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

From: (Tom*Sherman)

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

There was one place I worked where the big problem was not theft but
vandalism. I would lock the bike to a guard rail in the shipping area,
and come back to find the combo dial pried off, or the keyhole stuffed
with silicone. At least they had the sense to leave the bike undamaged.
Other than delating the tires every now and then that is.

I tried complaining to the management about this, and they even went as
far as to hold a plant meeting threatening anyone with immediate
termination if caught. Of course, no one was caught and so one squealed.
So I took things into my own hands :-3)

I replaced the easily vandalized combo and keyed locks with a Weir
magnetic lock. No dial to pry, no keyhole to plug. A special magnetic
"key" is held against the side of the lock body (which was one piece).
As for the tires, I managed to put a sufficient amount of pepper spray
into the tubes, and locked the bike so that the wheels I made sure the
valves were positioned at the bottom, pointing up.

First they tried gluing things to the lock, which I simplly scraped off
and unlocked with no trouble. I did find my rear slightly deflated one
day, and smelling more than a little spicy, so I guess that idea worked
too. At least they finally gave up.

- -
Compliments of:
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

If you want to E-mail me use:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

My website:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

In article ,
dgk writes:
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.

It's much harder to smugly blow past all the
other riders when you're so weighed down.

And it's /so/ imperatively important to do that
(yeah, right.)

To be "stuck" behind a bicycle -- even a fellow cyclist --
is ignonamous, shameful and incountenancable.

Hell, even if you're walking your bike on the sidewalk,
pedestrians will practically bust their legs trying to
get ahead of you & your bike.

To many, a bicycle is just something to get ahead of.

Sometimes it's just best to let 'em get ahead of ya.
Then they're either outa yer way, or where you can
get in some target practice.

4 lb lock? Boo-hoo to you. I know you're type.
When I'm riding home w/ 40 lbs of groceries (including
a dozen eggs I have to be careful about,) you zoom past
me and feel good about having smoked another cyclist.

Maybe you're one of those guys who eke past (and rudely
butt-in on) me at the stop line to get the jump on me,
too, just to artifically feel faster & better than me.

Pffft.

Screw such razmatazz nonsense.

Maybe lose 4 lbs of body weight to make up for
the weight of the lock, and break even.

Y'see, if a 4 lb lock for a bike is appropriate,
it's definitely not a racing bike. So don't
worry about it. Use the bike to get to where
you're going, and screw everything else, especially
bus fare.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

In article ,
(It's Chris) wrote:

From: (Tom*Sherman)

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

There was one place I worked where the big problem was not theft but
vandalism.

As for the tires, I managed to put a sufficient amount of pepper spray
into the tubes, and locked the bike so that the wheels I made sure the
valves were positioned at the bottom, pointing up.

First they tried gluing things to the lock, which I simplly scraped off
and unlocked with no trouble. I did find my rear slightly deflated one
day, and smelling more than a little spicy, so I guess that idea worked
too. At least they finally gave up.

Pepper spray in the tubes? Evil genius!

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

"Ben Pfaff" wrote in message
...
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

If it was just a cheap chain with round/oval links, those are surprisingly
easy to cut with a common hardware store bolt cutter.

The design of this high-security chain
http://www.kryptonitelock.com/Produc...=1002&pid=1168
is much better, because it is hard to get a good grip on it with a bolt
cutter. And it is made of hardened steel.

J.

On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:07:00 -0800, Ben Pfaff
wrote:

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?


I don't know, but it was an OnGuard chain/lock. Not Kryptonite but not
cheap either. They are the managment of a 20 or 30 story building
which houses an NYU dormitory, so I would guess they have bolt cutters
and torches and all sorts of cutting implements.

On Sat, 2 Feb 2008 04:35:21 -0800, (Tom Keats)
wrote:

In article ,
dgk writes:
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.

It's much harder to smugly blow past all the
other riders when you're so weighed down.

And it's /so/ imperatively important to do that
(yeah, right.)

To be "stuck" behind a bicycle -- even a fellow cyclist --
is ignonamous, shameful and incountenancable.

Hell, even if you're walking your bike on the sidewalk,
pedestrians will practically bust their legs trying to
get ahead of you & your bike.

To many, a bicycle is just something to get ahead of.

Sometimes it's just best to let 'em get ahead of ya.
Then they're either outa yer way, or where you can
get in some target practice.

4 lb lock? Boo-hoo to you. I know you're type.
When I'm riding home w/ 40 lbs of groceries (including
a dozen eggs I have to be careful about,) you zoom past
me and feel good about having smoked another cyclist.

