Sorry for this beginner question, but I got a Rockhopper MTB, it's a hardtail. I also got a chunky bike lock, one of the foldable higher tier ones.
The problem is, with the mounting mechanism the lock comes with, it can't be mounted on the seat tube because there won't be enough vertical space to easily take it out.
I've seen two solutions to this:
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There are alternate mounting mechanisms where the lock can be taken out toward the front. However, I keep finding comments about those that during a rougher ride, the lock may just fall out on its own.
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And some people mount the lock on the front tube. At first, I thought that would be a great solution.
However, I can't find much info about what the bike manufacturers say about this, since the top tube doesn't seem naturally designed to carry extra weight, especially in lighter bikes like MTBs or racing bikes.
Does anybody know if having a lock up there, fixed in position via velcro and without drilling any holes, can cause strucural issues for the bike frame? Or would it likely worsen accident outcomes significantly? Especially when driving on rougher terrain where the bike may get tossed around a little.
As far as I know the frame is aluminium, not carbon. But it's not steel either, of course.
Update 2026-07-06: I realized sidecage bottle mounts are a thing, I will try to get one of those now and see if perhaps I can fit the bottle on the seat tube after all. If that works, then I could have the lock sitting on the bottom tube after all!
Hm I don't like that the blackburn cage is screwed in, from what I've read that's apparently a bad idea for some 1.5kg lock. It seems like that's too heavy for most frames and may cause the screws to break off. I wonder if there's something similar but with pure velcro? It also seems like the metal might scratch the frame a tiny bit, the current mount I'm using is some sort of medium hard'ish plastic.
The other option looks better in terms of no screws, but an entire bag for a lock seems a tad weird!