jxpowers

Im talking about the FAHGETTABOUDIT lock In particular.
18mm of hardened steel

I've seen videos of people cutting thru it with angle grinders while locked into a vice and going thru several disks before making it thru.

But how does it fare in a real world situation when you have the lock moving around. In theory how much time does it buy you for the most determined thief?

base2 

Long enough that the people who thought you were engaging in theft would probably change their minds to thinking you were the actual owner who just lost the key.

Stick with it, buddy. Just be sure to be gone when the real owner shows up.

Badger6

So many variables. As already stated, stick with it. It’ll dissuade all but the most determined.

tempocyclist

Longer than it would take to cut through your frame.

greatbasin

It's usually easier to cut through the thing it's clamped to like a bike rack, sign or fence pole or whatever. Also, a grinder isn't the best tool for a Kryptonite. A hydraulic jack will pop them faster and without the grinding noise. A bottle jack is an easily available tool that will do the job, but an autobody tool called a Porta Power will give a better chance of setting up in an awkward position. One homey with a porta power and another with an air tank to drive it pneumatically and it only takes seconds.

greatbasin

I saw a video where someone failed to cut through a NY lock with a hydraulic cutter. This isn't how to use hydraulics.

If you look at the NY lock open, you will see that the hoop is 18mm thick steel, but the lock is held together by a tooth or pawl that is less than half that diameter.



You don't need to cut the hoop. You just need to put enough pressure on that little ramp pawl to pop it off. Use the hydraulics not to cut the hoop but to expand it until the pawl pops off. With the little kryptonites, it could be done with a mechanical bumper jack like a Hi-Lift, but hydraulics are smaller and way more powerful.

Calsun

The only true security is having the bike out of sight of thieves. The best currently available is the Hiplok D1000 that sells for $300 and is as close to grinder proof as you can find. Nothing to stop a thief from cutting through the bike frame or the post to which the bike is locked.

At US Davis in California where many of its 20,000 students ride bikes to get around the large campus there were the usual bike racks for 10 or more bikes. One time a flat bed truck pulled up and took the entire rack that had not been bolded to the concrete and lifted it with its bikes and put it on the truck. After that the university moved it bike racks further away from the road. A friend who was a student there painted his bike flat black and used cheap components for his university bike to make it less attractive to thieves.

I have only had a bike stolen one time when I used a cable lock to secure it to a post while I was in classes. After that I never left a bike unattended out in the open and none of my bikes have been stolen.

N2deep

A determined and organized thief will defeat the lock in seconds, locks are for show. Locks keep the opportunist from grabbing your bike. I believe the trick is to make your bike appear to be cheap or disheveled, park it in a place with a lot of traffic, write your name in an inconspicuous place, wrap the lock around the wheels and frame to make it look more difficult to unwrap or steal and hide a tracking tile somewhere on the bike.

tcs

Don't use a lock as a talisman. Use thoughtful technique.

To increase resistance to jack attack, fill up the room inside the 'U'. Let 'em jack this guy's bike



instead of yours:

tcs

So many variables. Angle grinder power, battery capacity, condition & quality of cutting wheel...

Looks like this miscreant's cutting apparatus pooped out before he got through the second leg:

greatbasin

For that one, a Rigid tubing cutter or an exhaust pipe cutter will slice through the mild steel pole silently in seconds. Round tubing is a vulnerability because of these tools.

[img]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/..._AC_SX569_.jpg[/img]

tcs

That's why you run security chain through them.

greatbasin

You're counting on someone else having done that. While it does look smart, I can assure you it isn't common practice even on dedicated bike racks. Often enough people resort to locking their bike to something else.

base2 

As of May 01, 2009 that patent expired due to failure to pay maintenance fees.

I think that anyone could build it & profit safely now. No?

A case hardened ¼ to 5/16 chain in a pipe, in a pipe, bent to shape & secured in concrete in some fashion.

The genius is the inner chain has more slack than the distance a reciprocating blade travels so no bite is ever taken out of the chain. Combined with the inner & outer pipes being bent at the same time means that the inner pipe is sprung, free to move & is set free once cut, if cut. The effect is to bind up/break/confound whatever tool it used in the attempt.

I'll bet it's an expensive rack. But if even half of the total racks of this type are installed...It would be a very frustrating day for a rack-cutting bike thief, indeed.

dmanthree

Bearhawker

How long does it take a portable plasma cutter to liquefy any of those locks?

Molten metal puts up essentially no fight

ratell

I was recently in Bern Switzerland. Most of the time bikes weren't even locked. If they were it was often a cable lock through a wheel not even attached to anything. Making it harder to sell stolen bikes seems to be more effective than trying to find a better lock.

texasdiver

I had to cut off a Kryptonite lock that was locked around the top tube of my daughter's mountain bike for which she stupidly lost the key.

Not knowing the best method and not being a pro bike thief I just looked in my shop for the appropriate tool, saw the acetylene cutting torch, grabbed it, and it took all of 5 seconds to cut through that Kryptonite.