View Full Version : Bike Locks ...
Don't know if any of the cyclists here use Kryptonite locks ... if so you might want to take a look at this: http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/kryptonite.asp
:yikes:
More on this here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=66128&page=1&pp=25
Watch out anyone who uses a Kensignton or possibly also Targus Laptop or disk lock too ... I've just used this method to successfully bypass these types of locks. Hooking your laptop to something via those cable type affairs is no longer secure ...
:yikes: That's pretty amazing! Glad I don't have one of those.
I do know how easy most bike locks are to remove because at work we remove left behind bikes each year. Bolt croppers make short work of them all, even the wire ones (it's knowing where to cut). There's only been one type we couldn't remove and that was a D-lock. We ended up chopping through the bike frame instead! The lock is still attached to the rail, 2 years on.
It's easier to carry a biro than a pair of bolt croppers though. :shock:
I have this real heavy-duty lock which is apparently "almost unbreakable". May be so, but it hasnt taken much for a lot of people to try, there are cut marks all up the lock, they couldnt quite manage to get through the wire bit though. Thankfully.
tenbears10
22-09-2004, 19:40
Bloody Hell. They cost what £50 and I would have trusted it to look after a £1000 bike but not any more.
Only question is what do you lock your bike up with now? I know a very big dog :o):
That is tounge in cheek but not totally.
Bill
Anything metalic? And slightly tall and wide.
fatbadger
30-09-2004, 19:55
My bike costs more than £1000 and I have a huge chain for it with a D'lock style bit to connect it all together but that is definately not pratical to carry around as it weights a tonne. If you shop around you should be able to find a good lock, something small and tough is always good (when i say small i dont mean thin) you need to figure out if it would be easy to cut through. That type of lock you shown is more of a deterant, if your a bike thief its basically the same as having no lock at all. Kryptonite tend to do some pretty good locks, there should be a good choice of them on www.ultimatepursuits.com.
I do know how easy most bike locks are to remove because at work we remove left behind bikes each year.I'm curious, Stew. Why do their owners leave bikes and never come back for them??? :?:
Ta Kath - I've got a couple of those and braided cables to match. Bit of a blow though, they cost a lot of dosh !
logstacker
01-10-2004, 06:19
Locks only buy TIME,not security.They are rated bronze,silver or gold ,depending on the amount of "ATTACK" time they can withstand.I used to be a bike messenger,and we would "lean-lock"ie use minimum locking just to disable for a couple of minutes drop-time.Didn`t always work though!Nowadays I use a kryptonite d-lock,AND a cable and padlock to anchor the wheels.It gives the thieving bas***ds more to think about,and buys more...time.
saw this a while ago over on a mountain bike forum. Not really anything new most locks can be taken off if you know what your doing. Oxford are good but heavy. The trick is to put more then one lock on which will need different methods to get them off.
I tried an oxford lock yesterday, they are excellent. Couldnt see anyone breaking through that thing!
seen it done with a mini hacksaw. Everything can be taken off it's just a matter of time.
edited to add: it was the AA but no reason why anyone else couldn't do the same
OK, hacksaw ... technically carrying that would be illegal anyway ... but a Bic pen????
I'm curious, Stew. Why do their owners leave bikes and never come back for them??? :?:
I work at a University and we get a large population of international students, particularoly Chinese and Malaysian. They seem to be made of money because a lot leave bikes and throw perfectly good electrical equipment away each year when they go home.
Crazy!!
Tantalus
01-10-2004, 17:11
Bloody Hell. They cost what £50 and I would have trusted it to look after a £1000 bike but not any more.
Only question is what do you lock your bike up with now? I know a very big dog :o):
That is tounge in cheek but not totally.
Bill
you could try one of these??
http://www.rutland-electric-fencing.co.uk/electricshepherd/drybattery.htm
Tant
I suspect you might hit legal difficulties if the bike isn't on your own land. You wouldn't get away with building a fense around your bike would you.
http://www.mbuk.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=72170
thought this might be helpful
Yeah I saw the movie, rather depressing really, when I was a kid and I worked in a bike shop I saw a guy freeze a lock and break it in a few seconds but I wasn’t that worried, I didn’t think your average bike thief would be doing it that way.
