It’s the bike lock that’s bound to be on a few Xmas wish lists this year. Using a revolutionary new material called Ferosafe, the Hiplok D1000 is claimed to be resistant to cutting or drilling attack methods – and it’s got Sold Secure Diamond rating to prove it. The £250 lock can be pre-ordered for delivery in November.
Ferosafe is a graphene-reinforced composite material specifically designed to cause angle grinder cutting wheels to disintegrate. In tests, the 1.8kg lock has survived for up to 20 minutes before it succumbed to attack from an angle grinder.
However, in the real world, thieves opt for diamond-tipped cutting wheels and there’s no word on how it performs agiasnt those. Furthermore, when a lock becomes more resistant to cutting than the object to which your bike is locked – like a Sheffield stand for instance – won’t thieves simply cut through that instead?
When it comes to motorcyclists – who are also a prime target for thieves and may not baulk at the lock’s 1.8kg weight – a similar problem exists. Faced with a D-lock placed through the front wheels, thieves often cut the spoke or brake disc in order to move the bike as quickly as possible.
It will be interesting to see how the Hiplok D1000 performs when confronted with thieves later this year. For the time being, there isn’t a bike lock on the market that replaces the need for a good cycle insurance policy.
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