Lock Weight

So for whatever reason, I've been looking up different bicycle lock stuff. I was mostly looking to see if anyone had devised any techniques to use them to beat the crap out of people, but instead found videos of people beating the crap out of locks. The main lesson I took away from it was that my bike lock probably sucks and that pretty much every single bike lock out there sucks.

Hopefully, if you've ridden your trusty hippie-cycle for more than a year or so, or have just done some research you'll find out that any lock can be beaten by a determined thief. Do a Youtube search and you will find someone breaking your lock. Even really tough bicycle locks like the kryptonite series, can be defeated with a simple industrial strength TNT driven angle grinder. Okay, so that is pretty secure, but the point is, where there is a will, there is a way.

But, that's not the point of this whole post.

The point of this post is talking about lock weight. A heavy duty u-lock or chain lock is really heavy. How heavy do you say? Well I don't really know, so I'm going to find out.

kryptonite U-lock = 4.4 pounds
Chain lock from big box store = 4.4 pounds

Wow, same weight, who would have thought.

As far as bike stuff goes, 4.4 pounds of lock weight can seem like a fair amount of weight, but on the other hand IT'S ON YOUR BIKE! It's not like you're walking around with an five extra pounds on one foot while you run a marathon. You're on one of the most efficient means of transportation ever conceived with very low rolling resistance. Plus, having that extra weight will make you go faster when it's not on your bike.

I get shaving weight for competition, but who rides their bike to the Tour de France? The answer is no one. They keep their bikes locked up in the team van or whatever. No one is bringing a u-lock.

"Hey Bill aren't you riding today in the big race?"
"No, I had my bikes locked up to a lamppost and someone stole all of them."

People who don't race need to stop worrying about what kind of weight they have on their bike.

Besides you can always use the remnants of your heavy lock to beat the crap out of the thief that stole your bike after you track them down. 

Go mash some pedals.