Four more pounds, four more pounds! Kryptonite U-Lock

I just got a Kryptonite U-Lock to replace my "lost" chain. It's four
pounds and I don't want to keep carrying it around. I used to leave my
lock/chain around the fence where I locked the bike but the folks who
owned the building decided it shouldn't be there anymore and discarded
it one day (after telling me that it was ok to leave it there two
years earlier).

I moved to a new bike rack nearby, but I'm not sure about just leaving
the ULock there. While they are supposed to be pretty well theftproof,
perhaps someone would like to practice on it? And it's exposed to the
weather, which was not the case in my old location.

Still, l lugged the lock with me today and was very sluggish; four lbs
does seem to make a difference. I had it in the saddle bag; I'll have
to mount the bracket and see if the weight distribution makes a
difference. There is a LOT of weight on the back of the bike, most of
it being me.

On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:58:07, dgk wrote:
I just got a Kryptonite U-Lock to replace my "lost" chain. It's four
pounds and I don't want to keep carrying it around. I used to leave my
lock/chain around the fence where I locked the bike but the folks who
owned the building decided it shouldn't be there anymore and discarded
it one day (after telling me that it was ok to leave it there two
years earlier).

I moved to a new bike rack nearby, but I'm not sure about just leaving
the ULock there. While they are supposed to be pretty well theftproof,
perhaps someone would like to practice on it? And it's exposed to the
weather, which was not the case in my old location.

Still, l lugged the lock with me today and was very sluggish; four lbs
does seem to make a difference. I had it in the saddle bag; I'll have
to mount the bracket and see if the weight distribution makes a
difference. There is a LOT of weight on the back of the bike, most of
it being me.

I've left a Kryptonite New-York U-lock locked to the bike rack outside
of my office for several years. It has held up to weather very well,
though I've been pretty consistent about using the keyhole cover.
Once it started to feel a bit gritty, but a squirt of Tri-Flo fixed
it. On the u-lock I have, the keyhole cover isn't one of the
"rotating sleeves" but is instead a sliding cover attached to the
outside. The plastic cover attaching it to the lock broke once (with
no detrimental security effect), and Kryptonite shipped me a
replacement.

The plastic keyhole cover is visible at the bottom of the lock in the
following image:

http://www.kryptonitelock.com/images...cts/997986.jpg

I wouldn't worry about someone "stealing" it. I mean, if you can't
trust the lock to stay there, how could you trust it to keep your bike
there? Just lock it to the rack and leave it there.

-alan

--
Alan Hoyle - - http://www.alanhoyle.com/
"I don't want the world, I just want your half." -TMBG
Get Horizontal, Play Ultimate.

On 31 Jan 2008 15:46:26 GMT, Alan Hoyle wrote:

On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:58:07, dgk wrote:
I just got a Kryptonite U-Lock to replace my "lost" chain. It's four
pounds and I don't want to keep carrying it around. I used to leave my
lock/chain around the fence where I locked the bike but the folks who
owned the building decided it shouldn't be there anymore and discarded
it one day (after telling me that it was ok to leave it there two
years earlier).

I moved to a new bike rack nearby, but I'm not sure about just leaving
the ULock there. While they are supposed to be pretty well theftproof,
perhaps someone would like to practice on it? And it's exposed to the
weather, which was not the case in my old location.

Still, l lugged the lock with me today and was very sluggish; four lbs
does seem to make a difference. I had it in the saddle bag; I'll have
to mount the bracket and see if the weight distribution makes a
difference. There is a LOT of weight on the back of the bike, most of
it being me.

I've left a Kryptonite New-York U-lock locked to the bike rack outside
of my office for several years. It has held up to weather very well,
though I've been pretty consistent about using the keyhole cover.
Once it started to feel a bit gritty, but a squirt of Tri-Flo fixed
it. On the u-lock I have, the keyhole cover isn't one of the
"rotating sleeves" but is instead a sliding cover attached to the
outside. The plastic cover attaching it to the lock broke once (with
no detrimental security effect), and Kryptonite shipped me a
replacement.

The plastic keyhole cover is visible at the bottom of the lock in the
following image:

http://www.kryptonitelock.com/images...cts/997986.jpg

I wouldn't worry about someone "stealing" it. I mean, if you can't
trust the lock to stay there, how could you trust it to keep your bike
there? Just lock it to the rack and leave it there.

-alan


That's the lock, more or less. It's the New York Lock STD. Get's an 11
on the security scale. It's also 4*8" so it can lock my frame and
front wheel to the rack (it fits by a few mm). I'll just leave it on
the rack. I've been leaving my temporary ULock (a not very secure
Masterlock) on the rack so I guess I can leave this one.

I just have this feeling that someone will think "hey, that lock is
supposed to be theftproof, I think I'll try this torch on it". I guess
they're more likely to try it on a lock that has a bike attached
though.

"dgk" wrote in message
...
I just got a Kryptonite U-Lock to replace my "lost" chain. It's four
pounds and I don't want to keep carrying it around. I used to leave my
lock/chain around the fence where I locked the bike but the folks who
owned the building decided it shouldn't be there anymore and discarded
it one day (after telling me that it was ok to leave it there two
years earlier).

(snip)
I think a very important lesson has been learned. If you are talking about
an ordinary steel chain like this pic
http://www.123rf.com/photo_584695.html , that type of chain can be very
easily cut with a common hardware store bolt cutter, and not much effort.
You are better off without that chain, for bike protection.

