Sold secure gold rated bike locks

I carry mine around in a pannier bag. It's a litelock, about 2kg.

Kyptonite Evolution 790? I still ****ing hate kryptonite for being outright frauds and thieves but it looks a good lock and is sold secure gold. I hate Sold Secure too for being confidence tricksters but that's kind of by the by when it's an insurance need.

On Guard Pitbull is Diamond Sold Secure for £45

Genuine question, how does a gold rated bike lock stop a knife point robbery? I'd consider that a very different concern.

Gives you something weighty to swing to defend yourself?

Posted by: MoreCashThanDash

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how does a gold rated bike lock stop a knife point robbery?

It doesn't but it validates your insurance so you can have a replacement and not feel a need to resist the theft

I assumed the insurance requirement for Gold rated locks only applied if they're actually locked up. Are you saying my insurance will refuse to pay out if my bike is taken at knife point, or from inside my house, because I didn't own the correct lock?

I was more assuming that maybe you have to make a declaration that the bike(s) will be locked using specific products when taking out the policy

Abus Granit x-plus 540, comes with a really good frame mount

I should have posted this before, you can find a full list of sold secure gold bike locks here:

https://soldsecure.com/approved-product-search?standard_grades=8&page=3
The search engine isn't very useful, you pretty much have to wade through them all. There's a bunch of foldy-linky-type-locks in there now, more than I realised.

Does anyone know if the Litelok options actually work? I kind of shudder at the words "cable lock" but they claim some good things and they're certainly more portable than most, and some are Cycle Diamond.

Abus do a couple of convenient fold-linky type locks, and they're one of the more trustworthy lockmakers out there generally (and also expensive mind you. I've no experience of these exact products but I'd trust them more than most, certainly more than Kryptonite and Oxford.

OK I can't help it, do bear in mind that Sold Secure Gold is more or less "defeats kids and low effort amateurs", it's a step up from the worst locks but it's still low security. Even their Diamond standard is fairly weak, it's absurd that you cna have a 12mm "top security" chain. So, if it's <only> for insurance purposes then that's not a big deal but if you want an effective lock you need to dig a bit more to tell what's actually good. There are Sold Secure Diamond locks that can be cut silently faster than you can find the key in your pocket.

Posted by: Pauly

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On Guard Pitbull is Diamond Sold Secure for £45

The Brute can be cheaper and OK, it's heftier but it's a better lock- leaving aside the sold-secureness (because they're both bike diamond, which says a lot about how shit sold secure is) 16mm takes you up into "physically too large for a whole lot of boltcutters" and slows angle grinders by about a third compared to 14mm. They're both annoyingly chonky to carry around so IMO extra bulk isn't a big deal. I found the LS version to be really useful with the slightly bigger size, means you can lock to more stuff, but they have 3 sizes which is probably useful for some folks.

They all have the same standard Onguard drawback of poor weatherproofing- I really like my Brutes, they're incredible value for the amount of lock you get but they don't tend to last if used outside, mine are garage locks.

Thank you for all your help so far, I rarely leave the bike locked anywhere anyway, so it is just a bit of a tickbox for me for the insurance so am trying to find the most portable cheap one I can, lots for me to be digging in to now that you've all helped thank you

Ossify has it - a lock warranty/requirement is only an issue if it's material to the loss, ie when it's left unattended.

I use an onguard something, it's a D lock. It comes with a bracket for fixing to the bike but I generally don't use it, it's pretty noisy rattling about and 99% of the time I have a bag with me so it goes in there. But the bracket does work if that's what you're looking for.

I'm aware they may not be the best and that all the sold secured stuff is nonsense but it's an insurance tick box as people have said. Generally, unless you're spending mega money I'm not sure anything is particularly thief proof, I'm just doing what I need to do to make sure the insurance can't wiggle out of it.

Kryptonite D-locks come with a decent frame mount, although you might want to add something like a twofish lockblock (they do perpendicular and parallel versions) to brace it if riding off-road.  If it's a commuter then some pannier racks have an extra loop that a D-lock just drops into.

When I was searching these were the best value gold rated locks and are what lives bungeed to the top of my pannier rack. The cable is useful to secure the front wheel, or occasionally if the rack is a stupid design (i.e. not a Sheffield stand) so you can't get a lock through the rear wheel/seat stays it's useful to loop it round a lampost or something if just popping into a shop.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kryptonite-GK001966-KryptoLok-2017-Kryptoflex-Cable-2017/dp/B06XCLTVPQ?th=1

I've also got an additional Kryptonite New York D-lock for the rack at work that doesn't move as it's an absolute beast.

It's still only a mild deterrent to a determined thief. Isn't "gold" just surviving for over 30s with powertools? D-locks fulfill it because most quality ones require you to cut both sides to release it.   And note that motorcycle silver is usually the same as bike gold, just double check the actual lock is certified for bikes if you're looking at motorcycle shops.

