CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

Lost key for D lock?

(17 posts)
  • Started 11 years ago by spooner
  • Latest reply from crowriver
  • This topic is not resolved

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  1. spooner
    Member

    I recently locked my bike in my communal shed with a D Lock and now cannot find the key. Does anyone know if I can buy spares or will I need to get an angle grinder to chomp it off ? The bike is slowly rusting away,,,,,,

    Posted 11 years ago #
  2. chdot
    Admin

    "Does anyone know if I can buy spares or will I need to get an angle grinder to chomp it off "

    Depends on make BUT you need to know number!

    Angle grinders take a couple of minutes.

    You can use battery powered ones in public without the police being called...

    Posted 11 years ago #
  3. recombodna
    Member

    Angle grinder will make short work of it.... OR you could wait and see if the lock rusts quicker than the bike.

    PM me if you don't have access to a grinder.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  4. Tom
    Member

    If it's an old one that takes a round key I think you can open them by pushing a biro case into the keyhole and twisting.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  5. spooner
    Member

    I can't see the code number from the d-lock. I'm not sure a biro is gonna cut the mustard - as they say!

    Battery powered angle gringers, hmmmmmm I like that idea.

    Thanks guys.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  6. chdot
    Admin

    "I can't see the code number from the d-lock"

    Nope - just on keys...

    WRITE IT DOWN WHILE YOU STILL HAVE key FOLKS. (Only 'good' brands do spares.)

    Better still make sure you 'always' have a spare.

    Last time I lost a key fortunately it wasnt locked to a bike - waste of a good lock though!

    Posted 11 years ago #
  7. gembo
    Member

    If older d locks could be opened by Biro lid, were they being mis-sold.? can I put the case for a coiled cable with a combination, ,then you do not need a key, a spare key or an angle grinder. Also you can park in any bay of the bike shed not just the bits at the edges

    Posted 11 years ago #
  8. chdot
    Admin

    "If older d locks could be opened by Biro lid, were they being mis-sold.?"

    Basically yes!

    Think problem first surfaced with Kryptonite.

    http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=23573

    Posted 11 years ago #
  9. chdot
    Admin

    30 years ago there was a 'scandal' involving Citadel where a batch of locks were manufactured and sold with interchangeable keys.

    The company tried a re-call scheme before this information became 'public'. Largely successful.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  10. SRD
    Moderator

    We have a problem with the plastic bit of the bike lock key breaking so that you can't attach it to keyring. are we (by which I mean Mr SRD, actually) the only people with this problem?

    Posted 11 years ago #
  11. Uberuce
    Member

    Nopes, my ex had a miraculous escape from losing her key after the fixing snapped like that. Her bike was locked up outside the Cameo on a Friday, so we reeeeally weren't keen on leaving it there, nor keen on having to organise and pay for cutting tool use.

    About four hours later, she discovered the key had been nestling in the elastic bandy bit at the bottom of her sweater, which had rolled up on itself.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  12. wingpig
    Member

    Hmm. Used to have a Citadel, which lasted for years until I found just the D half in the back green one morning eight or nine years ago, but with my bike still against the railings it had been locked to. Since then/currently have a barrel-keyed Kryptonite. Off to the EBC sale at lunchtime, then.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  13. SRD
    Moderator

    "Off to the EBC sale at lunchtime, then."

    See you there :)

    Posted 11 years ago #
  14. cb
    Member

    "30 years ago there was a 'scandal' involving Citadel where a batch of locks were manufactured and sold with interchangeable keys. "

    30 years ago, if you locked yourself out of your car the usual technique to get back in (if you didn't have a coat hanger handy) was to find someone else with the same type of car to see if their key would work. Quite often it did.

    The first bike lock I bought was a traditional padlock plus chain affair. £3.99 from Quality Cycles in D'Mains I seem to recall. I returned it when I discovered that it could be opened with a flat bladed screwdriver.

    The woman in the shop tried to argue along the lines that "no wonder it's broken if you go poking a screwdriver into it".

    Posted 11 years ago #
  15. Kim
    Member

    http://youtu.be/0hsM88Wx8QQ

    Posted 11 years ago #
  16. kaputnik
    Moderator

    In my line of work, there's a rather large problem with plant machinery (JCBs, telehandlers, forklifts etc.) being sold with interchangable "site keys". Great if you want to save time around the construction site so that workmen don't have to hunt around for the right key, pain in the unmentionables if you've got an interest in plant machinery not being stolen.

    Posted 11 years ago #
  17. crowriver
    Member

    Does the lock have a "Sold Secure" rating of Silver or above? You'll need an angle grinder. If it has a lower rating, or is unrated, then simply use a heavy-ish hammer (2lb hammer should do). Hit the protruding barrel of the lock cylinder where you insert the key, away from the loop of the D.

    I lost the keys for an old style/cheap D-lock and it took just four well aimed blows from a 2lb hammer, or about 30 seconds, to spring the lock open. Lock itself was undamaged: if I'd found the key I could have relocked it!

    Posted 11 years ago #

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