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A new lock cable idea, was Lock Opened With Ball Point Pen



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 4th 04, 09:22 PM
Matt O'Toole
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Default A new lock cable idea, was Lock Opened With Ball Point Pen

I've been wondering about this for awhile. Chain and wire cable can be cut
easily with either bolt/cable cutters or cordless grinders. But what about
cable wound from both wire and kevlar? A bolt cutter would have a tough time
because the kevlar strands would crush but not sever. Grinding would be
difficult for the same reason, and because the cable would be too flexible. It
could be cut for sure, but it would take longer, and maybe require stopping a
few times to hack away with another tool, like a knife. Any ideas? Has this
already been tried?

Matt O.


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  #2  
Old October 4th 04, 10:17 PM
skuke
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Default

On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 16:22:24 -0400, Matt O'Toole wrote:

I've been wondering about this for awhile. Chain and wire cable can be cut
easily with either bolt/cable cutters or cordless grinders. But what about
cable wound from both wire and kevlar? A bolt cutter would have a tough time
because the kevlar strands would crush but not sever. Grinding would be
difficult for the same reason, and because the cable would be too flexible. It
could be cut for sure, but it would take longer, and maybe require stopping a
few times to hack away with another tool, like a knife. Any ideas? Has this
already been tried?

Matt O.



Yes, it's basically a good idea.

From another life, I've learned that a good way to secure anything is with
multiple devices that require multiple defeating tools. What would be ideal
is something like a twisted or braided cable wrapped around hardened dowel
pins or broken pieces of carbide. That is then covered with a thick layer
of tar and then a nice vinyl (or whatever) cover to keep things clean.

The dowel pins/carbide prevent cutting with hacksaws and the like. The tar
makes a horrible mess when cuting with grinding type tools. The tar just
makes a sticky mess and it also smells bad when over heated from the
cutter/grinder or if torched.

Of course, given enough time and energy, all locks can be defeated. All you
want to achieve is maximizing the time to the point that the thief will
decide to look elsewhere.


On a side note:
In Daly City, CA over the weekend. A city street was marked with many No
Parking signs for construction about to begin on the said street. Cars etc.
where to be towed away if parked during construction period. A bike was
"Krytonite-d" to a street sign. The city workers needed to remove the bike
as it was illegally "parked" and in the way. My friend witnessed them
removing the bike from the street sign. How did they do it you asked? They
cut the FRAME, removed the offending bike, and left the Krytonite secured to
the pole!! ...one way to defeat a lock.
--
Skuke
Reverse the domain name to send email
  #3  
Old October 4th 04, 10:17 PM
skuke
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 16:22:24 -0400, Matt O'Toole wrote:

I've been wondering about this for awhile. Chain and wire cable can be cut
easily with either bolt/cable cutters or cordless grinders. But what about
cable wound from both wire and kevlar? A bolt cutter would have a tough time
because the kevlar strands would crush but not sever. Grinding would be
difficult for the same reason, and because the cable would be too flexible. It
could be cut for sure, but it would take longer, and maybe require stopping a
few times to hack away with another tool, like a knife. Any ideas? Has this
already been tried?

Matt O.



Yes, it's basically a good idea.

From another life, I've learned that a good way to secure anything is with
multiple devices that require multiple defeating tools. What would be ideal
is something like a twisted or braided cable wrapped around hardened dowel
pins or broken pieces of carbide. That is then covered with a thick layer
of tar and then a nice vinyl (or whatever) cover to keep things clean.

The dowel pins/carbide prevent cutting with hacksaws and the like. The tar
makes a horrible mess when cuting with grinding type tools. The tar just
makes a sticky mess and it also smells bad when over heated from the
cutter/grinder or if torched.

Of course, given enough time and energy, all locks can be defeated. All you
want to achieve is maximizing the time to the point that the thief will
decide to look elsewhere.


On a side note:
In Daly City, CA over the weekend. A city street was marked with many No
Parking signs for construction about to begin on the said street. Cars etc.
where to be towed away if parked during construction period. A bike was
"Krytonite-d" to a street sign. The city workers needed to remove the bike
as it was illegally "parked" and in the way. My friend witnessed them
removing the bike from the street sign. How did they do it you asked? They
cut the FRAME, removed the offending bike, and left the Krytonite secured to
the pole!! ...one way to defeat a lock.
--
Skuke
Reverse the domain name to send email
  #4  
Old October 4th 04, 10:36 PM
Ben Pfaff
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Posts: n/a
Default

skuke writes:

In Daly City, CA over the weekend. A city street was marked with many No
Parking signs for construction about to begin on the said street. Cars etc.
where to be towed away if parked during construction period. A bike was
"Krytonite-d" to a street sign. The city workers needed to remove the bike
as it was illegally "parked" and in the way. My friend witnessed them
removing the bike from the street sign. How did they do it you asked? They
cut the FRAME, removed the offending bike, and left the Krytonite secured to
the pole!! ...one way to defeat a lock.


Boy, I'd be ****ed if someone destroyed my bike because it was
illegally parked. I don't think city workers would casually
destroy an illegally parked car, and I don't think they should do
the same to a bike either.
--
Ben Pfaff
email:
web:
http://benpfaff.org
  #5  
Old October 4th 04, 10:36 PM
Ben Pfaff
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

skuke writes:

In Daly City, CA over the weekend. A city street was marked with many No
Parking signs for construction about to begin on the said street. Cars etc.
where to be towed away if parked during construction period. A bike was
"Krytonite-d" to a street sign. The city workers needed to remove the bike
as it was illegally "parked" and in the way. My friend witnessed them
removing the bike from the street sign. How did they do it you asked? They
cut the FRAME, removed the offending bike, and left the Krytonite secured to
the pole!! ...one way to defeat a lock.