I would look for a place to 'store' your new U-Lock, rather than carry it. 4
lbs is way too much weight to carry around, if it can be avoided. No
building maintenance worker is going to try to remove a U-Lock. What they
might do, however, is squirt super glue into it. So the lock is worthless to
you at that point, but they have no way to remove it, either. So they would
be cutting off their nose to spite their face.

J.

Jay Bollyn wrote:

I would look for a place to 'store' your new U-Lock, rather than carry it. 4
lbs is way too much weight to carry around, if it can be avoided. No
building maintenance worker is going to try to remove a U-Lock. What they
might do, however, is squirt super glue into it. So the lock is worthless to
you at that point, but they have no way to remove it, either....

Is this based on experience (presumably as the lock user, not the
cretinous maintenance person)?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"And never forget, life ultimately makes failures of all people."
- A. Derleth

On Jan 31, 10:57 pm, Tom Sherman
wrote:
Jay Bollyn wrote:

I would look for a place to 'store' your new U-Lock, rather than carry it. 4
lbs is way too much weight to carry around, if it can be avoided. No
building maintenance worker is going to try to remove a U-Lock. What they
might do, however, is squirt super glue into it. So the lock is worthless to
you at that point, but they have no way to remove it, either....

Is this based on experience (presumably as the lock user, not the
cretinous maintenance person)?

On the Sunday before the start of Bike Week in Toronto last spring,
maintenance crews at the Toronto Dominion Centre removed 3 bike racks
outside the TD tower and put them in storage. Several bike locks were
attached at the time, including at least one of those massive
Kryptonite chains.

I protested the removal of the parking (to make a temporary smoking
area, no less!) and they repositioned the racks elsewhere for the
spring and summer. The manager responsible was really ticked off about
the locks - he was of the attitude that people should not leave them
there, so had no right to complain about them disappearing.

I suggested they at least put up a warning before doing it again.

On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:22:28 -0800 (PST), Brian Huntley
wrote:

On Jan 31, 10:57 pm, Tom Sherman
wrote:
Jay Bollyn wrote:

I would look for a place to 'store' your new U-Lock, rather than carry it. 4
lbs is way too much weight to carry around, if it can be avoided. No
building maintenance worker is going to try to remove a U-Lock. What they
might do, however, is squirt super glue into it. So the lock is worthless to
you at that point, but they have no way to remove it, either....

Is this based on experience (presumably as the lock user, not the
cretinous maintenance person)?

On the Sunday before the start of Bike Week in Toronto last spring,
maintenance crews at the Toronto Dominion Centre removed 3 bike racks
outside the TD tower and put them in storage. Several bike locks were
attached at the time, including at least one of those massive
Kryptonite chains.

I protested the removal of the parking (to make a temporary smoking
area, no less!) and they repositioned the racks elsewhere for the
spring and summer. The manager responsible was really ticked off about
the locks - he was of the attitude that people should not leave them
there, so had no right to complain about them disappearing.

I suggested they at least put up a warning before doing it again.


That was my main complaint to the manager of the building that
"discarded" my old OnGuard lock and chain. They certainly have the
right to refuse bike parking (though it was SO convenient) but they
didn't even post a sign asking that bikes/chains be removed. And after
allowing it for years, posting a sign for a week wouldn't have killed
them.

I was going to get a bit nasty about it but just figured that the lost
lock/chain was cheap for two year's rent on a sheltered parking space.
It was a nice fence around an ornamental "reflecting pool" under an
overhang outside the entrance to a Staples.

"Tom Sherman" wrote in message
...
Jay Bollyn wrote:

I would look for a place to 'store' your new U-Lock, rather than carry
it. 4 lbs is way too much weight to carry around, if it can be avoided.
No building maintenance worker is going to try to remove a U-Lock. What
they might do, however, is squirt super glue into it. So the lock is
worthless to you at that point, but they have no way to remove it,
either....

Is this based on experience (presumably as the lock user, not the
cretinous maintenance person)?

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
"And never forget, life ultimately makes failures of all people."
- A. Derleth

It is just some fairly useless info I picked up on the Internet. If you
google 'super glue lock' (without quotes), most of the hits involve teenage
pranksters. I am pretty sure squirting super glue into locks has been in at
least one Hollywood movie.

Most of the Internet suggestions for removing super glue from a lock,
involve nail polish remover or a similar solvent, knowledge of the inside of
the lock mechanism, and a lot of tedious labor. If that does not work, you
would need to use a brute force method. I guess a cutting torch might
eventually get through it. The following link mentions 'leverage attacks',
which I believe involves using a small hydraulic jack.

http://carlhart.com/page.cfm?pageID=180

J.

dgk writes:

I used to leave my lock/chain around the fence where I locked
the bike but the folks who owned the building decided it
shouldn't be there anymore and discarded it one day (after
telling me that it was ok to leave it there two years earlier).

How did they detach it from the fence?
--
Ben Pfaff
http://benpfaff.org

I carried my Kryptonite on the bike for about a week beore I finally got
the bright idea to just leave it locked to the bike rack.

The locking mech is quite weather resistant. Bring a small tube of a
good water resistant oil and drop some in from time to time to keep it
happy. You might also wrap the locking end with a plastic bag to keep
most of the water out.

- -
Compliments of:
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

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