Snipping through a cable lock.
 

So I have read in many places that thieves can quickly (10 seconds) ship through a cable lock. I kinda accepted this but thought that perhaps the speed was exaggerated (like when a contractor says he will finish a project). Well, I was volunteering at our local Co-op this past weekend and had the opportunity to help a guy tune up an old bike that his brother gave him. It had a 10mm cable lock wound around the top tube - useless because the combination had been forgotten. I figured I'd give it a go and grabbed a set of cable cutters. Wow, I don't think it took me even 10 seconds! Just took quick little bites and that was it.

Uh-huh, sure...that was his "brother's bike"? :innocent:

Haven't tried it on a bike cable lock (don't intend to) but I had a good size Master padlock on my shed cut with a pair of bolt cutters. I now own the bolt cutters, as my neighbor's dog was out, started barking, and my neighbor started to come over, thinking it was one of us. When she noticed what was going on, screamed and ran back into her house. The would-be thieves ran away, dropping the bolt cutters in the process. If I ever lose the keys to my shed, I now have a "master key" which will open it! I'm a firm believer in that locks were made to keep honest people honest.

Good one! I see where you are going.

Yep, I was sure. Had it been stolen, I wouldn't think the cable lock would have been looped around the top tube. Also, his bike was of the sort that you see as "on curb - please take" offerings.

Yup, do it all the time. Regular padlocks is a snip with the bolt cutter, cables also a snip with the bolt cutters. Once in a while the bolt cutter will just flatten the cable, then we nibble through it with regular cable cutter.

I did the same with the cable lock on one of my kid's bikes a few weeks ago. We forgot the combination and I used a pair of simple wire cutters to remove it. Snip, snip, snip, snip, etc. no problem.

One second. One.

There's always a couple of snipped locks at the bike racks in town. If I remember to take my hand snips, I'll do a YouTube video of a one-second snip. Literally quicker than a key.

I once worked in a composite shop where we did one off experimental projects for companies such as MacDonald Douglas or Boeing in Carbon fiber. On one job we had to hand sew stiffening ribs onto a base laminate before resin infusion. The material used to do the sewing was a Spectra thread that turned out to be very difficult to snip through with ordinary scissors. The shop had to but special scissors of a hardened steel. I've often thought bike cables, which are built up in a 7x1 configuration, where the 1 number is a core over which 6 strands of Spectra encase the core. Such a cable wold be un-snipable though an angle grinder could still get through eventually.

The problem with spectra is it has a very low melting point. It is used in high performance stunt kites and if it rubs against anything other than itself (it is also very low friction and you need to be careful how you tie knots in it) it melts like butter.

+1

And hopefully to send the would-be thief onto an easier target.