Tor browser is good for getting past geolocks. Especially now that they’ve made it super easy to see where your connection has come out.
Alright, I’m becoming more and more convinced that this attack is very implausible. Imagine a bike locked like this:
How would you go about cutting the wheel? At what side would you start? Start in the rubber? Inside the rim? Break all the spokes first? Would you use a saw? Some sort of cutters? A grinder? A combination?
I can’t really see a method of attack that would not either be very labor intensive, cumbersome and/or require at least 2 specific tools. Also with everything you are going to do you will have a lack of space to operate, the frame is in the way on the left side, the lock and the post the bike is locked to are is in the way on the right side.
Bending the wheel like a taco to fit it through the rear triangle seems impossible to me, maybe if you first break all the spokes you will be able to do it, maybe we should ask the lockpicking lawyer to try this.
If your key has a circular/tubular section (you know, kind of like the casing of the aforementioned ballpoint pen) that you insert into a circular hole with a key notch in it, you should probably replace it. The new disc-based locks are a rectangular rod that gets inserted into a rectangular hole.
That said, I’ve had a (very stout) lock of the tubular style, and attempted to pick it with a pen like the videos show… I jammed a lot of pens in there and made no progress. I feel pretty safe about it.
Paul Newman also played a drunk with a pipe cutter that he used to cut the heads off of parking meters. Didn’t work out so well for him in that movie.
Cool Hand Luke - opening scene:
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I wouldn’t know how it works as I’m not a bike thief. And couldn’t even tell you how those discarded cut wheels I’ve seen were initially locked. As by the time I encountered them, they were just street garbage
But like I said. You find discarded, cut wheels sitting around cities. Bike wheels are made of fairly thin metal, they aren’t indestructible because they’re under tension. The cutting wheel or even the hydraulic cutter in the videos others posted will make short work of them. If the spokes are any sort of issue they’re quickly cut out with a pair of fairly small wire cutters. They’re a common scrap material in making fishing tackle, and I’ve done that part myself.
And I’ve seen cut frames lying around discarded or piled up at scrap yards.
The mistake I was pointing out was that you can’t consider what a thief will do based on the concerns of some one using the bike. Or some one operating in the legitimate market. It will not be expensive for a thief to fix or replace a cut wheel. Because they’ll just steal a replacement wheel. It doesn’t matter if something is usable or unrepairable. They will just discard it, or scrap it for cash. They know if a particular bike is worth taking whole, and which parts are too valuable to bother destroying . They know the scrap value of the materials used. These people know what things are worth in their rather specific black market, and the only concern is whether the cash they can get for it is worth the effort and risks involved in taking that particular bike in that particular way.
Apparently the bulk of bikes being stolen are not expensive enthusiast bikes. But every day mass market bikes without much used value. And the bulk of them end up sold for scrap as is, or parted out. Just like with cars. The most commonly stolen models are 5 to 10 year old, mid market, Asian sedans. Anything innocuous with parts common to a whole host of models. They almost universally get stripped for parts, the bodies scrapped. And the market drivers are pretty unexpected. Apparently stock wheels from a couple models of Honda Civic are the most key items in the black market for car parts.
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another factor not being looked at here is that the lock is not looped around anything and provides and easier angle to apply force than it would if raised above the ground which not allow one to so easily drop all of their body weight onto it. still I doubt this lock could last 2mins let alone 17. how I would love to just get a longer cable and hook my bicycle up to the power lines.
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