are Kryptonite locks now safe?
 

I just found out about the issues with the Krytonite locks being easy to pick, are they now considered safe? I have a cable one with the lock built into the cable, a newer one

Cable locks are NEVER safe. Never use just a cable lock! Use a U-lock for the frame/back wheel/to the rack and a cable for the front wheel and saddle.

The best lock available is probably the kryptonite fahgettaboudit u-lock.

As far as I know, the modern kryptonite locks are not easily picked. That being said, all cable locks are easily cut. And pretty much all locks are cuttable.

Locks should be used as a deterrent (i.e., convinced the thief that he's better off stealing somebody else's bicycle). There are places that many, many people here on the forums leave that can not leave even locked bicycles unattended for any length of time.

Cheers,
Charles

we dont have bike racks here, I think the only one available is at the library and possibly the hospital. I dont have much alternative,

the easily picked Kryptonite locks had circular keys.

I 've heard there are supposed to be some cable locks that are nearly impossible to cut, I read a review of a bunch of locks somewhere, I normally dont leave my bike unattended, I keep it in the house etc, I'm mainly looking for something where I can lock it to an immovable object while I run in the store to get a drink etc.

For more flexible locking, I use a chain. I think it's safer than a cable but provides the same ability to lock to random objects.

They swapped my Round key one for another with a 2 sided key,
[presume the lock cylinder is double, too] so the 2 sides need be picked at the same time..

they had a replacement Program at the time.

Yes, they had a HUGE recall/exchange program. That was quite a few years ago.

If thats all you need then a cable lock is more than enough unless you're stopping off in the middle of a high crime area and have expensive wheels. Seats, controls and components can still be stripped off any locked bike if its left unattended for a lengthy period.

I use a cable lock myself for short stops at the convenience store and ocassionally (tonight for example ) - don't bother with that. Bike theft seems to take a dive in the winter for some reason.

around here they arent after the bike, they are looking for metal to scrap, anything made of metal not tied down vanishes. We have a huge issue with people breaking into houses, ripping out all the plumbing,wiring, ripping off the gutters, sinks etc, basically trashing the house and selling the metal for scrap, people have gone away for the weekend, came home, and their house is destroyed.

you ain't kidding!

the other day i discovered my lock had been stolen, but they left my bike! insulting...

Kryptonite bore the brunt of the PR problems caused by the easily-pickable locks, but it was not only Kryptonite locks who were affected, nor only bicycle locks. It was my understanding that all locks with circular keys were susceptible to some degree. Picking a lock with a bic pen was a trick well known to people who work with computers as they were generally locked with circular keys too.

since I wont be leaving it long, I guess I'll stcik with this one, I know I will be replacing a number of fasteners on the bike with security torx or allen head screws, most people dont carry those types of tools

I used to have a kryptonite lock, but Superman stole it.

I thought one of these locks guaranteed Superman couldn't steal it, he has a slight allergy to Kyrptonite

Bike thieves often carry allen keys.
If it is a fastener you seldom adjust, and never need to adjust or repair on the road - water bottle bolts, seatpost binder, etc - just install an allen head bolt and use a large drill bit to remove the flats from the head. If there is an exposed nut ont he other side (as with some seatpost binders), grind the wrench flats off to a round taper so you cannot grab it with pliers.

You would be surprised how fast a cable lock can be cut.

not regular allen keys, security allen keys. they require special allen key with a hollow center that fits over a pin in the head of the bolt. They are the same thing they used to put on things like pay phones etc.

Kryptonite had a well-publicized issue with their locks which was fixed a while ago....but if you're using a cable lock it won't matter, because the cables themselves are easily defeated by most bike thieves. Additionally, even with a good U-lock or hardened chain, your bike's safety is only as good as the item you've locked the bike to, or if you have a bike thief that is willing to saw through the bike frame and sell off the individual parts.

But using a cable lock only makes it easier for the thief, and it's more likely that your bike will be stolen.

Bike thieves are well aware of security hex head or torx fasteners and know where to buy the allen/torx tools for them.

:thumb:
this ^^^^

Lost,
The fact that your cable lock still uses a barrel key ( aka Ace key, cylinder key, tubular key Etc. ) should tell you that it is a low security lock.

I've had 2 bikes stolen (Knock on Wood ). The low end road bike's (10 mm) cable lock was cut from my Brothers back porch railing. His bedroom window opens onto the back porch w/ his bed next to the window. he was sleeping within less than 8 ft. from the bike!!!
Many years later I had a low end beach cruiser's ARMORED cable lock cut from the rack of the Downtown Los Angeles Public Library central office in BROAD,BRIGHT day light.
I figured since the Lock was ARMORED and the bike was "just" an old beach cruiser I was ok to browse the stacks for a few hours... WRONG !!!

I've learned my lesson (and my hope is you also learn from my experience).
Luckily for me both bikes were freebies to me. Still hurt when they were ripped off.
I would strongly urge you to seriously consider adding a Strong U-Lock to your low security cable lock.

I 've owned the Trek 520 touring bike for over 10 years and over 15,000 touring and commuting miles, Yes I still go to the Main Library and get lost in the stacks for hours.
Yes I STILL use cable locks, BUT the cables are only secondary (only use them to tie in my front wheel and leather seat) to the strongest U-Locks I can afford.
The bikes I own now are NOT low end and they were NOT Freebies.

