kryptonite bike lock factory combination

#Kryptonite bike lock factory combination full

In 2013 Ingersoll Rand's security products were placed in a spin-off company called Allegion. Ingersoll Rand acquired Kryptonite in 2001. Thieves stripped the bicycle of every part that could be removed, but the lock resisted all attempts to break it. In an early test of the Kryptonite lock, a bicycle was locked to a signpost in Greenwich Village in New York City for thirty days. The first Kryptonite lock model was made of sheet metal cut and bent to shape, but the company soon went to the now universal circular cross section. Indeed, local hardware stores would often sell inexpensive chain cut to length using simple bolt cutters. In the early 1970s, in the US, the only proven method to secure one's bicycle was by the use of case hardened security chains with hexagonal links, but some cyclists were making the mistake of using inexpensive chains or cables that could be breached by thieves using commonly available tools. In 1972 Michael Zane bought the lock and company from Kaplan. Kaplan partnered with Michael Zane, whose father had a metal manufacturing company, to produce and market the locks. The Kryptonite u-lock was developed by Stanley Kaplan. The name is used under a limited trademark agreement with DC Comics dating back to 1983. The product was named after kryptonite, the fictitious substance that can thwart the powerful comic-book hero Superman. The basic design, made of hardened steel of circular cross section bent into a U-shape with a removable crossbar, has been emulated by numerous other manufacturers, and adapted with variations in size and shape for other applications, such as locking motorcycles. Kryptonite is an Allegion-owned brand of bicycle lock for securing a bicycle to a pole or other fixture, when the owner wants to leave the bicycle in a public place. There aren’t any Sold Secure Gold combination locks, presumably because it would be very difficult to make a coded lock that is truly high security.A 'New York 3000' Kryptonite lock 'New York standard' Kryptonite lock

#Kryptonite bike lock factory combination full

This means they’re suitable for lower risk circumstances (check my full bike lock guide to determine your risk level). They are all either Sold Secure Silver or equivalent, which is the minimum security level I recommend in a bike lock. With that in mind I have compiled a list of some of the better combination locks below. But if you get a decent one with 4 or 5 dials and features that resist the most basic decoding techniques, then in the street, in most instances they are going to offer the same levels of protection as a decent keyed lock. So, yes it’s true: combination locks are less secure than keyed locks. However, it doesn’t mean that all combination locks are crappy! Wrapping Up So this idea that all combination locks are crappy is reinforced because they’re used on genuinely crappy cable locks. They can be cut in seconds by a small, basic tool that every bike thief carries.Īnd the thing is: many cheap cable locks use cheap combination mechanisms. I’ve written many times about how you should never use a cheap cable lock to secure your bicycle.

In fact they are most likely to tackle a decent combination lock in the same way they would attack a decent keyed lock: with brute force. And in the street they won’t be able to position the lock in a way that makes even attempting to decode the lock practical. The way to do this (and I’m not revealing anything new here), is to create tension by trying to pull the the lock apart (in the same way as you’d open it) and then slowly rotating the dials in turn until they seem to click into place…īut the thing to remember is that virtually no bike thieves have the patience and skill required to pick the more challenging combination locks. Unfortunately however, the finite number of codes isn’t the only weakness of combination locks… Or pick them without any tools!Ĭheap combination locks are very easy to decode.

So while it’s true that combination locks can be opened without any tools at all, by someone without any skill at all (beyond counting), if you’ve got a 4 (or more) dial lock then it’s very unlikely that anyone’s going to defeat your lock in this way. It would actually take much longer, even if the thief had the patience and nerve to persist.

And in reality, testing one a second for nearly three hours while hunched over a bicycle in the street is just not practical. So the same nimble fingers would take almost 3 hours to test every combination. However with 4 dials there are 10,000 possible combinations.