Bike Lock recommendations

kryptonite

my experience from years of urban biking is that if you must lock your bike outside be sure to mentally say goodbye forever to it as you walk away, because if someone has a mind to take it they will. when you come back to where your bike was locked, if it's still there you can experience a rush of unwarranted joy.

When I used to ride a motorcycle I had a kryptonite chain so heavy I could barely lift it. One day the parking cops decided that I'd been parked illegally on the sidewalk too long (which I had). They snapped that chain apart with a big bolt cutter, threw my motorcycle onto a truck, and drove away, all in about 45 seconds...and that was a 400 pound motorcycle, not a bicycle!

no lock ever touches my bikes now, because I can't afford to replace any of them. if they can't go inside, I don't go inside.

the nyc kryptochain/lock. its $90 and heavy, but damn, its as close as you can get to theft-proof

Carnivore wrote: [quote=rhodamine]the nyc kryptochain/lock. its $90 and heavy, but damn, its as close as you can get to theft-proof

That's the one I've got! My friends joke that one day I'm going to find my bike where I left it, but with the lock stolen.

ive had to cut those before, at the bike shop... like, for folks who lost their keys or bought a bike used and it had a lock wrapped around the seatpost or somsthing... and let me tell you... with a diamond-tip high-power angle-grinder, the chain is relatively inpenetrable, and the lock itself takes ten minutes to cut off.

unless a thief is packing some really noisy, heavy duty equipment, that chain/lock combo is about as good as you can get, hahahaha.

Unless it's changed, the deal with NY is that the guarantee is good here, but is not limited in the same way it is for other states. The big problem is that you have to register your bike with the police--good luck. I tried four times--both showing up with my bike and calling in advance. "The guy who does that" was never there. Thanks, cops.

The chain itself is a thing of wonder. Make sure you don't get a lock with a cylinder (round) key, since they can be picked in about two secs with a Biro pen cylinder. I have the chain and a big shiny regular padlock. In the end, yeah, if someone wants your bike they'll get it, but I'm not gonna make it easy.

What's cutting break cables about? I had mine cut also.
Incidentally the shop on 5th ave wanted $5 for a new cable and $3 to adjust it. The shop on union did it for $5.

daveb wrote: You all heard about this, right?

Kryptonite locks can be opened in about 90 seconds with a Bic pen

The flaw affects at least 7 models of locks. Maybe this has been fixed with the newest models, I don't know, but I had mine recalled 2 months after purchasing it.

Bike shops are recommending that customers replace the small U-lock with a sturdy padlock, like the ones that bodegas use to secure their roll-down gates. These padlocks cost less than $20 at most hardware stores.

The new locks have keys with a straight, not cylinder design, with side pins almost like a Mul T Lok. However, from looking at the key, it appears that it's only a 3 pin lock, so I'd bet the retail roll-gate padlocks are harder to pick.

Subject: Re: You're never really safe.

Stuart wrote: PS- What I don't get is why such bike thieves who can obviously defeat roll-down locks don't just break into bike shops at night and steal the entire stock of new bikes rather than one used one here, another one there.

Because one $500 bike can easilly have its lock defeated by a ball point pen and breaking into a store requires more skills.

Sorry about the loss, but the thing is I grew up in Brooklyn and have never trusted locking bikes outside ever.

Subject: Re: You're never really safe.

Stuart wrote: PS- What I don't get is why such bike thieves who can obviously defeat roll-down locks don't just break into bike shops at night and steal the entire stock of new bikes rather than one used one here, another one there.

1. because anyone willing to steal a rear wheel or a bike is usually a crackhead, therefore not resolute enough to break int oa store

2. because- at least at the bikeshop i work at- doing this would be tantamount to taking a mob hit out on your head :twisted:

as most people in the neighborhood know, you dont want to incur the wrath of mike @ bicycle station.... trust me on this one, hehehehe.

Oiseau wrote:
Just went to Dixon's and asked about this. They said that Kryponite will exchange your cylinder key lock for a straight key lock. Just fill out a form online and they will send a box for shipping it back to them and then they will send you a new lock.

Dixon's also said that theives with Bic pens are more likely in Manhattan.

just good luck on actually getting the form & stuff.... so slow if ever... i gave up!

rhodamine wrote: [quote=vanilla]just good luck on actually getting the form & stuff.... so slow if ever... i gave up!

hmm. they replaced mine in under 10 days. i canned em, got the info, sent em my keys and they sent me a brand spanking new lock a week later.

your mileage may vary. just my personal experience with kryptonite. i got the impression that they were trying to handle this as smoothly and quickly.

granted, this happened over a year ago though.

The bike shop where I bought the lock took care of everything for me. Pretty easy to do.

whatever you do, don't use a cable lock. i was outside Target yesterday, unlocking my bike (kryptonite nyc chain) when i noticed some guy who, as it turned out, was stealing somebody's bike. he was so straightforward about it all i didn't think anything was amiss. then he was off on the bike, rolling his own bike along with it. that was when i noticed the cable lock, neatly snipped at the bottom of the bike rack. i feel bad cuz i feel like i could have intervened but it didn't register what was happening until it was too late. at least it made me glad i always lug around that heavy chain (plus owning a bike few would want to steal!)