Oxford radial locks are crap.....

[andy]

As per the report in MCN yesterday.

I got home last night and tried to open my Oxford Magnum disk locks (like a small U lock) with a pen tube - sure enough I managed to open it. It wasn't really easy, but I managed it 3 times in 10 mins - I am sure I would be better at it if I had a slightly better fitting pen.

I also tried it on my cheap Oxford Titan disk lock and it was laughably easy - possibly easier than with the key!

Bottom line is, ANY Ace type lock (the ones with the round keys) are venerable to this kind of picking and therefore have little security and therefore are not suitable for the use we all put them to.

If you have a lock with an Ace type lock barrel then I suggest you return it as "not suitable for the purpose for which is was sold".

Oxford have made the following statement:

http://www.oxprod.com/pages/radialkey.html

I am now going to attempt to get Oxford to change my 5 locks of theirs with radial keys I own.....

[Jabba]

MCN seem to be a couple of months behind the times if they are only just reporting this. There are a couple of threads in the Forums about this, including a reply or two from a user by the name of "Oxprod" :wink:

It seems to be only certain kinds of radial lock that are affected.

[andy]

It seems to be only certain kinds of radial lock that are affected.

Some types are easier than others to pick, but the bottom line is ALL radial locks are relatively easy to pick.

People who do lock picking as a sport know how easy they are with the right tools:

http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?t=349

This is very scary and everybody needs to know about it so that they can stop using radial locks - they are crap!

MCN may be behind the times, but then so is everybody else, this weakness has been known about since 1992.

[Jabba]

MCN may be behind the times, but then so is everybody else, this weakness has been known about since 1992.

Since before that, mate.

They were/are used on one particularly well-selling brand of car anti-theft device (you know, the grey-coated metal bar with the yellow-plastic end where the lock is/was located) back in the early 1980's...........

I wouldn't touch a radial lock with a barge pole. A pen, maybe, but not a barge-pole :lol:

By MCN being behind the times I meant compared to other bike mags - good articles in Ride and Bike in recent months. News it ain't.

[andy]

Since before that, mate.

So why the hell do they still sell them? And more worringly why the hell do Sold Secure approve them as "secure" when they quite clearly are far from secure?

I know that it is fairly old news, but I am just trying to make sure as many people as possilble know about it.

[Jabba]

And more worringly why the hell do Sold Secure approve them as "secure" when they quite clearly are far from secure?

Oxford have removed these products from the scheme

I know that it is fairly old news, but I am just trying to make sure as many people as possilble know about it.

No problem with that, and it doesn't hurt to be reminded now and again.

Although I didn't see the MCN article (the mags gone downhill lately in my view so i don't often get it), it was rather disingenuous of them to present it as "news", if that is indeed what they did.

[The Mass]

Andy,

I remember not so long back there being a video that someone had supplied a link on here, showing the locks being picked.

You'll probably also notice that these locks and such are going for buttons in places like Halfords :wink:
When not so long back they were charging us Mega Bucks for the pleasure of having your pride n joy nicked by some scally.

Mass

[gabby]

Okay. I have NEVER worried about having my bike stolen. I have used a disk lock occasionally and alway take the key out (!). Typically, I dont even use the steering lock. Just how bad is the bike theft problem over there?

[Carsick]

In most places I'd say the problem is pretty minor.
On the other hand, I live in a pretty small town.
In the places where theft is more common, then it's 4 men, a couple of metal bars and a van that do the nicking, so only being locked to something immoveable will work.

[gabby]

That's good to hear. I have been reading this forum and looking on ebay for bikes and everywhere I see "locks", "immobilizers", etc. Must be that's just for the big city. Of course, I will be trying to find somewhere with a garge to hide the bike away.

[MavUK]

I use a kryptonic disc lock - I will be getting it exchanged in the new year. When I move into my new house I'm also going to sink an iron hoop into the ground and get a big chain...

Stu

[andy]

Andy,

I remember not so long back there being a video that someone had supplied a link on here, showing the locks being picked.

You'll probably also notice that these locks and such are going for buttons in places like Halfords :wink:
When not so long back they were charging us Mega Bucks for the pleasure of having your pride n joy nicked by some scally.

Mass

That video was of a Kryptonite New York lock - hardly cheap.

What does all this say about Sold Secure approval - whether they have removed approval or not, the fact they gave it in the first place is outragous. Also the fact that Oxford and its suppliers is still selling these locks a Sold Secure approved is even worse.

MCN did not report it as "news" as such, more as a campaign trying to get these stopped being sold at all - they are quite clearly an awful product that is far from "fit for the purpose". Not dangerous granted, but a big con nonetheless, and a con that could cause somebodys bike to be nicked when they thought they had done everything reasonable to stop it happening.

The companies concerned (Sold Secure, Oxford, Kryptonite and others) must have know about this problem, or at least the potential for Ace locks to be very easy to pick (security is their business after all), so why do they sell products using these locks as "secure"? To con people that is why - if they held their hands up and said "Ace locks are crap, we will no longer sell them, but how about buying our far better lock system......" - what would most peole do?

No lock is unpickable - but some locks are far better than others, and that is the info we rely on Sold Secure to provide us with - they seem to have made a major mistake here which has to question their testing and research methods - I wonder if it is all done on the golf course :-)

Rant over......