"Best Bike Lock" article on Gizmodo

Gizmodo wrote a piece on bike locks

http://bit.ly/MVY9po

I'm sure y'all have your opinions about locking bikes, yada-yada-yada, etc. But, please no flames, no arguments needed here. I know these aren't the best locks out there and Giz isn't the authority you seek when discussing bike locks. 

I am just letting y'all know about a Gizmodo article, that's all.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on June 28, 2012 at 9:42am

"By the end of all of this testing I actually got to be a pretty good thief. I wanted to see how some of the most expensive locks out there would hold up to the angle grinder, including Kryptonite's $300 New York Lock. See for yourself in the image. $300 dispensed with in about four minutes."

 

So the verdict is that non of the u-locks will give you more than a few minutes with an angle grinder.  If  thief really wants your bike, there's not much you can do, but a u-lock or 2 will deter any crimes of opportunity.  

I wish there where more reviews of u-locks and chain locks vs. angle grinders and that bike lock manufactures catch up to the fact that we want locks that can resist them. 

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on June 28, 2012 at 10:30am

The thing is that if your bike is locked in a public area, and you have a good U-Lock, it will take a thief with an angle grinder around 20 minutes or so to cut though your lock, during that time someone is bound to notice the racket. A thief who is smart enough to own a cordless angle grinder is not dumb enough to use it to steal your bike in broad daylight where people will notice him.

They also tested cheap U-Locks. What about more expensive, thicker locks?

Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on June 28, 2012 at 10:33am

Gotta be faster than the other campers and all that.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on June 28, 2012 at 10:49am

What Cameron said, with the exception that I believe defeat time is >1 min. and <2 min.

What Cezar said. 

This is why best practices is to use more than one lock, and if possible, locks which require different types of tools to defeat.

Cameron Puetz said:

Expensive U-locks can still be cut by an angle grinder in about a minute. There are several Youtube videos out there of expensive locks getting cut up.

Adam Herstein said:

The thing is that if your bike is locked in a public area, and you have a good U-Lock, it will take a thief with an angle grinder around 20 minutes or so to cut though your lock, during that time someone is bound to notice the racket. A thief who is smart enough to own a cordless angle grinder is not dumb enough to use it to steal your bike in broad daylight where people will notice him.

They also tested cheap U-Locks. What about more expensive, thicker locks?

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on June 28, 2012 at 11:22am

Chains squirm around too much to get a good bite-they need to be zip tied in place or propped against the ground (if there's enough slack to do so). Cables are easier to cut with bolt cutter than angle grinders-the strands bind a bit as they're defeated.

h' said:

and if possible, locks which require different types of tools to defeat.

Seems to me that a thief with an angle grinder can take on any other type of lock as an afterthought, no?

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 28, 2012 at 11:24am

You are very, very wrong on all counts here.

It takes less than a minute to cut the average u-lock if you have the right disc; the one used in the article is not the right disc.  This is a fact I have had a chance to test courtesy of Abus locks.  Don't believe me come bring me a lock and I will show you just how fast a lock can be cut.  I real thick lock goes down in a couple of minutes at the max.

Bikes get stolen in public areas all the time and either not noticed or people do nothing; you are seriously over estimating peoples good nature.  Plus the thieves that use angle grinders use a bag or coat to hid the sparks and mask the noise and then ride off on your bike in less than a minute or two. 

Adam Herstein said:

The thing is that if your bike is locked in a public area, and you have a good U-Lock, it will take a thief with an angle grinder around 20 minutes or so to cut though your lock, during that time someone is bound to notice the racket. A thief who is smart enough to own a cordless angle grinder is not dumb enough to use it to steal your bike in broad daylight where people will notice him.

They also tested cheap U-Locks. What about more expensive, thicker locks?

Permalink Reply by daWillinChi on June 28, 2012 at 11:49am
Now, this, I like!



Duane Waller said:

I always thought that an interesting deterrent might be a u-lock with a hollowed-out 'u' that is filled with something "surprising"; say, for instance, acid. Or gunpowder. Or methylene chloride.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 28, 2012 at 12:25pm

I'm surprised that big-time thieves don't use these.

10 seconds or less for a 20mm hardened rebar.  Ain't no U-lock made in the world as tough as that.

Perhaps it would just be overkill.  A cordless angle-grinder is <60 seconds for the thickest U-locks and for what most people are using  to lock up their bikes it is much less than that. 

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on June 28, 2012 at 12:29pm

Eeep!

James BlackHeron said:

I'm surprised that big-time thieves don't use these.

10 seconds or less for a 20mm hardened rebar.  Ain't no U-lock made in the world as tough as that.

Perhaps it would just be overkill.  A cordless angle-grinder is <60 seconds for the thickest U-locks and for what most people are using  to lock up their bikes it is much less than that. 

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on June 28, 2012 at 12:42pm

Could not find a price for one of those, but I guarantee they cost a whole lot more than the Ryobi angle grinder that you can pick up at the local Menards, Home Depot, or Lowes.  Why would any thief worth his or her salt spend a lot of money for a tool when they can get by for cheap?

James BlackHeron said:

I'm surprised that big-time thieves don't use these.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 28, 2012 at 12:48pm

At the moment they are EXTREMELY expensive.  Even the lower-end models that are not capable of cutting the thicker bar are still well over $1000.    The one in the video costs as much as a nice Serrota.

But the price is coming down...



Lisa Curcio said:

Could not find a price for one of those, but I guarantee they cost a whole lot more than the Ryobi angle grinder that you can pick up at the local Menards, Home Depot, or Lowes.  Why would any thief worth his or her salt spend a lot of money for a tool when they can get by for cheap?

James BlackHeron said:

I'm surprised that big-time thieves don't use these.

Permalink Reply by Joe Willis on June 28, 2012 at 3:05pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XTYEcQAurs&feature=related skip to 1:08 takes about 5-6 seconds.

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