I bought a d BMX bike the other day and the Bicycle lock was locked around and through the handle bars. It was the common ones you see that look pretty skookum with the heavy plastic around the cable. The owner had lost the key. I went home and took a hacksaw I hadn't used it 10 years and was through the lock cable in less then 30 seconds. This sure change my perception about bicycle locks. You certainly wouldn't want a lock this one on your ride if you were leaving your bike locked up in a public accessible place for very long.

As far as I know every type of lock that is convenient to carry, is easy to defeat. Even U-locks are supposedly breakable using the right and readily available technology, I hear. Mostly locks will deter casual, impulsive theft, opportunistic theft, but a person who really wants to steal a bike will probably be able to.

A hacksaw, a big set of bolt-cutters .... most of the cables with in-line locks can be picked pretty easily (had it happen to me) by someone willing to invest just a little time.

Most people will not spend a lot of time trying to steal a bike in a public place ... even though most people wouldn't do anything even if they saw an obvious thief at work, probably. Risk > reward for most people. For that use, most serious-looking locks/chains/cables are sufficient deterrents regardless of the fact that they are not really hard to defeat.

I think you are mis applying the word .. and dont know any better .

Skookum is a Chinook Jargon word that has come into occasional use in the Pacific Northwest.[SUP][1][/SUP]
The word skookum has three main meanings:

1. (in regional English) an adjective with a variety of positive connotation..
2. a monster; similar to the sasquatch
6. you can look up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skookum

“It was the common ones you see that look pretty skookum with the heavy plastic around the cable.”


So he was saying it looked pretty strong, that being the positive attribute for a lock/chain/cable. That is how I understood it.

Heavy-duty chains usually used to secure motorcycles are the most difficult to defeat. Too heavy to carry but if you routinely leave your bike in the same place you can leave the chain secured to something so it's there when you need it. A heavy U-lock like the Abus Granit or Kryptonite Forgettabatit is next best, reasonably portable if you use the attachment that clips it to the frame of the bike. Still vulnerable to an angle grinder, though, and professional thieves carry power tools. However, one of these will deter the opportunist thief and if combined with a cable to secure the front wheel will make your bike much less easy to steal than 75% of the others out there. That's about the best you can do - make it sufficiently difficult that the thief will look for easier targets.

Cable locks can almost always be defeated by bolt-cutters, sometimes quite small ones. Don't use in-line combination locks, even I can pick them.

The OP appeared to use the term skookum appropriately to mean the lock appeared durable, but wasn't.

Practical bicycle locks only deter people who are marginally honest but easily tempted. I rely on public peer pressure as much as the lock and cable. Perhaps living in Texas helps - I don't carry weapons, but you never know who does, so perhaps it's an overall deterrent. When shopping I look for stores with security guards out front, and lots of activity such as employees retrieving shopping buggies. I park as close as possible to the front of the store. And my bike doesn't look particularly worth stealing to a knowledgeable thief who wouldn't be deterred by any lock.

I use a disc padlock but the cable, no matter how thick, is the weak link. It would take less than a minute with heavy duty bolt cutters to snip the cable and toss the bike in the back of a truck. I suppose I could add another lock and cable, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra hassles and weight.

Any How Go Seahawks !

I've found cables are a bit of a pain to cut. They mash when trying to cut with wire cutters. Cable cutters, of course, are designed to keep the cables bunched together.

One of the things that happens is a bit of false advertising. So, the lock is made with thin cable and thick plastic, with the plastic being both cheap and lightweight (and, of course, some is needed for protection).

But, my guess is that the cable in your lock was pretty thin.

I do use a heavy cable lock at times. As mentioned, it will deter the casual thieves. I'm moving to a Kryptonite NY lock.. which is beastly heavy. It is always a pain when a good portion of a bike's weight is the lock to secure it.

The joke goes that the weight of a bike plus its appropriate lock is a constant

^This is how I think of bike locks as well. I would use a lock if I had to run into a convenience store for a few minutes, but that's about it.

Of course, that is not true. Higher quality hardened steels are much harder to cut than cheap steels without weighing a lot more (though hardened steel does more). And all cable locks are cr@p.

It Means : the Lighter the Bike, the Heavier the lock you must carry to Keep It.


a good Joke would not need an Explanation to 'Get It' ..

Well, I liked it

Isn't that your mother calling Bob?

b.1922-d.1999. I doubt It.

