Originally published at: This bike lock might be hard enough to remove to be effective | Boing Boing
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And now we wait for the LockPickingLawyer’s video…
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Exactly @lockpickinglawyer
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Would probably take LPL 30secs at most to pic it
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“First I’ll rotate all the discs to the right, as far as they will go. Then, using the tool that Bosnian Bill and I made…”
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“Little click on one…”
“Nothing on two…”
“Click out on three…”
“Click out on four and we have a false set…”
“Click out on one… aaand we got this”
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Also, I feel like a more common attack against U-locks is to force them open with a car jack rather than sawing through them with an angle grinder
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The old Kryptonite locks could be opened with a largish sized pen, that was an amusing discovery before it became common knowledge; then there was the freon trick, cool down the steel enough and it would shatter under a hammer, hopefully they’ve patched these old vulnerabilities as well.
Also, if they are as hard as it claims, then that suggests it may be brittle enough to shatter even without freezing, or that a diamond blade might do a better job than a lesser abrasive. Still, I’ve had enough bikes stolen that I support any and all efforts to slow them down.
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I’m genuinely impressed by the angle-grinder-resistant coating. I didn’t believe it for a moment until I went to the linked article and watched the videos. There are few things in this world that can stand up to an angle grinder for long.
That said, the coating is basically a form of concrete, so I’d like to see someone try a masonry blade on the angle grinder, instead of the metal cut-off wheel.
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When I taught lock picking as part of a locksmith program about 15 years ago, I’d bring out a Kryptonite Fahgettaboudit chain and U-lock. It would pass around the room with the students unlocking and relocking it with the tubular key. I would take the lock back, disassemble my round (not hexagonal) Bic pen and pick the lock open in about 3 seconds. It was sure way of getting them to pay close attention to the lesson.
Their locks had slightly smaller keyways than the conventional Ace locks but were Bic perfect.
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with most local bike thieves in my hood, where bike thieves outnumber lawyers 3:1, it is a battery-powered angle grinder or the 18" hydraulic bar cutters up a sleeve. They’ll lose one blade from the grinder and move on.
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i’m guessing someone will just cut the bike frame and sell the parts. bike thieves don’t care. there are almost never consequences because police don’t care about bike theft cases.
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This. Or a crowbar.
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I’m hoping they’ll choose to steal the one they can roll away instead of the one they have to carry. :-/
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I’d like to get hold of the skunklock but it’s banned in the uk…
I think Bosnian Bill is now retired. So he has to find a new toolmaking partner.
That lock costs more than my bike did. I think I give it a pass.
pick the lock
cut the bike rack / sign post
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Years ago, my college newspaper would print a weekly roundup of the calls that came into campus police. One item caught my eye then and has stuck with me.
Complaint received of missing bicycle. Patrol investigated, discovered bicycle rack also stolen.
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Yeah, I’m bummed about that. Glad I’ve got a backlog of about 1200 Bosnian Bill videos to work through…
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