Litelok X1: Angle grinder resistance for peace of mind

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The Litelok X1 was launched amid much social media and YouTube hype, with videos of angle grinders failing to chop into it.

  • Brand: Litelok
  • Product: X1
  • FromLitelok
  • Price: £149.99
  • Tested: by Hannah for 11 months

Pros

  • Appears very angle grinder resistant
  • Well sealed from water
  • No rough spots to scratch a frame

Cons

  • Can be tricky to get connected
  • Too short for some use scenarios

Made with ‘Barronium’, the Litelok X1 promises Diamond Level Sold Secure security for your bike amid a host of other features:

  • Barronium™ fused composite armour repels angle grinder attacks
  • Unique anti-rotation feature protects against twisting attacks and single cuts
  • The natural finish soft plant-based eco-rubber outer layer won’t damage your frame
  • Engineered for smooth and quiet operation
  • Quick to affix and remove with our universal ‘Twist & Go’ frame mount
  • Reflective strips keep you safe and seen
  • Unique, innovative self-sealing silicone keyhole cover means you don’t have to remember to open or close your keyhole to keep out dirt, dust and moisture
  • Independently tested and approved by Sold Secure
  • Certified Sold Secure Bicycle Diamond and Sold Secure Motorcycle Diamond
  • Proudly Made in Britain using precision engineering

I can’t say that I’ve ever been bothered by noisy operation of a lock, but I suppose if you’re trying to sneak home after curfew perhaps this might matter to you. If that’s the case, I hope you have a nice quiet hub. And that you lubed your chain. Anyway.

The security features seem useful, and as I am neither a professional thief, locksmith, or even a trained anglegrinder operator, I’m not going to attempt to break into the lock. Because there are plenty of people on YouTube doing that for me, and what would me (probably vainly) chopping away at the lock tell you? Not very much, other than eventually (over 1 minute is shown on plenty of YouTube channels) you can get through one side with an angle grinder, and your angle grinder will probably need a new cutter before you can get through the second side. And it would leave me with a worn out angle grinder and a useless lock. And I’d damage that plant-based eco-rubber coating. Which, it turns out, isn’t just marketing – not all rubber is plant based, it’s just that the stuff we need for bicycle tyres needs a bit of rubber plant in it somewhere to make it have the properties needed for cycling. In use, that rubber coating has proven pretty robust, which is reassuring when you’re locking up your bike and want to keep the paint looking good.

Reflective strips is a nice extra touch – why not add something eye catching for those that carry it on their frame. The silicone keyhole does seem to keep the muck out, and the shackle ends seem quite well protected from the wet. There’s no sign of rust anywhere, unlike some of my other locks. The shackle fits snugly into the body of the lock, almost creating a seal where the rubber coating of the arms meets the body. However, that snug fit does make it a little tricky to get a ‘connection’ with the lock. Sometimes it takes a couple of goes to get the body and arms to join so that you can turn the key. Couple that with the relatively short length of the shackle and it can be tricky to find a suitable spot to attach your bike and get that connection made. Over time I’ve got more practiced at the knack of getting it to connect, but it’s tricky enough that it’s not a lock I loan to my kids when they take a bike into town.

Another factor stopping me loaning it to my kids is paranoia! I’ve been very careful to keep the spare key stored safely – the prospect of not being able to take an angle grinder to it in the event of a lost key is reassuringly stressful. When you get your lock, you should register it – that way, you can request new keys in the event that you (or your beloved offspring) do mislay a key.

While the short shackle length means it’ll fit inside many frames, it also means you can be limited as to what you can lock you bike to – and you definitely can’t lock two fat-framed mountain bikes with it. If you’ve racks on your bike, you may find you struggle to get near enough in to some cycle racks to lock the frame to the rack. And if you’ve a big fat frame – like some ebikes or cargo bikes – you may find there are a few sweet spots for locking up, rather than loads of choice. I’d love to see a longer shackled version – if there’s two of you out together, it’s nice for one to carry the lock and the other to carry the tools/pump/shopping/picnic rather than both having to lug a lock.

Just fits around this ebike battery downtube.

Overall

The Litelok X1 is competitively priced against other similar sized Diamond Secure locks. Securing my bike up in town with this lock gives me a fair degree of confidence that my bike will still be there when I come back to it. My main worry is not that my bike will be stolen, but that a frustrated thief will chop into my bike out of spite when they realise they’re struggling to get through the lock. Not a lot you can do about that though. For giving yourself a fighting chance of keeping thieves away, the Litelok X1 is a pretty good option.

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Review Info

Brand: Litelok
Product: X1
From: Litelok
Price: £149.99
Tested: by Hannah for 11 months
Author Profile Picture
Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.

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Home Forums Litelok X1: Angle grinder resistance for peace of mind

Viewing 21 posts - 1 through 21 (of 21 total)
  • Litelok X1: Angle grinder resistance for peace of mind
  • thols2
    Full Member

    WTF is Barronium?

    2
    simon_g
    Full Member

    Presumably named after Professor Neil Barron https://www.litelok.com/pages/our-story

    They do look impressive, this Bennetts video shows quite a bit of resistance to a mains grinder and more than one disc needed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwjh8J4uec . Given how cheap and available battery grinders are, it’s good that there’s locks being designed to resist them a bit better.

    I’ve thankfully only had one bike (attempted to be) stolen, they managed to bend the frame trying to twist the U-lock off and ended up taking the bars, stem and anything else that could be unbolted easily.

    hardtailonly
    Full Member

    Presumably, you’d need to think carefully about what you lock your bike to … if an angle grinder can’t get through the lock easily, a scumbag may grind through the fence railing you have locked it to instead.

