Kryptonite Lock versus a Bic Ball Point Pen
More chore list this weekend included taking care of a bicycle in my garage that was locked up with a Kryptonite lock with no key (lost over several moves).
First thing I did was to text message a hard-core cycling friend, who suggested I YouTube search Bic Pen and Kryptonite. Turns out, opening an older cylinder-lock Kryptonite product is, with a bit of luck, actually pretty easy.
This lock picking technique revelation was made public a few years back, and Kryptonite quickly offered to fix the locks (a good percent of them could be opened) but only a small percent of owners took advantage of the offer.
- Step one was to find a ball point pen, and reduce it down to a single hollow plastic cylinder.
- The next step was to jam the plastic cylinder into the lock (not too hard) and rotate it around fruitlessly for about 9 minutes.
- Step three was to give the plastic cylinder a medium-strength tap with a hammer.
- With a few more twists back and forth, voila, the lock opened and the bicycle was saved.
My attempt to open my lock took about ten minutes, but I could probably do it again in just a few minutes by fast forwarding to the hammer step.
PS: If any bike thieves are reading this, I hate you. You and your kind have taken two of my favorite possessions from me at a time in my life when I couldn’t afford to replace them.
