coelcanth

yeah.. you can lock on to it with the specially machined socket wrench that came with it

AfterThisNap

Pitlocks have come into the shop when people have lost thier keys. You can get them off with normal hand tools. It's not the most convenient thing in the world to do, but it's doable.

mander

How'd you do it AfterThisNap? I can think of one destructive way (dremel flats in, then twist it with a vise-grip).

AfterThisNap

Dominican slave wage laborers.

Urbanbiketech

The outer housing spins freely so vice grips are no use. If you could find a very fine needlenose vice-grip, you might be able to get into the housing and grab the nut, but my guess is that it would slip off before you could generate enough torque to spin the bevelled nut up off the locking tabs behind it.

As for power tools (dremel) or big mean tools like hammers and chisels, you can pretty much steal anything if you have some time and a bit of privacy and don't mind doing a bunch of damage.

LóFarkas

Now, we've heard the dealer's opinion... I'm more curious to hear ATN's side of the story aka truth. Don't disclose the details... How much time does it take and is there any damage to anything apart from the skewer? Just curious, not interested in buying or destroying one.

mander

Yeah ATN I don't believe in security through obscurity but please be non-specific if you have to. I'm interested in what you guys discovered too.

AfterThisNap

Hammer, tool steel awl. < 15 minutes.

Jeeze, y'all. It's just a fancy nut.


I stopped worrying. A year of locking my bike in NYC and nothing has been stolen yet. Even if it did, I wouldn't care that much. I think the headache and worry of missing parts isn't worth the replacement cost.
Take necessary precautions, but start questioning the practicality of your ride/location when you're dropping more than 100 dollars on a set of locking skewers.

LóFarkas

I was about to say that requiring a hammer and 10+minutes is pretty damn good performance from a product, but... for 100+ dollars???!!! That's uncomfortably close to the price of a pretty decent (for me) wheelset.

bombusben

One could cut thru the track ends and fork with a small hand tool to steal a set of wheels without much of a problem. Probably in less time than it would take using a wrench on a standard set of track nuts. If locking skewers make you feel better, more power to you, but these types of things usually keep honest people honest as they say.

bmike

I think with enough time and tools anything can be lifted.

I think the goal of these is to prevent thefts of opportunity. Walking by and undoing a quick release or carrying a wrench to undo axel nuts is a whole lot easier than hacking a frame or nut or a lock apart.

StankApe

Superglue ball bearing in, remove with acetone

andre nickatina

have you actually done that, or is this rhetoric

trons

it's science

dresscode

Regarding the pitlock system, there actually exists an extra made professional lockpick for these. It's a bit hard to describe, think shifter cable housing: a circle of small but very strong steel bolts which you insert into the pitlock. Then there's a ratchet mechanism with which you start to widen the circle formed by the bolt endings inside the pitlock. They will naturally assume the same form as the pitlock is. You widen it until everythings really tight, then turn: Viola!

Ceya

first crazy glue , then ball bearing, the a little foil over it , smash down foil. the glue again.

S/F,
CEYA!

sers

i cover bolt heads with solder, a thin layer of superglue and then i usually use a sharpie to color it black. it's surprisingly durable and it's easy to desolder it with a soldering iron. the solder forms a shiny uniform cap

i suppose a thief could try to desolder it with a lighter if they figured out that it was solder, but that's not exactly a crime of opportunity.

bf_user

I've tried to dissolve Super Glue with acetone without much success. Reference materials state that both Ethyl- and Methyl-Cyanoacrylate are soluble in acetone but to what degree isn't clear. You could also try Toluene or MEK (or if you have some Nitromethane just laying around the works on Methyl-Cyanoacrylate)

Machinists use Cyanoacrylate (Super glue, Crazy glue) to hold down certain types of parts while milling. It does a great job as long as the surfaces are clean and the gap between materials is minimal. For instance, one could hold a FLAT plate of aluminum down for face machining by gluing it to a FLAT part of a cast iron table. When the machine work is done heat is applied and the Cyanoacrylate fails thereby releasing the part. The important thing here is that the parts have to match very closely as Cyanoacrylate doesn't fill gaps well. Even 1mm is too much for a proper bond if working to recommendation.

To get around the issue manufacturers have created formulas that include dissolved fillers. I'd post links but I'm new here and the forum won't let me. Ask the Googles for 'gap filling cyanoacrylate' and you'll find options available where you live. I've used products from Bob Smith Industries (sold on Amazon) with good results.

So, if you thoroughly clean oils, waxes, and dirt from a fastener first, a BB can be glued in to deter a would be thief. Then when service is needed you can apply heat (a small butane torch) and remove the BB with a strong magnet.

I've never done this on a bike but have used the BB + CA trick elsewhere. As others have said it's not perfect but might be the difference between theft or not. Another thing to consider when doing it on a bike is what heat from a torch will do to the surrounding parts (bearings, powder coated, painted, rubberized parts, etc.).

Good luck.

SquidPuppet

Ten years since that post. That member hasn't logged on for four years. Pretty close to a record necrobump.

bf_user

Close to a record? I'll try harder next time; I want a trophy!

Meh, age of the thread makes no difference to me if the information is still relevant to my (and other's) interests. It's not like I added to a thread discussing the original iPhone launch or the failure of Lehman Brothers. Glue is still glue and people still rip off bikes.

SquidPuppet

Gonna have to dig deeper man. I saw a 14 year old zombie a couple weeks ago. And a 15 year old in the mechanics forum. You have strong competitors.

TimothyH

I'm glad it was resurrected because I really like this...


-Tim-

Gresp15C

Since we're on the topic... I noticed that McMaster-Carr has metric hex aluminum rod for cheap. A little piece of it, peened in with a center punch, might keep the lazy thief away, but could be removed at home with an easy-out.

IAmSam

In case you didn't already know - that is pretty much the 2nd and 3rd Noble Truths of Buddhism...

AlmostTrick

Taking steps to lessen the chance of others stealing your stuff is not necessarily a sign of "material craving" or an attachment with impermanent things.

We ourselves are also impermanent things, so there's that too.