These clips supposedly show someone opening a Krytonite U-lock with a ballpoint pen: the video doesn’t make clear exactly how it’s done or if the locks are otherwise good. The forum has more detail . . .
Opening a pricey bike lock with a plastic ball point pen
Mark Frauenfelder:
Over at Bike Forums, some guy posted a video clip showing how he opened his Kryptonite U-Lock with a plastic ball point pen. Uproar ensues on the board. Link (Direct link to movie clip, and here’s another movie with a different lock.) (Thanks, xavii!) [Boing Boing Blog]
So this is a exploit against the barrel-keyed locks: the right size pen barrel (or soon to be available on the internet custom tool, unless I miss my guess) is inserted instead of the key and with a little luck, it serves to turn the innards to open the lock.
The big draw of Kryptonite has always been a mixture of deterrence and prevention: like the burglar alarm sign, you hope the Bad Guy takes someone else’s bike since yours will be too hard to steal. Now it sounds like they may have lost that edge . . .
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