For real security, a motorcycle chain should have links at least 14mm thick. That's the practical threshold where hand tools stop working: even long-handled bolt cutters can't get useful leverage on properly hardened 14mm links, which forces a thief to bring power tools — noise, time, and commitment most won't spend.
A quick guide by thickness:
- 8–10mm: convenience chains. Fine for slowing a drunk opportunist; big bolt cutters defeat them quickly. Better than nothing, but barely.
- 12–13mm: the middle ground — resists smaller cutters, still vulnerable to determined manual attack. Reasonable for daytime errands.
- 14–16mm: the serious tier. Effectively bolt-cutter-proof when the steel is through-hardened. This is home/overnight territory.
- 19mm+: maximum security for high-risk areas — with weight to match; these chains live at the anchor, you don't carry them.
Thickness isn't everything: the steel must be through-hardened (not just surface-hardened), the padlock has to match the chain's quality, and the chain should sit off the ground, through the frame, with minimal slack.
And the honest footnote: an angle grinder eventually beats any thickness. A thick chain buys loud minutes — pair it with a tracker so even a defeated chain doesn't mean a lost bike.
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