A third, slower attempt also took five blades. Blogs played a large role in critiquing Kryptonite for their lack of response. On the second attempt, he went faster, pushing harder, and it took five blades to cut through the lock. Later, the Kryptonite Lock Company recalled all of the locks at great expense. He went through two disc blades cutting through the lock on the first try, going very carefully and trying not to let the disc blades catch. The Kryptonite Evolution Mini-7 is our pick for the best bike lock of 2021 (and is the lock used by TechRadars own fitness and wellbeing editor).
#KRYPTONITE LOCK PORTABLE#
Duncan Niederlitz, who did the lock testing (and destroying) for the 2017 edition of this guide, hauled out his portable angle grinder to demolish the sample lock. After the funding period was over, at the end of October, Hiplok sent us a sample lock ( we don’t test or evaluate products while they’re still in crowdfunding) that was, they told us, one of the first 30 made. All in all, the Kryptolok is a mid-security lock. Of the independent lock testers, Sold Secure give it a very respectable Silver rating (from Bronze, Silver and Gold) while ART give it 2 stars (out of 5). In the fall of 2021, the British bike lock company Hiplok announced that it had made a lock, the D1000, using a graphene-reinforced ceramic composite designed to withstand a portable angle grinder, and it launched a Kickstarter campaign to publicize it. In terms of security ratings, Kryptonite themselves give it an in-house score of 6/10 which they define as moderate.
#KRYPTONITE LOCK HOW TO#
(The company’s New York lock series-including our upgrade pick and the chain pick below-is covered even in Manhattan.) Ill walk you through step-by-step instructions on how to pick your Kryptonite lock (or other U-shape lock) with a Bic Pen. Two caveats on the latter: You must register your lock within 30 days of buying it, and the anti-theft protection on this lock does not apply to residents of Manhattan, where theft is very high.
#KRYPTONITE LOCK PLUS#
It also comes with a 4-foot cable to secure the front wheel, plus a free year of Kryptonite’s anti-theft protection. The New-U Evolution Mini-7 uses a disc-detainer locking mechanism, which is much harder to pick than a typical wafer lock and should foil all but the most savvy criminal using specialty tools. On top of that, the shackle in this design has an additional cutout at the end, which makes rotating (and therefore removing) it after cutting it even more difficult. Measuring 7 inches long and weighing a little under 3 pounds, it’s the perfect size for most people-long enough to lock the wheel and frame of most bicycles to a rack while leaving almost no room for someone to wedge a pry bar or a car jack inside it. Once our testing began, we immediately saw the huge advantage this lock had over the competition: Its 13-millimeter hardened shackle (the big U-shaped loop that gives U-locks their name) can withstand bolt cutters, eliminating a large percentage of potential thieves. The Kryptonite New-U Evolution Mini-7 should withstand attacks from everything but power tools under most circumstances.