Sad news: Pragmasis/Security for Bikes news

Hard times hit us all, but I was saddened to read about the struggles and subsequent shrinking of Pragmasis.
For those that don’t know, they are a seller of superb locks and chains for bikes and motorbikes.
I have several chains and locks, and shed shackles, and can say that all the bikes locked up with them are still around!

If you need decent Gold standard locks and chains, then give them a go. Also excellent value for money!
Their website here:

https://securityforbikes.com

Details of announcement here:

https://mailchi.mp/a5133acba02a/important-pragmasis-update-13435079?e=82f1628760

(note, I am not in any way affiliated with them, just a very happy customer who has had many years of good service with both them and their products)

That’s crap. I have one of their chains and a double doofer in my garage. Massive weighty thing.

That’s really sad, they’re a brilliant company, they were doing proper security when almost everyone else was still pretending that sold secure gold standard made a chain good. I reckon they stopped thieves making off with most of my bikes when we had the string of breakins, they took other stuff but took one look at the battleship chain and just didn’t even try.

The Roundlock is bloody brilliant tbf, someone’ll surely buy that design off them. Probably not a padlock manufacturer though because they’re better than a padlock, but only £45 while high security padlocks cost 3 times as much. And you can even have it keyed alike. Their d-locks are superb value too and also can be keyed alike. It’s just brilliant stuff.

Nooooooo

I think I’ve spent best part of a grand there over the years….

Sad for him. But TBH it looks like he’ll be best out if it.  What stresses!

That’s a shame. Great customer service when we moved into our house and I had to secure the garage.  Same as Northwind, their chain and ground anchor almost certainly saved 2 of my bikes from scumbags.

I guess the chains are the kind of thing that you only buy once. I might get another ground anchor in case we move house (no way the current one is coming out!).

So sad, he’s such a nice and helpful man! Hope he can have a nice retirement.

That is so sad, read their email this morning, had no idea.

Have bought quite a lot of their stuff over the years, they’ve always been super helpful each and every time and their kit is superb.

Steve has always been helpful with good advice. One of the best companies I’ve dealt with, can’t quite believe it. As their stuff is really good.

Thats a shame, I also have a bunch of their kit in my garage securing all my pride and joys.

I hope they can get some value in their design/IP as the kit is really very, very good especially for the money.

However no business is worth poor health and stress so I hope it all turns out OK for them.

That’s just rubbish news, I always recommend their kit, especially the torc ground anchor. A proper nice bit of kit & required for bigger chains, much better than almax’s (Admittedly sturdy) lump of iron

So sky high business rates and energy costs that mean British manufacturers can’t compete.

Vote for a party that lowers taxes and prioritises cheap secure energy supplies, especially from the north sea industry

If you can find one

It’s a shame after all the hardship they’ve been through especially personal .

It’s a weird one as the chains and paired Squire locks are complete overkill for bikes but that’s very welcome – you only buy them once. For motorbikes there are other better products out there but they are still decent value for what you get.

Shame – have a couple of shed shackles and key a like padlocks and chains in the shed, and they were great to deal with.  But I guess part of their business challenge is limited repeat business. Got ours 15 years ago and no need for additional purchase…

So sky high business rates

Three units though. If they consolidated into 1 unit at < 2500 ft2 or so which would be around 2/3rds their current space so probably about the same usable (i.e. Still a pretty big space) they’d pay £0.00 in business rates. 3 smaller units is the most inefficient way to do it.

Never heard of them. Quick look at the website had me thinking of that Crocodile Dundee scene.

Chain? No, this is a chain!

Sad to see a good small company going out of business.

Real shame. My motorcycle is currently shackled outside with one of their biggest chains and another lives with my eeb.

Great company and great products.
Very sad.

Great products, great advice and a throughly decent company.

They aren’t cheap, but they do offer good value. There is a difference.

Trouble is in a cost of living crunch and against the backdrop of Brexit, less people are prepared/able to pay for premium products.

Feels like he has been let down by somebody buying the business as a going concern but it would be very sad for him to retire into the sunset without reaping some benefit from the intellectual property and business that he has built over so many years.

The overheads of 3 industrial units when 1 might suffice doesn’t sound like great business sense but there’s more to the story than that. It is just a shame that it comes to this but I really wish him well. If the business is bad for his health, then walking away sounds perfectly reasonable.

TBF I suspect the biggest problem is that the high end chain market is small and crowded, once Squire spotted it and got properly into it that made things really difficult for others. Almax are still going but they’re on a much smaller scale. And most manufacturers have something that at least pretends to be competition, and though few actually directly compare that doesn’t neceessarily matter

(TBF a huge problem has to be the makebelieve nature of the lock market- people who want really good security and would be best served by Pragmasis or similiar, keep on being guided towards completely uncompetitive stuff with misleading promises like kryptonite’s “ultimate security” that can be cut by a thief with manual boltcutters faster than you can do it with the key. I rant about this a lot but Sold Secure and Thatcham are little more than confidence tricks that enable manufacturers to sell inadequate products for top dollar. “get the lock that your insurance recognises” being good advice but it’s better not to get robbed at all)

And sadly the biking press is a part of that too. “We attacked this chain with a hacksaw and a chisel” “We tried to break this padlock with freeze spray”, basically using the techniques that thieves find really effective only because most locks are completely crap, and then applying those techniques to locks that are better as if it’s remotely applicable. “More people are killed by knives than shells so we tested this tank by stabbing it, 5/5”

So in that market, it’s just hard to cut through based on merit. People with long memories might remember Almax getting banned from trade shows and literally thrown out of the NEC because they were breaking competitors expensive locks on their stand.

Very well said Northwind.

Fairly sure I bought a FO pragmasis chain to fasten to ground anchors and ease the irritation of locking bikes up in the garage. This is sad news

especially from the north sea industry

or from coastal wind farms where the price of energy is less dependent on market fluctuations than dinosaur juice and gas. As for governments that ‘lower taxes’, lower taxes for whom and how?

Sad Times.  I have several Pragmasis chains, ground anchors and locks.  All brilliant and Steve was always very helpful.

I was going to be reorganising my bike storage and will be needing at least one new chain.

Happy retirement Steve, even thought it’s forced, enjoy yourself and look after your health!

Sad news indeed. I have a big almax rather than a pragmasis, but competition is good for the consumer

In my case, there are only so many big locks that I need, and my Almax is probably 15 years old and isn’t likely to need replacing anytime soon

Sad, I have a few of their things.

As Northwind said, products to prevent theft, rather than to appease insurers.

Just grabbed a Double Doofer removable ground anchor while I still can, I’ll need it one day!

https://securityforbikes.com/removable-ground-anchor.php https://securityforbikes.com/proddetail.php?prod=DDAnchor

Just been clearing out an old shed and found a Shed Shackel if anyone would be interested in it.