Okay as promised I have tested my Force 6 ... here is one in a series of tests I hope to perform.

As stated before a regular bic pen barrel won't even fit into the lock. So I cut the bic pen a few times so it can expand and fit into the lock. Sure enough these cuts helped the barrel expand and fit into the key way.

However, when I turned the bic pen, it broke. Using the key requires quite a bit of force; even with some light lubrication the force needed to unlock is substantial. I'm not surprised that the pen broke.

I will try again with other bic pens and perhaps cut them fewer times so they don't break so easily. A few other observations:

This tubular lock's key has a little protrusion which has to be lined up exactly when sliding the key into the key way. I don't think a bic pen can mimic this. I'm curious as to whether the bic-pennable Kryptonites had this little protrusion on the key. Where the affected Kryptonite keys (and related locks) purely round or did they have a bump that forced you to insert the pen in a certain orientation?

This tubular lock's key also has a variety of cut heights ... and from what I can see, the bic pen wasn't able to mimic any single one of these cuts. Perhaps heat will help the pen conform. I'll try warming the pen with a match next time too.



Note the indentation in the key way. Do you think a Bic pen can easily mimic this?