Boy, I'd be ****ed if someone destroyed my bike because it was
illegally parked. I don't think city workers would casually
destroy an illegally parked car, and I don't think they should do
the same to a bike either.
--
Ben Pfaff
email:
web:
http://benpfaff.org
  #6  
Old October 4th 04, 11:02 PM
skuke
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 14:36:10 -0700, Ben Pfaff wrote:

skuke writes:

In Daly City, CA over the weekend. A city street was marked with many No
Parking signs for construction about to begin on the said street. Cars etc.
where to be towed away if parked during construction period. A bike was
"Krytonite-d" to a street sign. The city workers needed to remove the bike
as it was illegally "parked" and in the way. My friend witnessed them
removing the bike from the street sign. How did they do it you asked? They
cut the FRAME, removed the offending bike, and left the Krytonite secured to
the pole!! ...one way to defeat a lock.


Boy, I'd be ****ed if someone destroyed my bike because it was
illegally parked. I don't think city workers would casually
destroy an illegally parked car, and I don't think they should do
the same to a bike either.




FWIW, my friend did say that it was a crappy "city" bike. However, I
understand that is not the point and I'm not defending what was done. I too
disagree with the worker's action.

When told the story, I remembered the opening scene of the movie Backdraft.
There was an expensive car parked in from of a fire hydrant and the
firefighters needed access to it for their hose line. They smashed the
driver and pasenger windows then passed the hose through the car to be
connected to the fire hydrant.
--
Skuke
Reverse the domain name to send email
  #7  
Old October 4th 04, 11:02 PM
skuke
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 14:36:10 -0700, Ben Pfaff wrote:

skuke writes:

In Daly City, CA over the weekend. A city street was marked with many No
Parking signs for construction about to begin on the said street. Cars etc.
where to be towed away if parked during construction period. A bike was
"Krytonite-d" to a street sign. The city workers needed to remove the bike
as it was illegally "parked" and in the way. My friend witnessed them
removing the bike from the street sign. How did they do it you asked? They
cut the FRAME, removed the offending bike, and left the Krytonite secured to
the pole!! ...one way to defeat a lock.


Boy, I'd be ****ed if someone destroyed my bike because it was
illegally parked. I don't think city workers would casually
destroy an illegally parked car, and I don't think they should do
the same to a bike either.




FWIW, my friend did say that it was a crappy "city" bike. However, I
understand that is not the point and I'm not defending what was done. I too
disagree with the worker's action.

When told the story, I remembered the opening scene of the movie Backdraft.
There was an expensive car parked in from of a fire hydrant and the
firefighters needed access to it for their hose line. They smashed the
driver and pasenger windows then passed the hose through the car to be
connected to the fire hydrant.
--
Skuke
Reverse the domain name to send email
  #8  
Old October 5th 04, 02:57 AM
B.B.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article ,
skuke wrote:

When told the story, I remembered the opening scene of the movie Backdraft.
There was an expensive car parked in from of a fire hydrant and the
firefighters needed access to it for their hose line. They smashed the
driver and pasenger windows then passed the hose through the car to be
connected to the fire hydrant.


When I watched that I thought to myself: "Wouldn't it be faster to
just go over the car?" They were in a hurry, right?

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail.net
  #9  
Old October 5th 04, 02:57 AM
B.B.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article ,
skuke wrote:

When told the story, I remembered the opening scene of the movie Backdraft.
There was an expensive car parked in from of a fire hydrant and the
firefighters needed access to it for their hose line. They smashed the
driver and pasenger windows then passed the hose through the car to be
connected to the fire hydrant.


When I watched that I thought to myself: "Wouldn't it be faster to
just go over the car?" They were in a hurry, right?

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail.net
  #10  
Old October 5th 04, 05:44 PM
dgk
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On Mon, 04 Oct 2004 14:36:10 -0700, Ben Pfaff
wrote:

skuke writes:

In Daly City, CA over the weekend. A city street was marked with many No
Parking signs for construction about to begin on the said street. Cars etc.
where to be towed away if parked during construction period. A bike was
"Krytonite-d" to a street sign. The city workers needed to remove the bike
as it was illegally "parked" and in the way. My friend witnessed them
removing the bike from the street sign. How did they do it you asked? They
cut the FRAME, removed the offending bike, and left the Krytonite secured to
the pole!! ...one way to defeat a lock.


Boy, I'd be ****ed if someone destroyed my bike because it was
illegally parked. I don't think city workers would casually
destroy an illegally parked car, and I don't think they should do
the same to a bike either.


I'm new to bike commuting, having started seriously during May, using
some crappy cable locks. 25 miles roundtrip from Queens to Manhattan.
May is Bike Month in New York City and there was a bike show at the
Armory, where I bought my first real chain and lock, a Master. A good
buy for $50. For the next three weeks I left the lock locked to a
streetlamp in front of my job, using it during the day. That is legal
in NYC. One day I had not brought the bike for some reason, but as I
walked out of the building I glanced at the lampost and saw that the
lock was gone. As was the lampost. All that was left was the base
which rises about two feet from the sidewalk and has four big bolts
where the rest of the lampost screws in.

I checked with the local precinct. They had no idea what happened but
did get a giggle out of it. Then I spoke to the building super, who
told me that a contractor had removed the lampost during the night
because it had a dent in it and would replace it with another.

So I called the City. Tracked down the contractor. Got a call back
that the guys had left it "locked" to a nearby bike rack. Say what? If
there was a bike rack that's where the bike would have been.

They just threw it away or took it. I did check the local cans but
there was no big heavy chain in any of them.

Still, I do get to tell the story of how someone removed a lamppost
just to get my lock.

True story.
 




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