People have gone away for the weekend, came home, and their house is destroyed.
 

This ^^^^ Really sounds to me like you have TWEEKER CREWS (meth and/or crack addicts driving around in vans or trucks) working your neighborhoods. I hope your local 5-0 (Police) are making headway in their investigation.

CRAP! :cry: I have one of the older kryptocrap locks!! Guess when I come home, I get to play "hide the bag". What about the new krypto u locks??

W*lm*rt has a cable lock with a Kevlar layer, it seems pretty good, that might take a good while-not be worth the trouble-to cut. I already have a couple of cable locks-one with built in lock, one with separate padlock. Where I live a cable lock helps, especially for a quick stop at a store, etc., I've never had a problem.

Haven't bought a U-Bolt yet but if/when I bike to work, I might try that also, the idea of keeping my bike outside for 9+ hours is something I'm not very keen with, but others who bike-customers and coworkers it seems have not had problems. I could check my bike on my breaks.

Work around.

Yeah.

But they stopped making the locks with circular keys for a while now. Now they use the flat keys and Kryptonite locks are now having reports of the key snapping inside the lock making the whole thing useless. This hasn't happened to me yet, I think the people who have had this issue did not put the key all the way in for sometimes the "teeth" of the key get stuck (not jammed) in the lock chamber I've had my Kryptonite New York standard u-lock (never ever ever ever use a cable lock... EVER) for about half a year now, and no one has tried to break into it yet, granted I have only used it outside 3 times, carbon fiber bike though (I always lock it when I'm not using it).

Maybe no one wants to steal my cheap department store bikes. lol But, I've ridden various bicycles over the years with the same cable Kryptonite lock without having a bike stolen. As a matter of fact, it started cracking here and there.

I've had some bicycles stolen in certain situations though. One time I had one of those locks that you click to close. I found out I had a tendency to push hard enough but not quite hard enough to completely close the lock. So the spring inside would push up and leave it unlocked. Well, a brand new department store bicycle was stolen like that. Another one was stolen with a huge lock on it but was locked to a wooden fence. One board was pushed out and it was taken away. Of course, the superintendant was a known gambler. He's the one who told me it was gone. He also was the one who demanded that my bike be locked on the wooden fence.

The best ulock maybe not the best lock as thickness being equal a chain with a good padlock will be stronger than a ulock for several reasons:

-to cut a good ulock you just need to cut the base of the ulock when to cut a good chain + padlock system you need to cut both sides of the padlock's shackle or both sides of the chainlinks
-good padlocks are usually more pickproof than ulocks, actually i haven't seen anyone picking the abloy PL362 but i'm sure someone must have done it somewhere
-because chains are flexible they are harder to deal with than rigid ulocks
-ulocks have only one lock so thieves can easily learn only a few techniques to pick it when chains can come with many different padlocks (but there is more chances that the owner choose a bad padlock too)
-the best ulocks i know stop at 18mm thickness when chains can go up to nearly 20mm
-chains being usually longer allow more choices and then usually better choices when looking for places to attach the bike
-thickness being equal chain + padlock systems are usually heavier and more expensive than ulocks so they are less popular on the street so thieves will have less chances to get used to than equivalent ulocks (but because we usually buy things with price in mind for the same price your ulock will probably be thicker than a chain + padlock system)
-new york fahgettouboudit systems are pretty popular in north america so thieves will have more chances to be trained on than european or other parts of the world's systems and vice-versa

There's nothing fatally wrong with tubular key locks. They have strengths and weaknesses like all lock systems. They're widely used on the coin boxes of vending machines, laundromats and arcade games and on computers and elevators. They're even used on slot machines in Vegas. Better tubular key locks [like those used on vending machines and in the early days (1973-1988) of U-locks by Kryptonite and Citadel] had variable depth pin pockets, pin springs of different rates and lengths, serrated, spool and mushroom pins and hardened center pins.

Thing was, actual lock picking was and is extremely rare in real life. Out in the wild, U-locks are attacked with jacks and saws. In 1989 Kryptonite reevaluated their design and put more emphasis (i.e. a greater percentage of the consumer's dollar) on resisting destructive entry...and less on resisting non-destructive entry. They specified a much less expensive tubular key lock which was highly susceptible to 'self impressioning' - that's the official name of the technique you use when you open one of those cheap tubular locks with your Bic pen.

Well, okay, fair design concept but the implementation turned out to be 'one bridge too far' and Kryptonite got burned pretty bad for their decision. Because of the bad name all tubular key locks, high and low quality alike, got from this, nearly all U-locks these days use disc-detainer cylinders.

One other note: a Kryptonite Fahgettaboudit Mini weighs around four and a half pounds, while one meter of 19mm chain and an Abloy P362 lock weighs around 17 pounds. That's a pretty big weight penalty for something that can still be reliably torched through. At a certain point, you've got to just resign yourself to the fact that if a well prepared thief has a jones for your locked-up Varsity, it's gone.

That's a big plus, 3 x 10 repetitions every day, perfect work out! (plus a few back pain release pills) :lol: