securing Rotor cranksets against theft

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prokyon
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 11:12 pm

by prokyon

This might seem like a dumb idea and question, but I have an old gravel bike with a Rotor crankset and power meter which I intend to turn into a commuter - the only problem is that the Rotor crankset can be undone and removed with a single 10mm hex bolt and I can't lock it with something like HexLox insert because the 10mm bolt has a hollow inside - I was thinking of running some skewer or something through spindle and locking that somehow... has anyone tried theft proofing Rotor cranksets?

prokyon
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 11:12 pm

by prokyon

update: I figured that I can tap an M10 thread on the inside of the hollow bolt's hex head, then thread another M10 bolt in there and make it sit flush with the crankset, then lock that bolt with Hexlox - just need to use threadlock to prevent the bolt from unthreading with road vibration. Not super elegant, but would work.

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qwertzuiop
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:12 am

by qwertzuiop

Seems a bit paranoid, no? If someone wants your bike they cut trough the lock in 10-30 sec with an angle grinder. Get insurance for the bike and lock it non drive side facing forward. Or are there many bike nerds where you live/work/commute?

maurice1
Posts: 143
Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2022 12:51 pm
Location: Jura

by maurice1

I'm perplexed as to why you would have a pricy powermeter on a commuter, but I don't expect the average bike thief to recognize and know there is value in it. It probably looks like any other crankset for them

prokyon
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 11:12 pm

by prokyon

Paranoid is my middle name! LoL well, for context this is MIT / Harvard area and I've seen on a number of occasions thieves wrenching on locked up bikes during broad daylight without anyone stopping them - every now and then I see a shit frame (worse than mine) with at least some part removed.

My gravel bike doubles up as a backup gravel / CX bike, rain bike, winter bike and general commuter - hence the power meter. I do have an all-carbon fancy shmancy gravel bike which I use when I'm not commuting.

s3si1u
Posts: 73
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:12 am

by s3si1u

Remove it and use a cheap crankset? :noidea:
Also, as easy as some cranksets are to remove, cutting most locks is even faster. They'd take the whole bike, not just the power meter, no?

yinzerniner
Posts: 206
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:54 pm

by yinzerniner

s3si1u wrote:
Sun May 21, 2023 5:14 pm
Remove it and use a cheap crankset? :noidea:
Also, as easy as some cranksets are to remove, cutting most locks is even faster. They'd take the whole bike, not just the power meter, no?
Exactly. Get another crank for $100 and it takes roughly 2 mins to remove and reinstall if taking to a place where you'll be locking it up.

Boston / Cambridge is notorious for vehicle theft and police indifference to those crimes.

jfranci3
Posts: 1572
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:21 pm

by jfranci3

Yeah, no one is stealing anything but "a bike" there. Maybe a saddle/post. Also, most bike tools don't even have a 10mm on them. It's fine. The audience of people who know the PM is worth $300 on ebay and people willing to commit petty crime is very narrow. Just take a black marker/crayon over Power2Max, so theres not even anything to google.
Anything you jam in there you can just pound through or attack from the drive side. If you put hexlock in there, I'd just grab it by some channel locks and turn it till it fails. If you put a cable in there, I"d just insert a smaller bit in there and use the cable to fill in the remaining spaces of the hex.

Is this the newer Aldhu or the 3D? If it's the 3d, I'd just undo the pinch bolt and break the center bolt anyway.

Edit: single bolt, so it requires a long lever 10mm - just leave it. You need a 10mm socket and 1ft+ lever to remove the bolt and probably a hammer to pull the crank. At this level of effort, someone will just take the bike. Pulling the crank would be a very visible effort (on a Shimano/24mm axle anyway) because the axle is interference fit on the bearings
Last edited by jfranci3 on Sun May 21, 2023 7:57 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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robbosmans
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by robbosmans

The easiest way is probably to just fill the hex with hot glue, then if you want to remove it just heat it up again.

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CampagYOLO
Posts: 705
Joined: Thu May 06, 2021 3:58 pm

by CampagYOLO

"Is this the newer Aldhu or the 3D? If it's the 3d, I'd just undo the pinch bolt and break the center bolt anyway."

My 3D cranks need a cassette tool to remove, a thief definitely wouldn't be carrying one of those.

I'm with the others, sell the power meter crank, buy some cheap cranks like 105 ones then fit power meter pedals on the rides you want power measurement on.

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