"Make" your own bike lock? Have we been ripped off

PurpleFrog

Kona Fan
A really heavy duty chain is going to be absolutely the strongest
thing you can hang your bike on. Bolt and chain cutters were designed
to go through round sections of steel. Making the steel from strong
alloys, hardening them and making the links square all contribute to
making a chain too tough to cut.

...Here's the recipe for my home-made case hardened chain with shielded pad-lock:

Find a good hardware store or metal yard and ask for some Cambell
Security Chain. This stuff is 3/8" thick made from Boron-alloyed steel
and is Case-Hardened. It is almost impossible to cut--it destroys the
jaws of bolt-cutters. You can get through it with a torch or diamond
grinder but it takes a while. Ask the hardware store clerks if they
can cut it a little shorter for you--if they say YES, then this is not
the right chain. You want them to say "NO, we just sell it in pre-cut
lengths." It sells for $5.00 to $7.50 a foot, depending on whether you
buy it from a steel yard or a hardware store.

You will want two to three feet. Two feet is a snug fit through the
frame and wheels around a parking meter. This is the same size as a
medium-sized U-Lock. Two and a half feet is perfect. Three feet leaves
you a little room to manoeuvre with so you can lock to big light poles
or lock-up a friend's bike with yours when you're out on a date--this
is a very gallant touch.

Slip your chain into something to protect the finish of your frame. I
stretched one chain into a snug innertube...

Now get a lock. There are a lot to choose from. I suggest a lock with
a case-hardened and shielded hasp. Abus, American and Master make
these and they are all excellent locks. The ABUS DISCUS 40 sells for
around $17.00. The AMERICAN 5300 is the toughest and heaviest and
sells for around $30.00. I chose the MASTER LOCK 37-D because it is
used by the military for high-security applications. It costs less
than $11.99 and it looks mean and ugly.

Total weight for a three foot length of chain and Master lock is 4 7/8
lbs, total cost $33.00

I found something pretty damn similar in the shape of this -

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/38231/Sec ... l-Padlock#

- 10mm hardened boron steel links and a padlock that locks like it will be a real bastard to use bolt cutters on. The sort of thing that we might pay three times as much for from Abus and four times from Kryptonite?
 
fine if your in a city all day every day constantly moving the bike from one gritty back alley to another but nobody wants to carry a massive chain into town to pick up bread and milk

dont the large lock companies have insurance with theirs ?
 
perry":npwzy1ky said:
fine if your in a city all day every day constantly moving the bike from one gritty back alley to another but nobody wants to carry a massive chain into town to pick up bread and milk

U-locks definitely have their advantages!

Otoh, you can look on a chain as a training aid - like those weighted swords knights used to practice with.

dont the large lock companies have insurance with theirs ?

For a price, yes. But its very rare that anyone manages to claim. Typically the insurance is good for only one year, and you need the broken lock to claim.
 
stew-b":s0p6subf said:
looks a great lock :) i cant see anyone getting thru that in a hurry :shock:

Ah. Well. Unfortunately -

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/motorcyc ... ock-chain/

The chain reviewed this article (Squire lock and chain) has been bolt-cropped by me in less than 63 seconds, this was in front of 2 members of Motorcycle News staff, 2 reps from Thatcham, a rep from Oxford Products and a rep from Motohaus.

I have cropped the SC4 (amongst many others) a few more times since and it has still gone in under 1m 30s. There is no 13mm chain on the market that cannot be cropped with Record 42" croppers, well certainly none that I have come across (and I've chopped a few).

Got a couple of video clips of the Sold Secure GOLD Oxford Monster (video, .wmv file) and English Chain Quadlink (video, .wmv file) being cropped by me at a bike show.

Bugger. Still, it should stop most thieves. Krypytonite claim that they haven't had any claims on Fahgeddit chains in the UK yet, and the squire chain's spec does seem a bit beefier again. (Although I don't know if is a hex or quad link chain - apparently hex is much better.)
 
Talking of U-Locks, I think this is the same guy posting as "CaptainCropper" at StupidLand - I mean BikeRadar. He's talking about the Kyrptonite NY3000:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... 3000-10498

I attacked one of these for ITV a few weeks back and generally speaking it's a resonable lock for the money. 16mm shackle meant that cropping with 42" croppers was ineffective, I tried a twist attack with a scaffold pole but ended up breaking the ITV bike.

So far so good then? Not really, one I got home and had a play with a 3000 I had knocking about, I found it was succeptible to jack attacks and hammers, the locking mechanism inside is mainly plastic and any self respecting theif will have had one apart to find weak points (plastic melts n'est pas?). I was also disappointed to find that the bottom of the key cylinder was brass and had no anti-drill capabilities. In addition to this, the design of the lock mechanism means that once one side of the mech has been breached (for example with a jack) then the whole lot slides to one side allowing the lock body to be easily rotated out of the way and removed from the bike. Compare this with the Abus Granit 59's square shackle system that makes spinning the body off impossible, and we soon see how important design can be.

All in all not to shabby a lock for £60, if Kryptonite introduced some anti-drill measures to the lock mech, it may have scored a 4. Fill the D with wheel and minimise the amount of space available and it makes a reasonable lock for the money.

The melting thing doesn't seem too bad to me - a thief using a blow torch is going to draw a lot of attention to himself - it makes more sense for him to look for an easier target, which a lot fo what locks are about.
 
Has anyone ever locked up their bike and then was unable to get it unlocked?? Ha!! I ran into a cabbie, Bless 'Em who gave me and the bike a ride, if I remember correctly, I ran into a small store for a second and only put the U-Lock on, glad I didn't lock it onto a fence.
 
Update on this, had my bikes tampered with twice in the last couple of weeks so needed to beef up security.

Wilkinsons are knocking out Sterling 8mm security chains for £13.99. Not quite 10mm above but light enough to carry
about and teamed with a container padlock should be enough of a detterent.

http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/door-b...-900mmx8mm/invt/0276777/?VBMST=security chain

71NlGBeifQL._AA1500_.jpg
 
I just got a Kryptonite after a spate of bike thefts locally, seems pretty good ( though you will never know until someone tries to steal your bike if its any good) like most things will never stop the thief, just slow them down :evil:

see phone for scale
 

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If i was a bike thief and there was a lot of bling and good forks....i'd just hacksaw the frame and strip the bits off the frame later..............

as an ex bike shop worker i often see bike locked up with disc brakes and forks i could undo in a few minutes...claim it was my bike and just adjusting/setting things up better, then walk off with hundreds of quids worth of fork and/or brakes............a lot of frames are generic and not worth much these days.........
 
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