Originally Posted by 2manybikes
Plus everything he says is logical and sensible. The guys giving him the hardest time don't understand metals or cutting them at all. Anyone who has worked with metals and cutting or machining it or designing things out of it knows that every single word he said makes perfect sense.
I guess I'm just real slow. I'd have thought a power cutting disk would make a cut about 1/16th of an inch wide, and leave the cut metal bright and shiny, not a cut half an inch wide that is corroded and rusty. To me, a gap half an inch wide suggests the lock was cut twice: two cuts made 1/2 inch apart. For the metal to be so corroded, it would suggest that the cuts were made days, or weeks before the video and photos were made.
But, YOU are a metals expert. So, recreate this for us. Get an old, cheap Kryptonite u-lock. Correctly lock it to the rear wheel of a bike, and fill the interior of the "U" with a wide, beefy locking post. Cut a gap of 1/2 inch in just one leg of the "U". Then, try to slip the rear wheel through that half inch gap.
And, take photos of the "cut" that show whether the interior of the cut section is "bright and shiny" or corroded and rusty.
If YOU can duplicate the OP's claims (correctly lock a Kryptonite lock around the rear wheel and of bike plus around a wide locking post...and "steal" the bike in under two minutes...and the interior of the shackle is "instantly" rusty and corroded...well, you would be right, and I'd be wrong.
The editors of "Cycling Plus" run tests of locks every year and publish the results. They wrote that it was NOT possible to open a CORRECTLY INSTALLED high-end Kryptonite U-lock by cutting just one side of the "U". In their tests, it was necessary to cut BOTH sides of the "U", IF the "U" has been properly filled by the rear wheel and a wide locking post.
If a lock was sitting on a workbench, I'd think you could cut just one leg of the "U" and then rotate the shackle until the gap widens. But, if the owner is using the "Sheldon Brown" method, the interior of the "U" is filled by the rear wheel and a beefy, wide locking post...rather hard to see how the rear wheel can be "slipped" through one half inch gap.
The other "odd" thing about this story. The OP claims the video shows the crook stole the bike is less than two minutes. The editors of "Cycling Plus" wrote that they attacked a similar Kryptonite lock using power tools with new cutting blades. Based on their results, and the need to cut both legs of the "U", it would take far, far longer than "two minutes" to open this lock with cutting tools.
Lastly, virtually every "hoax" that has appeared in the Forums over the past several years involves a new member who makes surprising or controversial claims in just his first or second post. If the OP had been a member of the Forum for a couple of years, and had posted in dozens of threads NOT related to Kryptonite locks, I'd be a bit less doubtful about his story. But, he is making these claims in just his SECOND post ever.