A review on the ABUS discus 26/70 lock by Jordyh.

[jordyh]

Hello.

A while ago (a bit more than a month), i obtained a few ABUS discus locks.
Now, here is some information on the lock that i snatched off the net.

ABUS A0026 DISKUS PADLOCK ABUS 5 PIN TUMBLER MECHANISM
The original DISKUS with a world-wide reputation for quality, now featuring an improved 5 pin tumbler mechanism and is protected by a hardened steel anti-pull/anti-drill plate.
- 10mm Hardened steel shackle.
- Hardened steel plate protects shackle gap.
- Keyed alike and master keyed available.
- 4/5 pin tumbler master keyed suites available.

- Anti-drill plate.


Here are a few pictures of the lock.
Front:
Back:


Now, a friend of mine (a particulary big and strong friend) who is better made for bashing stuff, helped me trying to open the lock with brute force on the first attempt.
The results:



What did we do wrong?
We applied brute force to a lock that can resist drilling and earthquakes and armageddon and what not.


The right way: cutting!
The effect:

Also, the miniscule frontplate is nice.


And the cam (that is horribly lubed) is worth a look.

This is a cam that fits on the back end of the plug, if the plug rotates, the cam hits a lever, and the lever releases the binding pressure on the bar, making it rotate freely.

Also, i think this is the right time to explain why i'm not looking further into the look, and why it is a matter of trust from now on, considering the lock as a whole.
Well, that would be because my dremel had allmost no effect on the anti drill plates.
Now, my eyes are fully capable of seeing what there is in there, but my photo camera is, unfortunately, not as good as my eyes are.


Anyway, on to the lock.
Now, originally, the lock is a 5 pin cylinder, but not this one.
Even though the plug and housing of the lock have room for 5 pins, this particular lock came with 4 pins.
So hereby i present to you, pins and springs of the lock.

(horrible size, er? THIS is a bit more of a closer look.)


Now , you may notice a miniscule c-clam, a plug and house, 4 springs, 4 upper pins, and 4 lower pins.
Apart from the ridiculous size, there is one fact that you should notice.
There are 3 spool pins in there, but the other pin (front pin) is just a regular pin.




Well, as a review:
I find the ABUS discus 26/70 lock a good lock for securing your bycicle, i have let a lot of people bash on it, with various tools, and i believe i can say that the lock does not give way to brute force.
Considering Brute force, the lock is superb.
Considering being pick-proof, the lock is a joke though.
My father opened the lock with a rake and a wrench that leaves allmost no room, within 1 minit. And he has no experience at all in picking locks.
I have raked it myself within 5 seconds, several times.

Overall rating:
Decent, if your entire enviroment does not know how to use lockpicks.

I hope this was somewhat usefull to those who have an interest in what discus locks are made of.
More (and bigger) pictures on this project can be found on my PHOTOBUCKET.

Yours,

Jordy

[illusion]

Thanks for this mate.

Curious that the lock did not have 5 pins in it - perhaps there is a reason, perhaps not, but odd none-the-less.

A good write-up filled with relevant info and a fair anaylis.

Nice one Jordy

[panalman]

Hello.

A while ago (a bit more than a month), i obtained a few ABUS discus locks.
Now, here is some information on the lock that i snatched off the net.

ABUS A0026 DISKUS PADLOCK ABUS 5 PIN TUMBLER MECHANISM
The original DISKUS with a world-wide reputation for quality, now featuring an improved 5 pin tumbler mechanism and is protected by a hardened steel anti-pull/anti-drill plate.
- 10mm Hardened steel shackle.
- Hardened steel plate protects shackle gap.
- Keyed alike and master keyed available.
- 4/5 pin tumbler master keyed suites available.

- Anti-drill plate.


Here are a few pictures of the lock.
Front:
Back:


Now, a friend of mine (a particulary big and strong friend) who is better made for bashing stuff, helped me trying to open the lock with brute force on the first attempt.
The results:



What did we do wrong?
We applied brute force to a lock that can resist drilling and earthquakes and armageddon and what not.


The right way: cutting!
The effect:

Also, the miniscule frontplate is nice.


And the cam (that is horribly lubed) is worth a look.

This is a cam that fits on the back end of the plug, if the plug rotates, the cam hits a lever, and the lever releases the binding pressure on the bar, making it rotate freely.

