How to break the lock on my bike without looking like a theif?

Type 17

JackieChang wrote: »

OP here, you work in a hardware shop I guess? How much do you charge?

I work in a bike shop (in Dublin - sorry, no good to you in Cork). We don't charge if the person is buying a replacement lock, and their bike is close by. If we have to travel, or they have a lock already bought, we would agree a price in advance, based on time taken for the job.

uck51js9zml2yt

JackieChang wrote: »

OP here, you work in a hardware shop I guess? How much do you charge?

So 4 days on... what's did you do?

JackieChang

So..... after all this hassle, including the bickering in this thread about whether it's right or wrong to give me advice in public, let me tell you what I did.

I was telling my friend about this over a pint and he asked me if I was drinking when I locked it up.

I said yes. It was a work night out. A fairly mad one.

Were you drunk? Do you remember the whole night?

Extremely. No.

Was there any chance at all that you actually broke your key off inside the lock trying to cycle home? And then forgot about it? (I had told him that it looked like there was something stuck inside, perhaps a lock picking tool.)

I said hmm.... I won't rule it out, but I'm pretty sure it was a thief, because my rear light was stolen off the bike too.

Anyway, I went down the the bike the next day and did a closer inspection. I couldn't tell if it was my broken key inside the lock or not. I did a bit of CSI around the ground and after about 10 seconds I found... a key that looked exactly like mine, but snapped in half.

Here it is beside my spare key. Very crappy quality if I could bend it in half like that.




So... I'm guessing I almost did a Wolf of Wall Street on it and tried to get on my bike in a horrific state, snapped the key off inside the lock, threw the broken key to the ground and stumbled home. Kind of scary. I don't usually get in that state. I'd love to see the CCTV.



It was a very heavy work night out. Dinner was a fancy one. The type of dinner where you get one scallop with a coriander leaf on top and a skidmark of brown liquid. So I was drinking on an empty stomach. Must be more careful in future.

Now I might not need to get an angle grinder for the thing. If I can get a locksmith to yank the broken key out perhaps, I could save the lock, and use my spare to unlock it. They probably have tools for that.

Anyway that's what I'll be trying tomorrow.

By the way the reason it's taking so long is because I was away for the Christmas season, I'm from "up the country".

Type 17

Wow, your bike is still there...

JackieChang

Type 17 wrote: »

Wow, your bike is still there...

Yep, it's a piece of junk. Not worth stealing, and not worth paying anything over €20 to remove it. Hopefully the locksmith will do it for cheap.

magentis

JackieChang wrote: »

So..... after all this hassle, including the bickering in this thread about whether it's right or wrong to give me advice in public, let me tell you what I did.

I was telling my friend about this over a pint and he asked me if I was drinking when I locked it up.

I said yes. It was a work night out. A fairly mad one.

Were you drunk? Do you remember the whole night?

Extremely. No.

Was there any chance at all that you actually broke your key off inside the lock trying to cycle home? And then forgot about it? (I had told him that it looked like there was something stuck inside, perhaps a lock picking tool.)

I said hmm.... I won't rule it out, but I'm pretty sure it was a thief, because my rear light was stolen off the bike too.

Anyway, I went down the the bike the next day and did a closer inspection. I couldn't tell if it was my broken key inside the lock or not. I did a bit of CSI around the ground and after about 10 seconds I found... a key that looked exactly like mine, but snapped in half.

Here it is beside my spare key. Very crappy quality if I could bend it in half like that.




So... I'm guessing I almost did a Wolf of Wall Street on it and tried to get on my bike in a horrific state, snapped the key off inside the lock, threw the broken key to the ground and stumbled home. Kind of scary. I don't usually get in that state. I'd love to see the CCTV.



It was a very heavy work night out. Dinner was a fancy one. The type of dinner where you get one scallop with a coriander leaf on top and a skidmark of brown liquid. So I was drinking on an empty stomach. Must be more careful in future.

Now I might not need to get an angle grinder for the thing. If I can get a locksmith to yank the broken key out perhaps, I could save the lock, and use my spare to unlock it. They probably have tools for that.

Anyway that's what I'll be trying tomorrow.

By the way the reason it's taking so long is because I was away for the Christmas season, I'm from "up the country".

Prob not a very high quality lock looking at the key,is it a cable lock?If so you could try and hire a decent bolt cutters or battery grinder from a tool hire place.Careys tool hire there in Cork City might be able to sort ya.

Eamonnator

Quote: "very crappy quality if I could bend it in half like that."

It can't be that crappy if the bike is still there since before Christmas.

magentis

Take a pic of the lock and bring it with ya to the tool hire place.They should know what will be needed.If you have the snapped key and good one with ya when doing the job,the gardai would be ok with it I reckon.Maybe give them a ring
just before you go cutting!

Effects

ED E wrote: »

There are TWO people in the country you need to watch out for. Joe from DLB and the mechanic from 360 Cycles. Nobody else with bother you taking a bike. As both are in Dublin, you could just take it.

Nobody stops bike thieves.

I often stop bikes thieves too! It means I put myself in danger but the anger at the time stops me from just passing by.

Last year I also cut a lock off a bike with an angle grinder, 150m from Store St. Garda Station. No one gave me any hassle at all.

JackieChang

Got through it with a hacksaw in the end.

Type 17

JackieChang wrote: »

Got through it with a hacksaw in the end.

I knew that it wouldn't take much.

Now that you know how rubbish your old lock was, best get a decent one

Eamonnator

JackieChang wrote: »

Got through it with a hacksaw in the end.

So, it turned out not to be a gunfight, after all.