Defeat the Bic-pick

I have thought of a way to stop people from picking your Kryptonite lock
with a Bic pen. It works by placing a steel barrier a short distance above
the keyway, allowing the key to enter and turn, but preventing a longer
object, like a Bic pen from going straight in. I don't believe a pen
inserted at an angle has any hope of opening the lock.

I atried this yet, but my idea is to drill two holes in a piece of flat
barstock, so it can be threaded over the two legs of the "U". At the key
end, it would bend around the locking cross member, leaving enough room for
the key to be inserted, but preventing anything longer, like a Bic pen from
going in straight enough to be effective.

When I get around to building this, I may run into problems, or reasons
why it won't work. In the meantime, if anyone has other thoughts, or wants
to jump in ahead of me, feel free. All I want is to see the problem solved.

I realize that the thing I am proposing could be defeated by a determined
thief, but at least he would need more than a plastic pen to do it. A
crowbar, maybe.

What if I decided to cut the bic pen down to be the length of the key?

Mike
http://mikebeauchamp.com

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...
I have thought of a way to stop people from picking your Kryptonite lock
with a Bic pen. It works by placing a steel barrier a short distance above
the keyway, allowing the key to enter and turn, but preventing a longer
object, like a Bic pen from going straight in. I don't believe a pen
inserted at an angle has any hope of opening the lock.

I atried this yet, but my idea is to drill two holes in a piece of flat
barstock, so it can be threaded over the two legs of the "U". At the key
end, it would bend around the locking cross member, leaving enough room
for the key to be inserted, but preventing anything longer, like a Bic pen
from going in straight enough to be effective.

When I get around to building this, I may run into problems, or reasons
why it won't work. In the meantime, if anyone has other thoughts, or wants
to jump in ahead of me, feel free. All I want is to see the problem
solved.

I realize that the thing I am proposing could be defeated by a determined
thief, but at least he would need more than a plastic pen to do it. A
crowbar, maybe.

In article ,
"Leo Lichtman" writes:
I have thought of a way to stop people from picking your Kryptonite lock
with a Bic pen. It works by placing a steel barrier a short distance above
the keyway, allowing the key to enter and turn, but preventing a longer
object, like a Bic pen from going straight in. I don't believe a pen
inserted at an angle has any hope of opening the lock.

I atried this yet, but my idea is to drill two holes in a piece of flat
barstock, so it can be threaded over the two legs of the "U". At the key
end, it would bend around the locking cross member, leaving enough room for
the key to be inserted, but preventing anything longer, like a Bic pen from
going in straight enough to be effective.

When I get around to building this, I may run into problems, or reasons
why it won't work. In the meantime, if anyone has other thoughts, or wants
to jump in ahead of me, feel free. All I want is to see the problem solved.

I realize that the thing I am proposing could be defeated by a determined
thief, but at least he would need more than a plastic pen to do it. A
crowbar, maybe.

You should work for MicroSoft Grin, duck & run


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 22:26:31 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
wrote:

I have thought of a way to stop people from picking your Kryptonite lock
with a Bic pen. It works by placing a steel barrier a short distance above
the keyway, allowing the key to enter and turn, but preventing a longer
object, like a Bic pen from going straight in. I don't believe a pen
inserted at an angle has any hope of opening the lock.

I atried this yet, but my idea is to drill two holes in a piece of flat
barstock, so it can be threaded over the two legs of the "U". At the key
end, it would bend around the locking cross member, leaving enough room for
the key to be inserted, but preventing anything longer, like a Bic pen from
going in straight enough to be effective.

When I get around to building this, I may run into problems, or reasons
why it won't work. In the meantime, if anyone has other thoughts, or wants
to jump in ahead of me, feel free. All I want is to see the problem solved.

I realize that the thing I am proposing could be defeated by a determined
thief, but at least he would need more than a plastic pen to do it. A
crowbar, maybe.

So what if I put a short length of the plastic tubing on the end of a
flat piece of metal- sticking to the side? A little shaping of the
metal and I could probably get 180 degrees of motion around most such
obstacles.

Have you looked at the hardware store for pre-made parts for your
idea? They make U-shaped 'bolts', threaded on both ends, often sold
with a metal base plate...

http://bosunsupplies.com/products2.cfm?product=S0351

http://bosunsupplies.com/products2.cfm?product=S0353

http://bosunsupplies.com/ProductPadEyeUEyeBolts.cfm

On 2004-10-03, Leo Lichtman wrote:

I have thought of a way to stop people from picking your Kryptonite lock
with a Bic pen. It works by placing a steel barrier a short distance above
the keyway, allowing the key to enter and turn, but preventing a longer
object, like a Bic pen from going straight in. I don't believe a pen
inserted at an angle has any hope of opening the lock.

I'm happy to report that my ~25 year old "original" Kryptonite and my ~10
year old Kryptonite 4 locks both appear to be immune to the "Bic-pick."

--

-John )

John Thompson Wrote:
On 2004-10-03, Leo Lichtman wrote:

I have thought of a way to stop people from picking your Kryptonite
lock
with a Bic pen. It works by placing a steel barrier a short distance
above
the keyway, allowing the key to enter and turn, but preventing a
longer
object, like a Bic pen from going straight in. I don't believe a pen
inserted at an angle has any hope of opening the lock.

I'm happy to report that my ~25 year old "original" Kryptonite and my
~10
year old Kryptonite 4 locks both appear to be immune to the "Bic-pick."

--

-John )
I have a 13 year old Krytoloc. I called the factory about the
"picability" of it. They said the older locks were probably more
secure, however they would replace it if I wanted. The older locks
probably had tighter key entry tolerances and hence would be harder to
get a foreign object inside. My key fits pretty snug.

'bent Brian


--
bentbrian

:
: I'm happy to report that my ~25 year old "original" Kryptonite and my ~10
: year old Kryptonite 4 locks both appear to be immune to the "Bic-pick."
:
: -John

I can't pick my Specialized Hard Rock lock, either. I've destroyed two pens
so far with no luck.

Pat in TX

"Pat" wrote: (clip) so far with no luck.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is a case where less is more. No luck is good luck.

"Mike Beachamp" wrote: What if I decided to cut the bic pen down to be the
length of the key?
and
"Dan Daniel" wrote: So what if I put a short length of the plastic tubing
on the end of a flat piece of metal- sticking to the side? A little shaping
of the metal and I could probably get 180 degrees of motion around most such
obstacles.(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^
I have worked with locks some, although I do not feel I am anywhere close to
being a locksmith. My experience is that to pick a lock you need to be able
to "jiggle" the pick, causing the pins to dance and vibrate. Cutting off a
Bic pen, or making a special right angle tool certainly has the possibility
of defeating my idea, but I think it would make the job a lot harder. Also,
it is not nearly as likely that someone walking by your bike would be in a
position to open the lock on an impulse. And, in my opinion, if someone
decided to try, their chance of success would be less than on a bare lock.

I was able to cut a Kryptonite lock a while back with a torch, in a few
seconds. There is no fully safe way to lock a bike.

Leo Lichtman wrote:

I was able to cut a Kryptonite lock a while back with a torch, in a few
seconds. There is no fully safe way to lock a bike.

What kind of Kryptonite lock? What kind of torch?

Are we talking their thinnest cable lock and a lancing rod?
Or are we talking a full U-lock and a propane torch?

I'm not defending them either way (I own no Krypto stock, nor any
of their locks). But you can't drop that sort of statement into
the thread without clarification.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
-- Hunter S. Thompson