnerable target. Remember though to carry with your patch kit something suitable to undo the clamp in case of a flat. A coin might work in a pinch

28.May.11 DIY, Tutorial

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Reader's Comments

  1. A Bike Thief | June 9th, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    Wow, now I know just what I need to add to my tool kit, a coin

  2. Dan | June 9th, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    …or a wrench if its a bolt on hub, or a bolt cutter if its cable locked

    Point is, anything that you can do to make it HARDER for a thief to make off with your stuff the better. Chances are that a thief is going to see the clamp, then move on to an easier target.
    This is not a bulletproof solution but it has proven effective over decades and is cheap (or free)

  3. C_U_Jimi | June 10th, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    Or a cable tie instead of a hose clamp?

  4. Dan | June 10th, 2011 at 2:36 pm

    Cable tie/ziptie could work also if it can be made tight enough. Only downside is that its one time use; if you get a flat you’ll need to cut it and put a new one on

  5. natey | June 19th, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    I would like to add a lil bit of extra protection to this idea, if you can install the clamp so the bolt head is facing inward, that could help…you’d need a longer than normal flat head screw driver to get it off, and you’d need to go through the spokes, adding one more level of inaccessibility.

  6. Spindly Legs | June 24th, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    Seems to me that if you are going to the trouble of putting a hose clamp on the QR, you might as well just go to a bolt on axle. My solution to making sure my wheels aren’t stolen? Run a cable lock through them. If someone is going to steal just the skewers there ain’t much that’ll stop ‘em. I agree, though, that the point is to make things as unappealing to potential thieves as possible.

  7. Cj121 | July 18th, 2011 at 12:57 am

    Hi! Great idea, thanks. But WHAT SIZE HOSE CLAMP did you use? I want to clamp down the both the front wheel QR as well as the saddle QR.

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