I used to use 3 kryptonite locks, 2 D locks and a really big sort of chain lock as I really didn’t want to loose the bike. Now my bike isn’t even made anymore I want to loose it even less, so I never lock it but I never ever leave it alone. I personally find it pretty hard sometimes to find something that I’m allowed to lock it to that I actually trust anyway.
I used to use 3 kryptonite locks, 2 D locks and a really big sort of chain lock as I really didn’t want to loose the bike.
:yikes: That must have weighed loads!
Motorbike Man
12-10-2004, 10:10
I know this is about pushbikes, but this is kind of relavant. A few years ago, a mate of min had one of the first Honda Fire Blades to come into the country. He was totally in love with that bake. He visited another mate who didn't have offroad parking so he padlocked it to a lamp post with the best part of £1000 worth of Abus chains and padlocks. They went to a night club, came back to find the lamp post had been carefully cut down!!!!!!! Over my years of biking, I've heard more than a few stories like that. Logstacker has it right
Locks only buy TIME,not security and as for thieves not going down the freeze route, you can buy freeze spray at Maplins on the high street. Moral is, if they want it bad enough they'll get it so if you don't want to lose it, don't take your eyes off of it. Depressing aint it :cry:
Yep, locks only buy time and protect you from honest people, but some padlocks buy you more time and protect you from people slightly less than honest ... http://locks.nfesc.navy.mil/HiSecPad.htm ... I think you could hit this with cans of freeze spray from Maplins all day and it would just smile right back at you!
A big part of out problem with security is that we can be cheap about it, rely on junk from abroad or forget to take other sensible measures.
If you can, it's always useful not just lock your bike, but take the saddle off aswell, maybe even clip off the front wheel if you're feeling really paranoid about having it nicked.
:?:
tenbears10
12-10-2004, 10:56
I know someone who used to wire his brakes the opposite way to normal (left lever for the back or which ever way is not as you buy it). Anyone else riding the bike would go over the bars the first time they tried to use the back brake and squeezed the front one by mistake.
Not 100% effective but more than one way to skin a cat etc.
Bill
If oyu have quick release wheels that you can undo the quick realease and take that out but leave the wheels on the bike. You could also release the brakes if oyu run V brakes. The first option is very good if you run hydrolic disc brakes
If you can, it's always useful not just lock your bike, but take the saddle off as well, maybe even clip off the front wheel if you're feeling really paranoid about having it nicked.
:?:
or change your quick release levers to normal bolts. For me, I've never seen the point in having a quick release saddle. Once I'm setup then I don't change the height. If someone else wants to use it then they can get a spanner out! :lol:
I know someone who used to wire his brakes the opposite way to normal (left lever for the back or which ever way is not as you buy it). Anyone else riding the bike would go over the bars the first time they tried to use the back brake and squeezed the front one by mistake.
Hee hee. Evil. I like it! Did you ever see that TV program where they set criminals up? The one where the bike had spray cans mounted on it?
:o):
If you have quick release wheels that you can undo the quick release and take that out but leave the wheels on the bike. You could also release the brakes if you run V brakes. The first option is very good if you run hydrolic disc brakes
Quick release wheels are generally a pain in the behind.
I have 2 bicycles. My mountainbike which I use for going into town (no quick release) and my racer which I use to ride 10.5 miles to work (quick release) The racer gets punctures quite often and so it's good having the quick release and I don't have to worry about locking up the wheels as I put it in a cupboard. The mountain bike used to have quick release but I took them off as it was more effort sorting extra locks out compared to the number of punctures. If I have the kit to sort a puncture out with me then I have a spanner to take the wheel off if necessary anyway.
you can get bits to replace the quirk release. the cheaper ones don't have many combanations but it's still something different. Still very fast to change a wheel if you need to but not something anyone can take off. They will also save weight
you can get bits to replace the quirk release. the cheaper ones don't have many combanations but it's still something different. Still very fast to change a wheel if you need to but not something anyone can take off. They will also save weight
Do you mean that they're combination lock releses?