Maybe you're one of those guys who eke past (and rudely
butt-in on) me at the stop line to get the jump on me,
too, just to artifically feel faster & better than me.

Pffft.

Screw such razmatazz nonsense.

Maybe lose 4 lbs of body weight to make up for
the weight of the lock, and break even.

Y'see, if a 4 lb lock for a bike is appropriate,
it's definitely not a racing bike. So don't
worry about it. Use the bike to get to where
you're going, and screw everything else, especially
bus fare.


cheers,
Tom

No Tom, I'm not the one going past you. I average around 10.6 mph on
my commute. Oh, I have a record of 13.2 on May 30, 2007; must have
been a great tailwind.

Winter is bad for ny bike weight though. In addition to heavy clothes
and shoes, I have lots of batteries. Hotronic batteries for my toes. D
cells for my mittens. That big sucker for the headlight, various
things for other lights.

It isn't only the additional weight I guess. It's also where to put
the damn thing. The bracket either hits the water bottle area or
blocks the area where the bottle for the airhorn is supposed to go.
But I gave up the airhorn for the winter because there is too much
other stuff that I need to setup/arrange for the commute.

Ugh. There are days that I enjoy biking in the winter, but I really
prefer summertime.

"dgk" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:07:00 -0800, Ben Pfaff
wrote:

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?


I don't know, but it was an OnGuard chain/lock. Not Kryptonite but not
cheap either. They are the managment of a 20 or 30 story building
which houses an NYU dormitory, so I would guess they have bolt cutters
and torches and all sorts of cutting implements.

If some building maintenance worker was able to cut your chain/lock, IMO you
did not want that chain/lock anyway. Just be glad your bike was not
involved.

I doubt they cut it with a torch. A 44" bolt cutter from these guys
http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Bolt-Cutter/EN/index.htm would make short work
of most chains, or a padlock shackle. One could, of course, gain more
leverage by slipping a length of pipe over one of the bolt cutter handles,
with the other handle wedged against the ground.

Am I giving away too many of my secrets? (Nothing that is not learned in
Plumbing 101.)

J.

In article ,
"Jay" wrote:

"dgk" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:07:00 -0800, Ben Pfaff
wrote:

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?


I don't know, but it was an OnGuard chain/lock. Not Kryptonite but not
cheap either. They are the managment of a 20 or 30 story building
which houses an NYU dormitory, so I would guess they have bolt cutters
and torches and all sorts of cutting implements.

If some building maintenance worker was able to cut your chain/lock, IMO you
did not want that chain/lock anyway. Just be glad your bike was not
involved.

I doubt they cut it with a torch. A 44" bolt cutter from these guys
http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Bolt-Cutter/EN/index.htm would make short work
of most chains, or a padlock shackle. One could, of course, gain more
leverage by slipping a length of pipe over one of the bolt cutter handles,
with the other handle wedged against the ground.

Am I giving away too many of my secrets? (Nothing that is not learned in
Plumbing 101.)

In all seriousness, bolt-cutters are the common tool of the maintenance
worker, but the ever-popular disc grinder can open almost any lock in
seconds.

Something like this:

http://www.absolutehome.com/web/cata...x?pid=61201&cm
_ven=Froogle&cm_cat=Tools&cm_pla=Hitachi&cm_ite=Hi tachi-Power%20Tools-612
01&cid=92F54A24D037E786E409CBCB4DF3FE9B

$50, and if a thief wants your bike, they can use that to either cut the
lock, cut the thing the lock is on, or cut the cheapest part of your
bike that will allow the rest to be removed.

And since you asked, yes, there is a cordless version!

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=141858&Referrer=NexTag

I don't know if it would be quite as impressively ruthless as its corded
bretheren.

The downside of these tools is the noise, which is why thieves aren't
especially keen on them, but their cut-darned-near-anything feature is a
big attraction for maintenance types.

In the right hands, a big gas version of this tool will go through
serious stuff like wheel clamps:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/3112670.stm

Superhero costume not included.

More on Angle Grinder Man:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...CF934A35753C1A
9659C8B63

AGM activity appears to have petered off sometime in 2004, and now his
website is down.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

I used to carry around an eight pound chain bandoleer style, fit real
snug. But after getting a beater and moving to a U lock (bulldog
mini), I've found that it fits real nicely if you put the curved part
around the seat tube and let the straight part with the locking
mechanism rest on the seat stays or rack. But mine is small, so it
might not work with a rack less bike and large lock. Rattles slightly,
but so does everything else on the bike.