Snipping through a cable lock.
08-21-19, 01:04 PM
#1
Half way there
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2,956
Bikes: Many, and the list changes frequently
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 986 Post(s)
Liked 880 Times
in
527 Posts
Snipping through a cable lock.
So I have read in many places that thieves can quickly (10 seconds) ship through a cable lock. I kinda accepted this but thought that perhaps the speed was exaggerated (like when a contractor says he will finish a project). Well, I was volunteering at our local Co-op this past weekend and had the opportunity to help a guy tune up an old bike that his brother gave him. It had a 10mm cable lock wound around the top tube - useless because the combination had been forgotten. I figured I'd give it a go and grabbed a set of cable cutters. Wow, I don't think it took me even 10 seconds! Just took quick little bites and that was it.
Likes For Moe Zhoost:
08-21-19, 01:07 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 8,550
Bikes: Wilier Izoard XP (Record);Cinelli Xperience (Force);Specialized Allez (Rival);Bianchi Via Nirone 7 (Centaur); Colnago AC-R Disc;Colnago V1r Limited Edition;De Rosa King 3 Limited(Force 22);DeRosa Merak(Red):Pinarello Dogma 65.1 Hydro(Di2)
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 551 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times
in
145 Posts
Uh-huh, sure...that was his "brother's bike"? 
Likes For tagaproject6:
08-22-19, 06:50 AM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 2,599
Bikes: 06 Lemond Reno, 98 GT Timberline mtn.bike
Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 426 Post(s)
Liked 699 Times
in
436 Posts
Haven't tried it on a bike cable lock (don't intend to) but I had a good size Master padlock on my shed cut with a pair of bolt cutters. I now own the bolt cutters, as my neighbor's dog was out, started barking, and my neighbor started to come over, thinking it was one of us. When she noticed what was going on, screamed and ran back into her house. The would-be thieves ran away, dropping the bolt cutters in the process. If I ever lose the keys to my shed, I now have a "master key" which will open it! I'm a firm believer in that locks were made to keep honest people honest.
08-22-19, 06:53 AM
#4
Half way there
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2,956
Bikes: Many, and the list changes frequently
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 986 Post(s)
Liked 880 Times
in
527 Posts
Good one! I see where you are going.
Yep, I was sure. Had it been stolen, I wouldn't think the cable lock would have been looped around the top tube. Also, his bike was of the sort that you see as "on curb - please take" offerings.
Yep, I was sure. Had it been stolen, I wouldn't think the cable lock would have been looped around the top tube. Also, his bike was of the sort that you see as "on curb - please take" offerings.
08-22-19, 08:42 AM
#5
Senior Member
Yup, do it all the time. Regular padlocks is a snip with the bolt cutter, cables also a snip with the bolt cutters. Once in a while the bolt cutter will just flatten the cable, then we nibble through it with regular cable cutter.
08-22-19, 12:56 PM
#6
I'm the anecdote.
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: S.E. Texas
Posts: 1,822
Bikes: '12 Schwinn, '13 Norco
Mentioned: 9 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1110 Post(s)
Liked 1,176 Times
in
795 Posts
I did the same with the cable lock on one of my kid's bikes a few weeks ago. We forgot the combination and I used a pair of simple wire cutters to remove it. Snip, snip, snip, snip, etc. no problem.
08-23-19, 01:48 PM
#7
Cycleway town
One second. One.
There's always a couple of snipped locks at the bike racks in town. If I remember to take my hand snips, I'll do a YouTube video of a one-second snip. Literally quicker than a key.
There's always a couple of snipped locks at the bike racks in town. If I remember to take my hand snips, I'll do a YouTube video of a one-second snip. Literally quicker than a key.
08-25-19, 04:13 AM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Bristol, R. I.
Posts: 4,340
Bikes: Specialized Secteur, old Peugeot
Mentioned: 20 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 663 Post(s)
Liked 496 Times
in
299 Posts
I once worked in a composite shop where we did one off experimental projects for companies such as MacDonald Douglas or Boeing in Carbon fiber. On one job we had to hand sew stiffening ribs onto a base laminate before resin infusion. The material used to do the sewing was a Spectra thread that turned out to be very difficult to snip through with ordinary scissors. The shop had to but special scissors of a hardened steel. I've often thought bike cables, which are built up in a 7x1 configuration, where the 1 number is a core over which 6 strands of Spectra encase the core. Such a cable wold be un-snipable though an angle grinder could still get through eventually.
08-25-19, 10:42 AM
#9
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Northern VA, USA
Posts: 71
Bikes: '98 Cannondale Super-v 700, '07 Specialized SX Trail III, '15 Gravity Zilla Monster Cross
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I once worked in a composite shop where we did one off experimental projects for companies such as MacDonald Douglas or Boeing in Carbon fiber. On one job we had to hand sew stiffening ribs onto a base laminate before resin infusion. The material used to do the sewing was a Spectra thread that turned out to be very difficult to snip through with ordinary scissors. The shop had to but special scissors of a hardened steel. I've often thought bike cables, which are built up in a 7x1 configuration, where the 1 number is a core over which 6 strands of Spectra encase the core. Such a cable wold be un-snipable though an angle grinder could still get through eventually.