Also, i think this is the right time to explain why i'm not looking further into the look, and why it is a matter of trust from now on, considering the lock as a whole.
Well, that would be because my dremel had allmost no effect on the anti drill plates.
Now, my eyes are fully capable of seeing what there is in there, but my photo camera is, unfortunately, not as good as my eyes are.


Anyway, on to the lock.
Now, originally, the lock is a 5 pin cylinder, but not this one.
Even though the plug and housing of the lock have room for 5 pins, this particular lock came with 4 pins.
So hereby i present to you, pins and springs of the lock.

(horrible size, er? THIS is a bit more of a closer look.)


Now , you may notice a miniscule c-clam, a plug and house, 4 springs, 4 upper pins, and 4 lower pins.
Apart from the ridiculous size, there is one fact that you should notice.
There are 3 spool pins in there, but the other pin (front pin) is just a regular pin.




Well, as a review:
I find the ABUS discus 26/70 lock a good lock for securing your bycicle, i have let a lot of people bash on it, with various tools, and i believe i can say that the lock does not give way to brute force.
Considering Brute force, the lock is superb.
Considering being pick-proof, the lock is a joke though.
My father opened the lock with a rake and a wrench that leaves allmost no room, within 1 minit. And he has no experience at all in picking locks.
I have raked it myself within 5 seconds, several times.

Overall rating:
Decent, if your entire enviroment does not know how to use lockpicks.

I hope this was somewhat usefull to those who have an interest in what discus locks are made of.
More (and bigger) pictures on this project can be found on my PHOTOBUCKET.

Yours,

Jordy

Hi Jordy.
Your post on the 26/70 Abus lock was very good however the lock is not a true diskus lock such as the 20/70 which has a 6 disc mechanism and all have false notches to hinder picking.

Your lock has a pin tumbler mechanism with only 4 pins and the same locks or similar are also sold under the names of Zone 400 , Yale P21 , Chubb IKDO1 , Burg 22 , Squire DCL1 to name just a few and all share the same 4 pin tumbler mechanism.

The reason for your lock only having 4 pins installed out of a possible 5 is because it is part of a keyed alike or master suite.

As your pictures show you have managed to exploit the weakness in the lock by inserting a pry bar into the left hand side of the shackle and forcing the lock to open by throwing the shackle to the right again as your photos clearly show.

Again you show the same lock with the shackle cut most padlocks will allow cutting with an angle grinder with the appropriate wheel attached.

I have witnessed a person trying to cut the shackle of an Abus style diskus lock with a 4’ set of bolt cutters which had no effect whatsoever, the locks are not prone to spiking and as you said pretty bash proof. But I do agree the pin tumbler versions are an easy pick and that is there downfall so my advice would be to anyone who uses this type of lock to secure there property or belongings to lock it with the key way facing up side down to hinder picking and last but not least one of the things I do like about the Abus Diskus is the fact that the key cannot be withdrawn unless its in the locked position.
Excellent post Jordy

[jordyh]

Thanks for the reply Panalman.
I regret to tell you that allmost all of the discus locks (give it a good 90%) found in Holland are pin tumblers, so i wouldn't know a lot of the other discus locks.

I guess you can see this as an overall rating of the average pin tumbler discus locks (or am i arrogantly generalising them all now?).

But anyway, thanks for your opinion, and i really hope this will help someone out there to understand the discus locks a bit better.

[Omikron]

I find the ABUS discus 26/70 lock a good lock for securing your bycicle, i have let a lot of people bash on it, with various tools, and i believe i can say that the lock does not give way to brute force.
Considering Brute force, the lock is superb.

Well yes, the LOCK may resist brute force, but the chain most likely will not be as hardy.

Good review, though. Thanks for the great pics!

[zeke79]

There are some very nice boron alloy chains out there. These are usually shaped in a way to cause bolt cutters to have a hard time gripping the chain to cut. The boron alloy is hard enough to counter medium sized bolt cutter attacks. High speed cutting resistance on the other hand is lacking as it is on most padlock shackles.

[Omikron]

There are some very nice boron alloy chains out there. These are usually shaped in a way to cause bolt cutters to have a hard time gripping the chain to cut. The boron alloy is hard enough to counter medium sized bolt cutter attacks. High speed cutting resistance on the other hand is lacking as it is on most padlock shackles.

I suppose you're right. This little guy might deter your novice bike thieves: