Lock Picking Lawyer's personal bike lock
#26
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Keep in mind that just because the lock/chain CAN be defeated, doesn't mean it can be done quickly or quietly.
I mean if it takes an angle grinder a minute to hack through the lock...then yeah a thief with an angle grinder can steal your bike.
But if you park it in a populate area with lots of witnesses, no one is going to spend 1 minute with a noisy spark throwing attention grabbing angle grinder in front of a lot of witnesses to steal it. If you park if out back behind the dumpsters....well not that being robbed is your fault, but you did make it easier.
As for picking a lock....it's quiet. So someone might be able to go unnoticed for 5 minutes as passers by will think he's just tinkering with his own bike and wouldn't notice he's messing with the lock. But how many thieves are going to spend 5 minutes stealing your bike when the 3 bikes next to it are tied up with a Wal Mart chain, a bungee cord, and unlocked entirely? A kid stealing a bike to take a ride or the drug addict looking for a quick flip are going to go for the low hanging fruit, not the one that takes work. Most wouldn't know a quality bike from a POS anyway.
Now the professional who can identify a quality bike and has a means of selling it quickly....that guy is your real enemy here. That is the guy who are really trying to defend against with the harder to bust lock. Problem is that guy knows what he's doing. If he wants your bike, all you can do is slow him down. You can't stop him. BUT!!!! slowing him down may be enough if you make it take long enough to steal it that he risks being noticed.
That means reducing the amount of time he has by parking it in a well it area with witnesses. And increasing the time to takes with a better lock.
The single best thing you can do or bike security is to make your bike take longer to steal than the bike next to it.
I mean if it takes an angle grinder a minute to hack through the lock...then yeah a thief with an angle grinder can steal your bike.
But if you park it in a populate area with lots of witnesses, no one is going to spend 1 minute with a noisy spark throwing attention grabbing angle grinder in front of a lot of witnesses to steal it. If you park if out back behind the dumpsters....well not that being robbed is your fault, but you did make it easier.
As for picking a lock....it's quiet. So someone might be able to go unnoticed for 5 minutes as passers by will think he's just tinkering with his own bike and wouldn't notice he's messing with the lock. But how many thieves are going to spend 5 minutes stealing your bike when the 3 bikes next to it are tied up with a Wal Mart chain, a bungee cord, and unlocked entirely? A kid stealing a bike to take a ride or the drug addict looking for a quick flip are going to go for the low hanging fruit, not the one that takes work. Most wouldn't know a quality bike from a POS anyway.
Now the professional who can identify a quality bike and has a means of selling it quickly....that guy is your real enemy here. That is the guy who are really trying to defend against with the harder to bust lock. Problem is that guy knows what he's doing. If he wants your bike, all you can do is slow him down. You can't stop him. BUT!!!! slowing him down may be enough if you make it take long enough to steal it that he risks being noticed.
That means reducing the amount of time he has by parking it in a well it area with witnesses. And increasing the time to takes with a better lock.
The single best thing you can do or bike security is to make your bike take longer to steal than the bike next to it.
#28
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Dumb questions from me:
-Remember the 40 Y/O Virgin movie? He took his front wheel with him. Why's nobody do this?
-Why don't people invent a hub lock keeping the thing from spinning? Can't ride it away, if you don't CX, carrying a bike that far ain't that easy.
-If primarily for the commute, and no indoor storage for full bike........Brompton?
-Remember the 40 Y/O Virgin movie? He took his front wheel with him. Why's nobody do this?
-Why don't people invent a hub lock keeping the thing from spinning? Can't ride it away, if you don't CX, carrying a bike that far ain't that easy.
-If primarily for the commute, and no indoor storage for full bike........Brompton?
#29
Palmer
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'Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle'. Did people not pay attention to the lock cutting because there was an obvious camera recording the event?
#30
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But how many thieves are going to spend 5 minutes stealing your bike when the 3 bikes next to it are tied up with a Wal Mart chain, a bungee cord, and unlocked entirely?...
The single best thing you can do or bike security is to make your bike take longer to steal than the bike next to it.
The single best thing you can do or bike security is to make your bike take longer to steal than the bike next to it.
#31
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What I took from the video is that he picked a lock that was "good enough". Now "good enough" will change from person to person because we all know that there isn't a lock on this earth that cannot be compromised in some way.
#32
Senior Member
I just hope my Abus is up to whatever comes its way, ha!
M.
M.
#33
Palmer
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#35
Senior Member
I finally got to test out the Abus yesterday at the local grocer. It's just long enough to lock the rear triangle to the cart return next to the store entrance. Glad I went with that one and not the Faghitaboutit, since I'm not sure that would fit on much of anything I lock up to very well at all (maybe some of those very thin bike racks I see at the park). I have a cable for securing the front wheel as well, one of the loop types you pass the U lock through the end of. Might pick up some extra velcro straps to secure the U-Lock to the rear rack so I don't always have to carry it in a backpack but otherwise it didn't feel like it was all that cumbersome (a complaint many people seem to have with U-locks).
M.
M.