Pinhead seat skewer locks
 

I've been seeing these pop up at a number of places, usually branded under the Onguard name:

http://www.pinheadcomponents.com/

They usually sell the wheels and seatpost locks for $60, wheels, seat, and for for $75.

They differ from Pitlocks because you get only one key with the Pinhead locks and ordering another one will cost you $18 + shipping and 2-4 weeks. Pitlocks from Urbanbiketech.com sell for pretty much the same price, except you can shell out $119.99 and pick up a set for the brakes in the package. You also get two keys with Pitlocks instead of one.

Anyone use the ones by Onguard and have tales of happiness or woe about these? I'm curious, mainly because I plan to pick up a set of Pitlocks come next paycheck (mainly because the Pitlocks seem better made), but these Pinhead locks are tempting and starting to be sold at a lot of places in Austin.

(edited)

I just found a third type of locking skewer made by http://www.veratomic.com. They appear to be just "plain" quick release skewers except that you can pull the quick release tab off. I have not found any good or bad information about these anywhere though.

I've used both the Pitlock and the Pinhead. By far the Pitlock is a better designed and produced product.

As you mentioned, you only get one key with the Pinhead, you get two with Pitlock.

My Pinhead skewers rusted within a few months. My Pitlock have not rusted after more than a year of use.

The Pinhead key tends to slip when you are trying to unlock it, especially in the rain. The Pitlock fits in snugly.

The End of the Pinhead skewer is larger than the end of a Pitlock. On one of my bikes the Pinhead caused a problem with mounting a rack. The Pitlock didn't.

All in all I'm very happy with Pitlock. I gave my Pinhead stuff away to friends.

I sometimes email people who place stolen bike ads on craigslist. In one case a pitlocked front wheel was chained to a post. The bike minus the chained front wheel was stolen.

I personally use allen skewers on a not too expensive bike.

While It's not out of the realm of possiblilty, it would be a vary rare occurance to have a Pilocked wheel stolen. A quick google search turns up no reports of wheels being stolen while using Pitlock.

On just this board there are several reports of wheels being stolen while secured with a hex head bolt.