HOW WE TESTED
Over the two decades that we’ve been putting together our intensive lock tests we’ve always used a combination of manual and power tools and force and finesse to try and break locks. This time we’ve upped our game, significantly, by using the facilities of Germany’s biggest security manufacturer, and more importantly its state-of-the-art test labs, and training on how to use the machines on offer. We devised a full-on torture chamber of tests that fully simulate each and every way a lock is attacked and broken. For this we needed multiple models from each manufacturer, so thank you to those who took up the challenge and supplied test samples willingly.
With nine tests on a total of 29 different models (24 are shown here), that’s 261 separate tests, and a total of in excess of £11,000 worth of locks tested to destruction...
THE TESTS BRACKET
Some of the locks come with a handy bracket to fit to your commuter bike. We tested the brackets fixed to a bike that’s fixed on a treadmill, with bumps and lumps to simulate road conditions. This ‘rattle’ test runs for a total of 200 hours, which is plenty of time to see if the bracket is up to the job of carrying your lock safely.
CORROSION
One of each lock was subjected to 168 hours in a climate chamber to ISO 9227 standards. The time is equivalent to around 10-12 months of outdoor use in a salty air environment, such as living on the coast. Over the 168 hours temperature and humidity both fluctuate to further simulate real-world conditions.
FREEZE AND HAMMER
This test simulates the use of plumber’s freeze spray, which chills the metal. The theory is that it’ll make metal more brittle when struck with a hammer. Our test lab consists of a chiller cabinet that freezes the lock down to -40°C, it’s then struck with a weight simulating a full force sledgehammer blow multiple times from 1m and from 2m.
SAW
Our test machine is an articulated saw. Each lock was cut first with a fresh, standard steel blade. If it survived that test, it was then cut with a high-quality, precision tungsten blade in the same saw.
BOLT CROP
The bolt cropper is perhaps the favourite tool of the modern bike thief. Short, concealable bolt croppers are available for very little cash and can get through most budget locks with little fuss. Higher standard locks are much tougher, and those that cross over into motorcycle security
Hand-held angle grinders are a fast and effective way to cut through metal
stronger still. Our bolt cropping rig has to be capable of out-performing hand-operated bolt croppers, so the one we’ve used is a hydraulic jaw that cuts like a bolt cropper, but is capable of applying in excess of 250 kiloNewtons of pressure, that’s around the equivalent of a 1.5m-long set of bolt croppers operated by a couple of contestants from World’s Strongest Man.
TENSILE PULL
This pulling rig had to simulate the bottle jack approach to breaking locks. A small hydraulic bottle uses a jack to push apart the two sections of lock, breaking the mechanism and causing the lock to fail. Our hydraulic test rig does the same by pulling on both parts simultaneously. This rig is capable of over seven tonnes of pulling power, your average bottle jack can perform to around three.
TORSION
The good-old torsion attack, or crowbar to you and me, is a very effective method but the downside is that it usually leaves the bike being stolen with significant damage. Our test rig can torsionally twist a lock to massive pressures, the equivalent of using a crowbar of more than 1.5m and one of those world’s strongest men doing
the crowing!
PICKING
Picking locks is a learnable art, and with many ‘picks’ available online we are seeing a rise in bikes being stolen this way. We used a resident expert armed with an inexpensive homemade pick to try and open the locks on test.
GRINDER
Hand-held powerful battery-operated angle grinders are a fast and effective way to cut through metal. However, they do generate a lot of noise and sparks, so if you park your bike in a high traffic area, and not hidden out of sight, you’re less likely to see this method of attack being used in broad daylight. For our test we used an off-the-shelf unit, with multiple batteries and a constant cycle of recharging, along with a fresh grinding disc for each test, so that each lock had the exact same conditions to record the time it took to cut through.
THE RESULTS
The resulting data from this massive test was collated and assigned a score for each test, but note that not all the tests are applicable to every lock design. The different designs were rated with a Cycling
Plus overall score, and you can read full reviews of the best 14 on test over the following pages. We’ve included a table with the full test data on page 106.