That's pretty funny. I think I've heard that before, but it still made me laugh.


All U-locks are not made equal. You get what you pay for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVjlumO9bWw

As someone mentioned, any kind of cable, U lock, or chain can be defeated. They are only good for a quick errand in and out. They will only deter opportunist or a joy riding kid. Want to keep your bike safe, keep it with you at all times.

The second statement does not follow from the first. The heaviest hardened steel chains can be defeated, but rarely are, because it's too much time and trouble. The best U locks are vulnerable to power tools, but use two good locks and you're unlikely to lose the bike unless it has been specifically targeted by a professional. In many years of commuting and leaving bikes outside all day I never lost one adopting this policy.

I was pretty amazed when traveling back to Missouri from a vacation with my wife. We wanted to stop at "In N Out Burger" in FW/Dallas. I can't remember the exact location we stopped at but the whole area was pretty much upscale with some high end shops. It had a Gander Mountain also. It may have been Arlington. All of the construction in the area looked fairly new.

Anyway, I noticed many of the parking lots in this area had the portable, police "eye in the sky" trailer lifts that look as though they may or may not be occupied by a live person, kind of hard to tell with the tinted glass. The only other place I have ever noticed there are in New Orleans around the French Quarter and Denver. I made real sure we parked our truck (with a campershell on it with two touring bikes + gear in the back) as close to the burger place a possible.

If I had wound up there on my bike by myself, I certainly would have just moved on. I would have skipped the burger place. When I see security guards and these eye in the sky things it's just a bad sign. I can't imagine how much theft must happen to go to the expense of all this extra security. Were not talking kids stealing candy bars at this level. I think it just plain sucks when you have to leave your bike unattended but 95% of the time I am with my wife so the bikes always have eyeballs on them.

For those of you who believe that your bike will get stolen if you lock it up outside for any length of time, please tell me how many times it takes before that happens. After dozens of years locking up bikes outside while at work, etc., without a theft my patience has reached its end.

On the other hand there are the many stories form folks who Have had bikes stolen,either by random thieves or the pro bike-theft crews which go out into big cities in vans full of power tool sand target nicer bikes.

I don't recall anyone saying it was not possible to safely lock a bike outside. I do recall people saying that even the best lock will not deter a sufficiently determined thief. And even the proponents of the best locking systems admitting that any such system can be defeated.

I used to lock up in urban locations frequently but rarely with a bike anyone would recognize as worth owning so I only had to beat the opportunist thieves ... but I have had two bikes stolen (three actually, but one was recovered.) I still lock up in public because I think the odds are in my favor, but I also accept that I am gambling.

I think as much depends on where you lock up as with how. Still, obviously a lot of people ride regularly in really big cities and don't lose their rides .....

It's been said many times on BF. Things akin to "Lock up your bike outside an it will eventually be stolen."

If not all at once , then stripped, a Piece at a time.

IMO, the most effective is the hardened hex chain with a heavy lock. No, nothing's theft-PROOF, but some things are a better deterrent than others.

I did a little test last year at work; a 3/8" thick cable lasted 10 seconds with an 18" bolt cutter, and about 20 seconds with TIN SNIPS.

That doesn't mean they're useless, though; in combination with another type of lock, cables can be bewildering, which is why I still use the 9' long 3/8" cable with a U-lock. One hoodrat kept talking about my "Pee Wee Herman lock", when I had the cable twined around four bikes, along with a chain around all four downtubes. But the bikes were still there.......

We've had three events; two happened to the same nephew. The first, when he was 10, some hoodrat punk a couple years older just walked up, got on it, and rode off. The second, when he was 17, he borrowed my sister's bike, locked it only through the frame, and came out of the store to see no wheels. (Come to think of it, the last I saw her bike, he had it again (he's 23 now), and is "between homes". Dunno WHERE the bike is.

Some other neighborhood punk tried to take off with my daughter's bike when she was 10; no sooner had he straddled it than she took off after him. He dropped it and fled.

NOTE: a bike mechanic friend once told me NO lock was safe, because they could all be "frozen" and shattered by a CO2 fire extinguisher. 90% of what he told me over the years, I quietly said "Whatever" to.........

I have heard the same but with a can of freon used for recharging auto air conditioners. Never bothered to research, because bu the time someone goes that far, they are not going to stop.