TIL I wasted $80 on a 'pro' bike lock that got cut in 30 seconds in Whyte Ave

Bought a pricey U-lock from a shop near Jasper Ave thinking it'd stop thieves, but some guy with a portable grinder got through it in half a minute outside my work. Anyone else found a lock that actually holds up in this city or am I just kidding myself?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie6410d ago

Wow, only 30 seconds? That's just not right. For 80 bucks you'd think you'd at least get a few minutes of resistance. I had the same thing happen to me a couple years back with a U-lock I bought at Canadian Tire. Came back from lunch and my bike was gone with a cut lock on the ground. It's gotten so bad that I just don't leave my good bike locked up outside anymore. I use a beater bike for errands now and keep the nice one in my garage. Honestly, a grinder will go through pretty much anything if they want it bad enough, so you might be better off buying a cheaper lock and using it as a deterrent rather than a fortress.

evan_anderson10d ago

Exactly. The whole lock arms race is pointless once angle grinders got cheap and portable. Someone determined will just zip through anything in under a minute anyway. Better off spending $30 on a used Kryptonite off Kijiji and calling it a day. That way when it gets cut, you're only out a beater bike and a few bucks instead of crying over an expensive lock that did nothing.

cameron31810d ago

Honestly that grinder vs bike lock arms race is a losing battle, kinda like me trying to save money by pressure washing my own driveway and flooding my neighbor's yard instead. Tbh you probably got better value out of that $80 lock as a paperweight than I did with my fancy panic buy that still let my bike disappear. Ngl I'm starting to think the real pro move is just leaving a decoy lock on a beater bike and praying the thief has bad eyesight.