Dahon.Steve

Locking the chain to a pole was a bad idea in the first place. You need to hide the chain so these things don't happen. Leaving out exposed is just like leaving your cycle on a bike rack. Don't forget what happend and learn from it. Always hide your bicycle and lock.

alanbikehouston

Your faith in the Fire Department is touching. But, utility poles are not made out of the same steel used in Kryptonite New York locks or Fahgettaboudit chains. "Cycling Plus" was able to cut some standard steel U-locks in under one minute. The really good ones, took two minutes. The New York 3000 took more than ten minutes. Why? It is about ten times harder to cut than standard steel

The missing chain? Dude forgot to properly secure the lock.

taras0000

I'm with the guy who's got the Fire Dept. hook-up. I work in a factory and we use hardened steel chains on some of our machines. When I mean hardened, I mean, they are hard! I took a friend's New York Chain in because she lost the key to her lock. The maintenance guys have a portable hydraulic press that can be fitted with shears or bolt cutting insets. This thing is small enough to be carried around my hand, similar in size to a 2 ton floor jack. Took all of 22 pumps of the lever to get through one link. ONE LINK! That was all that was touched. Then he did it to the other attached link. So her chain is two links shorter and she needs a new Disc Lock. But don't try and tell me it can't be done in less than ten minutes.

2manybikes

I base my comments on actually watching a NY lock be cut by a huge pneumatic angle grinder in about a minute. I prefer to go by first hand experience instead of what someone tells me. The latest article in Cycling plus (not the one from last year)....that reviews the locks and tries to defeat them explains what they used, the battery powered drill with a grinding wheel. See C+156, page 84

Comparing that to what I am talking about is like a 5 hp lawnmower compared to a Nascar engine. They leave out of the test one of the fastest, yet not very common methods completely, that is faster than all the above and can easily be concealed on your person. Not grinding.

Hardened tool steel up in the Rockwell 60-62 range can be ground very fast with the right grinder, I've done it many times in my shop, you can just make the metal disappear. Until you see it you can hardly believe it. When I was making custom hand made knives out of various types of tool steel at different hardness’s, 440c stainless, even stellite, I had a grinder that would make that stuff just melt away like balsa wood. I think it was 2hp. This is small equipment in the metal working trades.

BTW myself and a few other kifemakers tried to make a knife out of titanium. My 2hp grinder was useless, we finally just gave up. It was difficult to even forge. Tough stuff that ti.

Cyclists, do not worry about a thief carrying or concealing these big noisy grinders it's not going to happen, they are huge and they are so noisy you should wear ear protection. The good locks are pretty good protection against what you can hide under your coat. Or something that does not need a big generator to power it.

2manybikes

The fire dept has one of those too.

Martian Biker

Hi:

I went out to take a photo of where the NY chain was removed. Seems like it was removed by a power tool which left dark strips on the concrete.