18 September 04
Birth of an Urban Legend?
There’s a story whizzing around the internet that it’s possible to break in to Kryptonite U-locks for bikes with a simple ballpoint pen. I was just at my mother’s and she announced this latest catastrophe to me, admonishing me for not keeping up to date with dangers OUT THERE, like shark attacks and sleeping-bag murders. (I lock my bike with a Kryptonite, which cost me $56 some time ago. I have no plans in the near future to swim in shark-infested waters OR sleep on the beach in a sleeping bag, but this doesn’t exactly placate her.)
I was hoping to be able to post a short film of me breaking into my own lock, but it seems we don’t have the right kind of ballpoints (Bic) in the house. A friend visiting from Edinburgh produced a Bic but it’s an English octagonal version, not round, in shape. So my feeble attempts at empiricism and the high-tech display thereof are foiled this time.
The local bike community remains skeptical, having attempted and failed to break into various locks.
So Martin’s recommendation on waking Sunday morning was to sell stock in Kryptonite, buy stock in Bic
- The Mercury News had an article on this little glitch this morning. It looks as though Kryptonite is taking the problem seriously, though: their website promises upgrades to anyone who purchased ‘faulty’ locks over the past two years. I don’t think it matters too much – didn’t the company already have a policy promising insurance money for any bikes stolen while locked with their locks? (Of course, that could be an urban legend . . .)— Siona 18. September 2004, 20:36 Link
- Please post a film of you breaking into your bicylce lock with a biro!!! I really want to see it now you have mentioned it.— Coup de Vent 18. September 2004, 22:12 Link