    2
    thols2
    Full Member

    a scumbag may grind through the fence railing you have locked it to instead

    I remember a story from about 20 years ago about a guy who locked his bike to a fence only to come back and find the fence and bike both gone.

    dirtyrider
    Free Member

    Presumably, you’d need to think carefully about what you lock your bike to … if an angle grinder can’t get through the lock easily, a scumbag may grind through the fence railing you have locked it to instead.

    happened to Darren Franks yesterday

    Carousel9132

    1
    stwhannah
    Full Member

    @dirtyrider that sucks 🙁

    I would love to see the industry pressure the insurance world into some ‘proper’ insurance. We can leave our cars on the street and people can steal them and we don’t get told we left it in the wrong place, or didn’t tie it to the right sort of fixing with the right sort of lock etc. It’s about time we could use bikes with as much confidence as cars (or even motorbikes).

    2
    rootes1
    Full Member

    Presumably, you’d need to think carefully about what you lock your bike to … if an angle grinder can’t get through the lock easily, a scumbag may grind through the fence railing you have locked it to instead.

     

    yer friend lost his carbon road bike from a station. D lock still there, and just some carbon dust all around – they just cut through the frame…. suppose worth it for part alone

    rootes1
    Full Member

    happened to Darren Franks yesterday

    Carousel9132

     

    there has been recent cases in London were Sheffeld stands were being precut and the cut covered up with reflective / other tapes… to enable future theft.

     

    I would love to see the industry pressure the insurance world into some ‘proper’ insurance. We can leave our cars on the street and people can steal them and we don’t get told we left it in the wrong place, or didn’t tie it to the right sort of fixing with the right sort of lock etc. It’s about time we could use bikes with as much confidence as cars (or even motorbikes).

     

    has to be be more (lots more) ‘proper’ parking car park style with controls etc.

     

    This one benefit of a Brompton is that you can always take it in with you.

     

    3
    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    This one benefit of a Brompton is that you can always take it in with you.

    I’m pretty sure you can’t take it with you is one of the universally accepted truths.

    sanername
    Full Member

    This one benefit of a Brompton is that you can always take it in with you.
    I’m pretty sure you can’t take it with you is one of the universally accepted truths.

    Hence why you should spend all the money you have on a Brompton.

    2
    burko73
    Full Member

    This does need addressing if we are serious about getting people out of cars and onto bikes. I can’t see myself locking up £3k of e-bike to a rusty railing whilst I go to a meeting. A lot of offices etc don’t have any decent facilities. We’ve just built a bike shed in work, open fronted with security lighting and electric charger points and the Sheffield type stands are just bolted to the floor with the 13mm bolt heads exposed. Even if I didn’t have a spanner I bet I could push the stand over if I needed to and pull the bolts out.

    Daffy
    Full Member

    Hopefully this lock will stand up to better independent testing than their Litelock.

    rootes1
    Full Member

    Yer the thought of looking up say a Tern GSD somewhere out on the street would be too much.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    hardtailonly
    Full Member

    Presumably, you’d need to think carefully about what you lock your bike to … if an angle grinder can’t get through the lock easily, a scumbag may grind through the fence railing you have locked it to instead.

    This is already the case, if your lock isn’t complete crap it’s already going to be tougher than the frame, or most things that you can lock it to. There’s a bit of to-and-fro since some attacks are so dependent on size- like, a thicker fence/post is just going to be too big to boltcutter while a lot of locks are easy to boltcutter (like, ironically, locking a bike to a tree is really effective, because even though trees aren’t strong, pretty much none of the tools you use to break a bike lock can effectively cut a tree of any size. But lots of metal fences and street furniture are really easy to break with the exact same tools you already have if you’re going bike-stealing.

    rootes1
    Full Member

    there has been recent cases in London were Sheffeld stands were being precut and the cut covered up with reflective / other tapes… to enable future theft.

    We had this at my old work, I have to admit my reaction was a grudging “good job there, well done thieves”. They’d even used a bit of hi-viz hazard tape to cover the cut.

    tmays
    Free Member

    By the way, there are MUCH cheaper ‘diamond’ rated locks around (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-LK322-Shackle14-Diamond-Security/dp/B09Q6FPNZ3/ref=sr_1_10_mod_primary_new?crid=2OGG0R4Z75W6D&keywords=platinum+bike+lock+14mm&qid=1695201047&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=platinum+bike+lock+14m%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-10).

    Does it really matter how resistant they are, as long as the rating matches what your insurance company requires?

    tjagain
    Full Member

    Does it really matter how resistant they are,

    Yes if you don’t want your bike nicked. My good lock has saved my bike 3 times

    Northwind
    Full Member

    tmays
    Full Member

    By the way, there are MUCH cheaper ‘diamond’ rated locks around

    Yah but Diamond is as valuable as any other sold secure rating- might be useful for insurance purposes, useless for actually rating security purposes. What is your lock for, actually stopping your stuff getting nicked or just for helping the payout after?

    darlobiker
    Full Member

    Does anyone make a lock that comes with more than one shackle of different lengths? It would be a bit more versatile and cheaper than buying 2 complete locks.

    renoir shore
    Free Member

    darlobiker – yes, Pragmasis.

    jamj1974
    Full Member

    WTF is Barronium?

    IMG_1758

    Tom83
    Full Member

    I had a bike stolen years back. My friend and I had locked both our bikes together, using two kryptonite locks, to a sheffield stand. Turns out these were the locks you could open with a biro….. Still miss my DDG Shooter!

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