i'm chicking out the mini locks onguard makes and the minis i like. can't decide between the pitbull or the bull dog. anybody use either of these? may i have your impressions?

your impressions regarding the locks woul be helpful too.

thanks.

They are pretty much the same as far as resistance to attack going by the ratings. The Bulldog is less weight to carry. They both weigh more than the Kryptonite Mini by a noticeable amount. They are more resistant to prying due to the double locking barrel I would guess.

I've used a full sized Bulldog and a Pitbull Mini.

When is Kryptonite coming out with a New York Mini is what I would like to know.

It will be heavy too, but a better lock by a goodly margin.

yeah...go with the Krypto. mini....mine fell off my bike yesterday (the mount, clip-on device snapped when I hit a pot-hole)...-anyway, it hit my rear tire, was flung into the front bumper of a passing (no-sirens) ambulance -which then whacked and bounced it across the street at a terrific speed before squarely hitting a car driving in the oppisite (oncoming) direction, -knocking a piece of paneling off and making a big dent, (in the car). It was a tense ~ 3 to 4 seconds of incredible action....-the U-lock ended up in the gutter -and it wasn't even hurt!! tough lock, but the mount I geuss is another story.

i use a pitbull and thus far no complaints. no-one has tried to break it yet though. but it looks and feels substantial and secure, and hopefully a bike thief will feel the same way. it's just right to go round a parking sign pole and your bike without hardly any extra space to wedge anything into. seems like a lot of lock for not a lot of money (about half what the kryptonite mini goes for).

i only use mine for 5-minute stops, so if i know that's all i'm going to be doing this is a nice $25 easy-to-carry alternative to my nyc chain.

Ask WaitUpForMe about his OnGuard

I locked my bike up with nothing but a bulldog mini for about 3 months at one of the worst places in NY to lock, right outside the NYU's Tisch School of the Arts building on Broadway. That lock up is straight infested with thieves, pretty much everything gets attacked at some point, they take the easy stuff at the beginning of the semester and then start chopping locks. Those $25 American Locks (the ones stores use) that people where using when the krypto/pic thing went down where a favorite target, they'd snip right through them and take both the bike and the chain, a double value. No one ever messed with my bulldog though, although eventually they unbolted my garbage richie front wheel and I reluctantly started carrying the chain again. Now that my bike is starting to get a bit nice I double lock with the mini as well...

I prefer my bulldog mini to the krypto mini because the bulldog is slightly larger, which allows me to lock both my rear wheel and frame more easily.
I don't know if it's impossible to do so with a krypto mini, but it definitely takes a little more finagling.

I have the bulldog mini and I like it alot haven't had any problems with it

I was kind of hoping my name wouldn't come up here.

I like my Bulldog Mini!

The Pitbull and Bulldog locks are essentially the same locks with differences in plastic "trim" over the crossbar. The "mini" versions offer a high level of security when correctly used. That means putting the lock around the rear wheel, just behind the seat tube, about fourteen inches off the ground. The "mini" design does not provide enough empty space for the leverage type tools crooks prefer.

To get a significantly better level of security, you would need to go to one of the "super" U-locks that weigh twice times as much, such as the Kryptonite New York lock. Unless you live in New York, or on a major urban university campus, or other places infested with crooks, the Bulldog offers plenty of security.

does anyone have experience with trimax locks?
good or whack?

pitbull, and take a chisel and bust off all that silly plastic on the crossbar, saves you close to a pound.

dolface, does that metal thing come off also? you know, the silver part with the dimples?

I've had to cut loose a number of bikes that had OnGuard locks 'cuz they froze. I've also sent out a number of customers with a hammer and a bottle of spray lubricant to knock their lock loose so that I don't have to charge them $50 for going out and cutting their lock. As much as I really don't like Kryptonite, their locks, in my experience, work the best.


At Interbike I saw some Pinhead mini locks that looked pretty cool. The key is the same as the ones they use on their locking skewers. I think the locking skewers don't work THAT well as I know of at least two ways to defeat them (one of which they're working on solving, the other of which we couldn't convince them was enough of a problem to actually fix). Their mini lock though had the same style key, but the little pins were behind a shield.

dolface, could you post a picture of what it looks like without the plastic?

this is what my onguard bulldog looks like.

I electric tapped it up for padding and because all black looks cooler.

srcurran, how did you get that metal thing off? does it just slide off after you remove the plastic bits?

i just took a hammer and screw driver to one side. It came off after two strikes, and the metal part stayed connected to the other side, which also just pulled right off.

It was amazingly easy, it fits better in my pocket and looks less obnoxious.

Just do it, you'll see what I mean, and it actually doesnt have to be permanent if you dont break the plastic ends.

I just took a look at mine, where you want to hit is between the metal and plastic on the left side. (the onguard logo facing the correct way), the metal part is connected to the right side.

The 2005 model OnGuard and Kryptonite locks use essentially identical keys and key mechanisms. Folks sometimes can not get their keys to seat in the keyway and are unable to turn the keys. They assume that the mechanism has "frozen". That is not the cause of the problem.

The mechanism has several plates that can get rotated sidewises. The most likely way for this to happen is if someone is removing the key, and twists the key slightly just as the key reaches the top of the keyway. It can also happen if the owner begins to turn the key before the key is fully seated at the bottom of the keyway.

If the key does not turn EASILY in the keyway, do NOT use force. Simply shine a light into the lock and lock for the key slot. Use the tip of the key to realign the top plate with the second plate. Then realign the second plate with the third plate. Then realign the third plate with the fourth plate. Continue until each plate is aligned with the plate above and below. Then you will see a keyway that is smooth and even on each side. Seat the key fully to the bottom of the keyway. The key will turn easily and the lock will open.

It is my understanding that this rotating plate design is intended to make the locks more difficult to pick. New OnGuard and Kryptonite locks have a red sticker on them warning owners to fully seat their keys before turning the key. If you remember to do that, things will go smoothly.

Disk locks generally have two advantages over "normal" pin and tumbler locks - they require different tools to pick (which are very expensive) and the top disk rotates freely meaning that drilling the lock is almost impossible.

I have also heard that ABUS has a new type of disk lock that can't be picked with the tools used for disk locks, as the disks won't turn unless the key is all the way in the lock (except for the first disk to make it drill-resistant). This would also prevent the disks from becoming misaligned.

This was mostly with last year's models, so I don't know if they've fixed it, but there was more to it than the key insertion issue. Most especially I'm thinking of the fact that it DID in fact fix the problem at least temporarily to lube it up and hit it with a hammer, which wouldn't make sense with a key insertion problem. I've since had a goodly number of the Kryptonite locks come back with the key insertion thing despite the warning label, and I'm not happy about that either.

Actually, it does make sense if a couple whacks with a hammer simply jiggles the plates back into alignment.

thats what i was thinking. lube and a hammer should get things to shift back to where they need to be. what else would the lube and hammer be doing?

Actually, if you think about the way the lock works, that doesn't really make much sense at all, 'cuz the plates just spin whatever way they want when you hit it, if they spin at all. I suppose it's POSSIBLE, but I think a far more likely scenario is that the plates were stuck together and hitting it with the hammer just allowed them to turn, which is the reason I sent them out with said items in the first place. There aren't any springs holding the plates into any orienation or anything, at least not the best of my knowledge.