Locks that work

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  • Well the postman has just staggered up the path with my Abus Granit-X Plus 300mm. It feels like it weighs more then my Plug Grinder - think I will refer to the extra weight as 'resistance training'!!

    Just waiting on the Xena disc lock. No too much of a problem here in leafy Harrow but bought for my photographic forays into the city and all points east.

    Thanks for a very informative list GA2G - Double Plus Good

  • I think we should all, really thank Clefty for her efforts. I only came up with a plan.
    It was she that implemented it, and published her excellent test.

    ***Clefty, I'm rather proud of you. ***

    Yes, yes, bromance. ;)

  • Thanks for a very informative list GA2G - Double Plus Good

    You're welcome Andy.

  • I picked up a NY Fahgettaboudit from Evans yesterday price matched against Parkers International. Good work on the advice for that.

    Also love the idea of an alarm on the chain - thats really cool and will have to invest in one.

  • ..........love the idea of an alarm on the chain - thats really cool and will have to invest in one.

    Er, Andy, it would be the chainring, NOT the chain. A chain can be broken with a £5.oo chaintool. I wouldn't suggest that at all. The chainring would provide resitance, which in turn would move the bike = alarm sounds. The chain would provide nearly no resistance at all. And therefore, you may come running out of the pub, to find your chain keeping your increasingly noisy alarm company, right there on the ground.

    Alarm + ChainRing = Good

    Alarm + Chain = Goodbye

  • That looks honky as fuck!

    Still think so? Here is a photo of my new GPRS u-lock taken tonight, next to an ABUS Granit X Plus 54, one of the best locks available.

    Maybe now others will be more understanding of my choice of such a "cheap" lock.

    In case others missed it, this lock is just below £15.oo from A.E.Wilson Cycles of Peckham.


    1 Attachment

    • GPRS 1a.jpg
  • GA2G withiut meaning to bash your GPRS lock do you have any more info on the type of steel used on the shackle and if it's subjected to heat treatment like the Abus and Krypto locks? Does it come with a test rating (ART, Sold Secure, VdS)?

    £15 sounds a little to good to be true but I maybe completely wrong.

  • Bet you could cut through that steel like it was butter.

  • ile, brought this to light. I'll try to find out if it is kosher.

    http://www.sterlinglocks.com/acatalog/linklockdlocksheavydutychains.pdf

    Managed to see the lock in person and put my hands on. IMHO i don't think it's up to the task. It is huge and very heavy but the key is the holly crap. Round style that in many cases can be picked up with a bic pen. I tried and didn't manage to pick it with bic but i just wouldn't trust it even here in a small town where bike theft is a child's play compared to london.

  • I would like to point something out regarding the sold secure gold rating.

    I just spotted some locks in halfrauds called magnum plus (unmistakeably looking like on guard pitbull) just 13mm thick and carrying the sold secure gold sticker ???? I really doubt it can survice the same sort of attack that krypto new your d-locks and abus granit x-54 can.

    Is it a case of coruption with sold secure certification or what do you guys and gals think is behind this.

    Lately i spotted a tescos crap armoured cable costing less than a tenner and carrying a sold secure silver. I am very concerned regarding those sold secure gold and silver ratings and weather sold secure really means what it should.

  • Having seen the picture of that £15 lock, it becoming more obvious to me that it's likely for the locking merchanism to be considerably weak, it's not hard to strengthened the U part, the hardest part is to simply keep the locking merchanism to be as strong as the whole lock.

  • Lately i spotted a tescos crap armoured cable costing less than a tenner and carrying a sold secure silver. I am very concerned regarding those sold secure gold and silver ratings and weather sold secure really means what it should.

    the rating system are useless, they're only tested with the simplest tools, like for instance, no bolt cutter, angle grinder, etc.

    if you want to see which's which lock is handy, I found the best place is obviously here, and the one in BikeRadar where they did some serious test on it, including an angle grinder as a last resort.

  • SOLD SECURE ratings are ratings from a private company, that I feel could be influenced by financial inducements from the larger companies. It would explain how some rope locks get high ratings.

    As regarding the cheap lock I bought, I also have said that I believe the weak point would be the base. That said, so to was the Trelock BS610. And Trelock is an excellent company.

    But how difficult would it be, or expensive, to make a U-lock? In China, steel is relatively cheap, and bending cut rolls of steel is simplicity itself. The square shape, for that price, is the clincher. Still not comparable to a Fagh. But its better than a rope lock, and thick enough to put of those with the smaller bolt cutters. Therefore, its not bad.

  • Good point. I guess it's also as much about a visual deterrent too. If would-be thieves see a sizeable lock they might think twice about attempting to break it.

  • 30 people donated 50p to buy that lock, then Fred (I think he got the tools) will have a butcher at cutting that.

    sure. I don;t reckon it'll last though. the steel will be shit.

    If we used a recognised format:

    Test 1 - 5 minutes with handtools
    Test 2- 5 minutes with portable cutting tools.

    honestly, I dont think there's a lock out there that'll last 2 minutes against a portable angle grinder - even a cheap one with a diamond blade will cut through most shit in seconds.

  • That's just like I was thinking about those ratings. It's good to make this point clear to newcomers and people to lazy to read through all the posts. I just knew that those 13mm magnums can't play in the same league as krypto new your m18 and abus granit per instance.

    I recently saw the oxford magnum 2000 with 16mm shackle. that one also looks very simmilar if not being the same lock with slightly different mask as onguard brute. I am just wondering weather oxford has extended the number of key combinations or it suffers from the same problem as brute with to few keys issued.

  • sure. I don;t reckon it'll last though. the steel will be shit.

    I disagree, but only because I don't know the composition of the steel. Doubtful though, if any boron was added to the mix.

    honestly, I dont think there's a lock out there that'll last 2 minutes against a portable angle grinder - even a cheap one with a diamond blade will cut through most shit in seconds.

    Actually fred, there are two locks that will specifically last two minutes of angle grinder attack. Those are the Fahg Mini and
    the Abus Granit X 59 (nearly 2 minutes). 'radar tested them, and the results are published. The Squire Paramount Plus also
    passed that test, and probably was the toughest lock that ever passed it, and unbelievably, it has been discountinued by Squire.

  • As squire discontinued that super lock i asume they are managed by some bunch of plonkers :-)

    I disagree, but only because I don't know the composition of the steel. Doubtful though, if any boron was added to the mix.

    Actually fred, there are two locks that will specifically last two minutes of angle grinder attack. Those are the Fahg Mini and
    the Abus Granit X 59 (nearly 2 minutes). 'radar tested them, and the results are published. The Squire Paramount Plus also
    passed that test, and probably was the toughest lock that ever passed it, and unbelievably, it has been discountinued by Squire.

  • I actually phoned them and spoke to a lady there, who was quite dismissive of me, as if I'd asked a really stupid question. Little did she know, how that lock would sell now. It was very reasonably priced, and for a 16mm lock, I think it was tougher than all the 18mm locks available, even now.........

  • thank god for the Cycle surgery price match!!! they charge 89.99 for the Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit Mini [18mm] in there and thanks to the the tip from you guys paid 55.25 it. Nice guys in there too. Now lets just hope it works!!! Has anyone been misfortunate enough to have to claim from Krypto for one being broken and bike going byebye??

  • Good thread this, I now need a new lock, due to the fact that some scrote had a go at my Abus Granit Plus.

    Thankfully it held up and so two bikes didn't get nicked from my fire escape last night.

    Think I'm gonna invest in an Almax chain for locking up at home and a Fahgeddaboudit mini for out and about...

  • close shave man!! Glad it held up!

  • Good thread this, I now need a new lock, due to the fact that some scrote had a go at my Abus Granit Plus.

    Thankfully it held up and so two bikes didn't get nicked from my fire escape last night.

    Think I'm gonna invest in an Almax chain for locking up at home and a Fahgeddaboudit mini for out and about...

    Or, get an alarmed disk lock. Only £30.oo.

    If on the fire-escape, 110db of noise will wake the neighbourhood, should someone try to move either of your bikes.

    Glad your lock held up.

  • ^^I'm bloody glad it held up too..

    Just been reading up on the disk lock, sounds like a great idea.

  • After a bit of comparison-making, I've come to the belief that the cheap GRPS lock I bought, is actually from the same factory that makes the TriMax locks. Though mine is 18mm, and square-tapered, the base of mine and the 16mm TriMax locks are the same. The cheap price points make me think they're Chinese-made. They keys and the base unit, are exactly the same.


    Since TriMax have no negative reputation that I can detect, I'll be more optimistic about my lock.

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Locks that work

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