Engineers have devised a bicycle lock that offers no access to its chamber – a design that is effectively ‘unpickable’.
An advanced prototype of the lock is demonstrated on Youtube and a limited number of pre-production examples are to be offered for sale over the coming months.
Do bicycle thieves pick locks?
Is the unpickable cycle lock the solution to a problem that doesn’t exist?
A few years ago, the lock manufacturer Kyrptonite suffered a bout of bad PR when it was alleged that its D-Locks could be opened with a modified Bic Biro. The episode called into question the efficacy of many cylindrical-lock products, but the reality is that most thieves don’t have the time, patience or skill to pick locks – they prefer to cut, freeze or smash them.
A well-equipped and determined bicycle thief can defeat most designs of lock within minutes and with many bikes now worth thousands on the second-hand market, the crime is rife. And when a thief is unable to remove a lock, it is not uncommon for him to vandalise the bike or simply steal parts. Thieves in London this spring have taken to stealing handlebars from road bikes. Once a few control cables are severed, they walk away with bars and shifters worth hundreds of pounds.
The lesson is that even stoutest lock is no replacement for a good cycle insurance policy.
Cycle insurance from the ETA includes the theft of parts and has an excess of only 5 per cent. See a full list of everything that is included or get an instant quote.
Rohan Lewis
If locks are as unimportant as your article above implies, why does your cycle insurance policy require us to supply receipts of purchase for them, photographs of them in use etc.? I have neither the means nor the time to supply these things, and for that reason alone will continue to rely on my lock and not on
your insurance policy.
Yannick Read
Dear Mr Lewis
Cycle locks deter the casual thief. If you supply us with a suitable photograph of your lock when you take out the policy, we do not require a receipt.
Yours sincerely
Yannick Read