picking tubular locks with a bic pen....

[johnny_bombastic]

I can do it on some of the easier ones.....pretty cool trick. does anybody else know that one?

[Solomon]

Yeah, just about everybody does. It's a really old trick which used to work on certain Kryptonite bike locks before they did a recall and fixed the problem. I guess other cheap locks using the same kind of mechanism are still vulnerable but I haven't personally seen any. Most tubular locks I've seen on bike locks were the regular size.

This is like going onto a Prodigy forum and asking if anyone has heard "Firestarter".

[Squelchtone]

I can do it on some of the easier ones.....pretty cool trick. does anybody else know that one?

I've never heard about opening a tubular lock with a bic pen, well, not since 2004 at least.

Welcome to the most cutting edge lock picking forum on earth. One of the members here discovered that bic pen trick. Are working with bike lock tubulars or cam lock tubulars?

Thanks
Squelchtone

ps. Solomon you type too fast. snuck in under the radar on me!

[johnny_bombastic]

Not impressed huh?

Well it was just a random lock that some one had, it was not attached to anything. It had a spring retainer that depressed when the cylinder was turned.

I got interested in tubulars because a friend who owns an arcade had an old Frogger machine that he needed to open but was missing the tubular key. I didn't try the bic pen on those, but they looked and felt the same as the other lock that I picked with a pen. I just used a tubular pick.

I also had another random tubular lock that someone had given me to play with. This one was more difficult to pick with the tubular pick. It felt like some of the pins had different amounts of springiness to them. I scrapped the little pressure donut housing thing on the pic and just wrapped a rubber band around the shaft a few times and it seemed to work better.

[piepie]

ace 2 tubular locks have different springs

[mlts]

I read somewhere that there are some new tubular locks that are Bic pen resistant, but so far, I've not seen anything that would be like that, other than designs that use a completely different key shape.

[loki-aka]

Many attribute the "bike lock" incident as stemming from poorly executed lock design. The fundamental tubular lock
design is still in use. Maybe not as used much anymore in favor of Van, Abloy type designs, etc.

I don't believe the currently made ACE II can be opened with a pen barrel. Even though tubular lock compromise
was openly discussed elseware, I think some aspects of the subject are still classified as Advanced here so I
won't talk too deeply about the subject.

If your securing a money vault, there are many other lock designs that are probably better than ACE or ACE II.
In Britian, for example, the 10 pin tubular is fairly common on vending machines.

I don't do too much work on tubulars anymore. Things may have changed in the last 2 or 3 years.
Besides, NO lock is pick proof or bypass proof, despite what the media says and what the public is lead to believe.

[jdislandlock]

Besides, NO lock is pick proof or bypass proof, despite what the media says and what the public is lead to believe.


Abloy is Pickproof. I have not heard of anyone getting passed these without totally destroying the lock....
and we sell it here so it is something i deal with alot of the time.

[Josh K]

Besides, NO lock is pick proof or bypass proof, despite what the media says and what the public is lead to believe.


Abloy is Pickproof. I have not heard of anyone getting passed these without totally destroying the lock....
and we sell it here so it is something i deal with alot of the time.

If you can open it with a key you can manipulate it open. Some are just harder then others.

[twiggymm777]

ACE II's are definately a little harder.. I bought a "lot of 10 ACE II tubular locks" that I believe are meant to be used as an electrical switch, because they have 4 metal prongs on the back instead of something that turns like on most cam locks. Anyway, I just wanted to agree that some locks definately have different "springiness". A friend of mine bought a small hand gun safe that had an impression shaped like a hand and 4 buttons where each fingertip would be. It was battery powered but also had a tubular lock on the top incase the batteries died, you wouldn't be stuck never being able to open it again haha. Well, when he bought it the keys weren't inside the box so he guessed that they were inside, it didn't come with batteries installed in it so he needed me to pick it open. I dont have a regular tubular lock pick, I only have the "Ideal Creations" tubular tension wrench. So as I'm pushing down on each of the pins with my pick, I was definately able to tell that some would set VERY easily, while others were extremely hard. There was one pin I had more trouble with than any of the others. It wouldn't budge at all. I thought maybe it had a spool pin in it instead or something. After messing around for a little while I tried just ignoring the pin that wouldn't move and setting all the others. As soon as I did that it opened! haha. So the whole time I was working on that lock, trying to get that one pin to move, it ended up just being a dummy. It didnt have a spring or a second pin underneath or anything! hahah. I just thought I'd share that little story with everyone. And hoped that maybe next time you have a tubular to open, and are having extra trouble with one specific pin that won't budge, there's always the chance that it might be a dummy! lol

Easy Pickings!

[Klaiviel]

This is like going onto a Prodigy forum and asking if anyone has heard "Firestarter".

I literally LOLed at this. =P

[mr_chris79]

Besides, NO lock is pick proof or bypass proof, despite what the media says and what the public is lead to believe.


Abloy is Pickproof. I have not heard of anyone getting passed these without totally destroying the lock....
and we sell it here so it is something i deal with alot of the time.

i thought Jaako on here had got abloy open?

[raimundo]

there are sometimes a steel anti drill pin that is also a ward in the keyway placed between the regular spacing of the pins, this pin is of a smaller diameter and will not move. it should be no problem to use the bic pen on as it will easily cut its place on the impression,

if you have an immobile pin look at its metal color, position in the regular spacing, and diameter to determine if it is a ward/antidrill pin

[JK_the_CJer]

Besides, NO lock is pick proof or bypass proof, despite what the media says and what the public is lead to believe.


Abloy is Pickproof. I have not heard of anyone getting passed these without totally destroying the lock....
and we sell it here so it is something i deal with alot of the time.

Every model of Abloy up to and not including the Protec can be picked and/or decoded and has a dedicated tool for doing so. Protec has been picked by a member here after he discovered a vulnerability in them (no further details outside advanced).

[raimundo]

Was that members initials MWT?