Locks that work

Very good review.

I saw this lock in GA2G's seminal lock thread and was immediately taken by its size and apparent robustness. And it's fair to say that the fantasy of hearing the alarm go off, going outside and beating the thief to a barely living pulp with his own boltcroppers played some part in the purchase too.

I got one from Cissbury Leathers and with some other stuff got the free postage, and they delivered quickly. I got a Fabric Horse holster made for both my Mini Fahg and the new Xena ($5 bucks extra plus the measurements gets you a double holster) and was ready to go.

First of all, this lock is huge. The shackle is very thick, and covered in clear plastic, which looks very nice with the massive locking piece at the end and I'm told prevents freeze spray attacks. I don't know if thieves are intimidated by lock aesthetics or not, but I would be.

It's also very heavy. it weighs 3kg, which is a kilo more than the Mini Fahg, if you're familiar with that. It's not so bad in the holster, although the 5kg weight of the pair of them is pulling the poppers out of the belt. Fortunately I can keep my bike indoors at both ends of my commute, so carrying this thing would not be the norm, but it's OK in any case. I expect smaller people would probably feel it more, but at over a 100kg rolling weight, it's not a massive addition for me.

Xena do a lot of alarm locks - disc locks, padlocks and so on, and as you can see the alarm system is fairly generic. It takes quite an expensive amount of watch batteries, but batteries are supplied. I don't know if the factory batteries are cheap crap or not, but they don't last very long - I got three full length alarm bursts from the ones supplied with the lock. The alarm itself is also not very loud. Up close it's quite unpleasant, but no more than using an angle grinder. And if you're in a noisy pub and the bike is over the road, you won't hear it. So while it might put someone off, it's probably not going to alert you unless you are listening out for it.

The lock mechanisms - both the actual unlocking and the shackle removal - are both pretty fiddly. The key is small, and doesn't fit very easily. I found myself repeatedly removing the lock mechanism when I meant to just unlock it. Removing the shackle isn't particularly smooth either. unlike the Kryptonite, I have to shake it a few times and hit the lock to get the shackle to come out. And putting it back in can be tricky too, for the same reason.

The alarm trigger is also pretty unsophisticated: a single knock will trigger it, and once triggered, the only way to disarm it is to unlock it, with that fiddly little key. It gives you 5 seconds warning, during which time in your rising you will struggle to get the key in at all. The trigger mechanism also means that anyone else locking their bike near yours will probably set your alarm off if they nudge your bike at all. And if you're locking your own bike, you'll need to make sure you use your other lock first, as fitting it second will set of the Xena.

In summary, I'd say you should spend your money on something that is as strong but lighter or cheaper. It looks hardcore and I'm sure it's an absolute bitch to cut through, but it's extremely heavy and for my purposes the alarm isn't worth the weight and ongoing battery expense. Lastly, the locking mechanism and the shackle fit just feels clumsy, and I'd prefer to have a lock that didn't get in the way of locking.