Where was the key?

In his riding jacket pocket 🙂

If by “riding jacket” you mean “winter dressing gown I’d been wearing last week when it turned chilly again”, then yeah.

😉

Well done! Sod’s law strikes again. 😉

Kryptonite locks come with little codes stamped into the keys. If you lose a key or break it, you can order replacement keys via their website. If you’ve lost both keys – but you took a photo of the key on your phone when you bought the lock – you can still order new keys.

There’s not much that will stand up to an angle grinder. However, the Hiplok D1000 is really impressive because something something graphene – https://hiplok.com/product/hiplok-d1000/ – but, as @damascus’ friend found out, pissed off thieves with an angle grinder can still ruin your day even if they can’t steal your bike(s).

You can cut through a alloy or carbon frame in a few seconds with a hacksaw not that much longer for a steel frame .. or take off 80% of the value with a couple of Allen keys… and perhaps T25..

I’ll admit that this had been going through my mind. Especially given that a frame is probably the most easily spotted / traced bit of a (decent) bike, modern forks, drivetrains and wheels are pretty valuable. At what point does a scrote simply cut the frame and make off with a slightly less valuable haul rather than trying to get through a D-Lock?

Given what a pain underseal is when using an angle grinder – it tends to lubricate the disc and stop it digging in; has anyone thought of wrapping a D-lock shackle in that landlord special stick-on flashing that’s a relatively thin foil with a thick, sticky tar layer? Possibly then going over it all with self-amalgamating tape. I’m sure it could be picked off, but if it’s enough of a pain to stop a quick theft, it might be worth considering.

A colleague at work got their bike knicked from the work shelter. Someone with a ‘bike’ had tailgated another member of staff in. Then the staff left, the thief disabled the lock, took own bike out, came back in, then smashed this person’s ‘lock’ off with a saddle (CCTV picked up). Member of staff said, ‘it was a fairly secure combination lock’. They were then blaming work security – nothing going to stop tailgating, but a decent lock might.

It’s easy pickings in a public shelter – either tail gating or doors that don’t lock properly.

The anti-grinder lock does exist, but a bit spendy, reviews I read last week were promising.

LITELOK X1

I did an Alan Wells and got my light back without any argument.

The main problem with bike thefts is it’s mostly a risk free crime.

Don’t get caught and they win.. get caught and the worse that can usually happen is they give it back.

Kryptonite locks come with little codes stamped into the keys. If you lose a key or break it, you can order replacement keys via their website. If you’ve lost both keys – but you took a photo of the key on your phone when you bought the lock – you can still order new keys.

Unless its a particularly expensive one it’s barely worth it for 1 key and 2 keys ended up more than I paid for the original lock.

The LiteLok X1 looks like a good compromise of cost/weight vs security.

There’s also the even tougher LiteLok X3 and Hiplock D1000 for 250. They took 4 – 5 cutting discs, a mains powered grinder, and a vice to get through…

That’s actually really impressive- I want these to work, but I feel like I wouldn’t totally trust it til I’d had a crack at it myself, that’s encouraging though. Hopefully there’s no alternative defeats like there sometimes are, since improving one thing can mean compromising another . But they also look like a good massive lump o too which always helps!

(for comparison, I have a sold secure gold motorbike chain which I was able to cut through a link in 6 seconds with my cheapo chinese grinder and a fairly crap cutting disc from aldi. It’d have needed 2 cuts of course but still. I’ve not cut my big squire chain, which I have more faith in, but I’d absolutely guarantee it doesn’t last as long as either of those locks do)