Cheapest reasonably effective sold secure locks I’ve found are the OnGuard Brute. 16.8mm shackle takes it outside of most manual tools or bolt cutters. But very little will survive an angle grinder sadly. Bearing in mind you can get a battery operated angle grinder from Lidl for peanuts I wouldn’t spend more on a lock personally. Although I have heard they aren’t hugely weather proof - you’d need to stay on top of lubricating the lock / mechanism. I have 4 of the Brutes and 1 Kryptonite New York lock - but essentially they all stay in my garage or the work underground garage so never get wet anyway.

There are those fancy / mega expensive d locks that are meant to be grinder proof - I think you’d get through one eventually but you’d mangle a lot of grinder discs in the process. Sometimes the thief may just cut the frame instead so they can still strip and sell all your fancy components. 

A lot of the sold secure gold chains are pathetic - I have an Oxford Chain 10 and a Hiplock gold thing - the 10mm / 12mm chains would cut with a bolt cutter in no time at all. 

Most of my locks are Abus locks, have always got on well with them. Are you able to mount the D lock within the frame? I used to be able to get a water bottle and a D lock within the frame. They're heavy though. Wasn't used at home or in the office, just when I needed to park it up to do something, usually a shop run

For portability, I've got one of the Hiplok wearable Gold Secure locks. Could be an option if your commute is shortish and relatively relaxed*. They're not cheap though.

*Robberies at knife point aside 

Hiplok is where I looked - best mix of price/ sold secure rating/ carryability

A lot of the sold secure gold chains are pathetic - I have an Oxford Chain 10 and a Hiplock gold thing - the 10mm / 12mm chains would cut with a bolt cutter in no time at all. 

The trouble is, that regardless of how much you spend on it, someone somewhere has a tool that will go through it like butter.

Best case they've brought the wrong tool for your lock (or you're insured).

Posted by: thisisnotaspoon

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A lot of the sold secure gold chains are pathetic - I have an Oxford Chain 10 and a Hiplock gold thing - the 10mm / 12mm chains would cut with a bolt cutter in no time at all. 

The trouble is, that regardless of how much you spend on it, someone somewhere has a tool that will go through it like butter.

Best case they've brought the wrong tool for your lock (or you're insured).

This is definitely true, but that's still really important- almost all 10mm and most 12mm chains are down in the same "can be broken in about 5 seconds with a silent tool that fits up a sleeve" territory along with tesco cable locks and such, and that's a really big thing as it's the least exposed a thief gets- it's super fast, stealthy and silent, and the odds of getting done for "going equipped" are about zero, compared to a silenced angle grinder or a more obvious big cropper so it's a preferred tool for a lot of thieves
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Basically as long as there are bikes worth nicking that are this badly protected, there'll be thieves that just don't bother to tool up for better locks, because there's no reason for them to take the higher risk-  it's the "swimming with sharks" logic.

And I know I say it too much but it's no exaggeration to say it's generally easier to steal a bike locked up with something like this than it is to unlock it. It's really depressing.

This is definitely true, but that's still really important- almost all 10mm and most 12mm chains are down in the same "can be broken in about 5 seconds with a silent tool that fits up a sleeve" territory along with tesco cable locks and such, and that's a really big thing as it's the least exposed a thief gets- it's super fast, stealthy and silent, and the odds of getting done for "going equipped" are about zero, compared to a silenced angle grinder or a more obvious big cropper so it's a preferred tool for a lot of thieves

I suspect that neither bolt croppers or an angle grinder would pass the reasonable doubt threshold in court.  All they have to say is they were on their way to their mates to do some work on a car or something and they've got heir reasonable doubt.

And as mentioned earlier, a £20 angle grinder from Lidl* is even smaller and will fit in small ruck sac even better than a bit set of cutters.

Then there's the question of does it matter if it takes 10 seconds or 30seconds or 60 seconds. Even if I was feeling brave I'd maybe challenge someone with a set of bolt cutters, someone with an angle grinder I'm going absolutely nowhere near!

Insure it, have a lock that meets the minimum insurance standards, and don't leave it somewhere where there's a high chance of it being nicked.

*or obtained via 5 finger discount from some tradesman's van 

A silenced angle grinder (which is what they all use) is pretty much open and shut. The "I am going to help a mate" defence only works with forces that can't be bothered to actually follow up, which to be fair is common, but if they do any groundwork then they can beat it unless the thief has put the work in too. Big boltcutters just don't have many useful functions after all. 

Not to mention it opens the door for searching etc. My guy got picked up for going prepared and that led to a house search where they found, helpfully, half my bike and like £20000 worth of other bikes. Catching people actually in the act of breaking in is damn hard, we had cops at the door about 2 minutes after we called them one time but it might as well have been a month.

What's a silenced angle grinder? Google* just points back to this thread and a lot of videos of thieves using what look like fairly common battery powered grinders in daylight with impunity.

*Don't click on images unless you've a strong stomach, there's at least one photo of the aftermath of a bystander intervening..........