Originally Posted by
reducedfatoreo
Just a quick correction: Pinheads don't all use the same wrench. I'm trying to find out exactly how many combinations they have (I know it's not as many as Pitlocks' 256, but I think I remember it being somewhere in the dozens), but at least anecdotally I can tell you that my friends and I don't have the same combinations, so when we go on rides we all need to have our keys.
I can't find it, but I saw it earlier today. I believe the Pinhead stuff has more combinations - like 11,000 compared to the 256 of the pitlocks. But either are more than adequate. No thief is going to take the time to try 256 keys that the had to spend days and hours scamming out of the pitlock people and spending a lot of money to do that at $15/key (not to mention the huge red flag when someone calls in and wants one of each key). So, it does't matter really.
The problem with the Pinheads is that you can grab them with a vise grip and turn the head to release it and it's relatively easy to do. You can't do that with the pitlocks - they have an antitheft rotating piece around the head - it's a more robust mechanism (and more expensive). If I had it to do over again, I'd do the pitlocks - I was in a hurry for locking skewers so I ran over to REI and picked up the pinheads and solved my problem. They are way better than QR skewers and only a tiny percentage of bikes ever have even bolt on skewers so they represent another order of magnitude of a problem for a thief AND yet another tool they would need to carry.
So, if you are starting anew with this, get the pitlocks.
J.