No I'll try and dig out a link for you
The cheap ones have a sort of allen key type thing to allow you to take them off, it's not quite an allen key though as that would defeat the point. I think it might be a five sided thing.
.Yes it did weigh a little, part of the reason why I gave up carrying it all and just decided I would never leave the bike. I didn’t mind so much carrying it all at the time though as I needed the exercise and I had just lost a Rotrax (with all that Campagnolo stuff that took me so long to save for) to some git who I’m sure did not appreciate it and I was damned if I was going to loose my now vintage (well in terms of MTBs anyway) Fisher Pro Caliber. I’ve had the bike for about 15 years now and I’m very attached to it. Not ever leaving it can be a pain but it seems to work.
found them
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/images/kryptonite%20lockring%20skewer s%2003.jpg
look at the maker, they did have a good reputation
found them
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/images/kryptonite%20lockring%20skewer s%2003.jpg
look at the maker, they did have a good reputation
Weird. So the tool for undoing them is supposed to be unique to each set of "skewers" then?
no, but depending on how much you spend makes a difference to the number of combanations that have. IIRC these are pritty good so have a lots of combinations.
demographic
18-04-2005, 22:48
I tried an oxford lock yesterday, they are excellent. Couldnt see anyone breaking through that thing!
Noooooooooooooooooooooo :eek:
A large percentage of round keyed Oxford locks can be picked with a Pilot pen, as much use as a chocolate fireguard :(
These are short clips of the round keyed Oxford locks being picked by a bloke I know on a motorcycle forum, he has no previous experience of picking locks either.
First link THE OXFORD REVOLVER (http://www.zanx.net/revolver.wmv)
ANOTHER ONE (http://www.zanx.net/pick2.wmv)
Aparently Oxford have been squirming about this but not really doing anything about it for a while now but the pens used didn't even have anything cut into the end, just a plain pen end.
Avoid them like the plague.
arctic hobo
18-04-2005, 22:53
A friend of mine who works in a bike shop says he can cut through 99% of all locks with a high powered lighter - and 100% of those uner 50 quid :eek:
I had my cannondale stolen awhile back by some b********d. How i wish to chat about the morality behind property ownership. At the time i was earning less than £5 an Hour and the bike was worth almost £2000. I got £500 from my contents insurance. i now own a nice little cannondale. However it stays locked with a gold standard chain in the lounge bolted to the wall. i never leave it unattended outside. The insurance costs me £200 a year. Just because some little crack head cant keep his sticky mitts off.
I would buy the very best lock you can afford and take with you anything that can easily be removed. Previously i have had 3 saddles nicked as well. At over £50 a peice it gets expensive.
RobertsonPau
20-04-2005, 18:24
Few years ago I had a Kirk Revolution nicked, big and heavy but indestructible. It was locked to a big steel hoop with a lock with a guarantee that if my bike got nicked the manufacturer would pay me £3000:D , all I had to do was send the broken/compromised lock back to them. The theiving b*****ds stole the lock as well!!:(
And a few years later some kindly soul followed me home and returned later to remove my Marin from the garage. They had to move three other bikes to get to it, they left the others and just took the Marin. The insurance company paid out for the individual parts that the bike was made from rather than the whole bike 'cos it was worth more than the limit on a bike:D . This was their idea not mine by the way.
Paul
havingagiraffe
06-08-2005, 23:44
A group of kids watched me nervously lean my Diamondback up against the corner shop's window so I could keep an eye on it while I popped in to get a drink.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT A CHEAP BIKE."
Shouted the oldest. Can't really argue with his logic....
As Bob Dylan said
"When you got nothin' you got nothin' to lose."
A friend of mine rides a Kona Stinky which cost well over a grand. He can't park it anywhere, and has to be careful when riding in case he gets mugged for his bike.
It's a sad state of affairs when we have a thread dedicated to bicycle theft :(