New lock for actual use

[petemoss]

Thanks for the paranoia everyone.

My son used his savings plus some money from us for Christmas and bought a really nice mountain bike as his only Christmas present this year.

It doesn't really have any need to be locked up on the trail, but it would need to be locked up at the camp site and things like that, when we are near the truck. So I knew I needed to get something to lock it to a tree or whatever. Of course after being around this lock picking stuff and watching related stuff on youtube, my lock insecurities are at an all time high.

So, as my only real Christmas this year, I bought this lock and chain.



It is a 3/8" ABUS security chain 6ft long and an Abloy PL340 w/ Protec 2 core. If nothing else it will be too heavy to run away with very quickly.

[mick-the-pick]

Now that’s a good solid padlock & chain!
Make sure that the tree is good and solid

[GWiens2001]

WOW! Actually going to USE a lock?

Very good choice. Cheaper (and lighter) than an S&G. Though a 342 might have been better with that chain.

If your son is not yet an adult, it may be advisable that you keep one of the keys, or find a place (perhaps Security Snobs) to make another key for it. A lost key could be a problem if he intends to use his bike after losing the key(s).

Gordon

[petemoss]

WOW! Actually going to USE a lock?

Haha! Crazy huh?

Very good choice. Cheaper (and lighter) than an S&G. Though a 342 might have been better with that chain.

Oh man, it was a challenge trying to go through all the pros and cons of all these different locks. It was almost like buying a car. You're just glad when the process is over.

If your son is not yet an adult, it may be advisable that you keep one of the keys, or find a place (perhaps Security Snobs) to make another key for it. A lost key could be a problem if he intends to use his bike after losing the key(s).

Yeah thanks. That is where the lock came from actually. I generated a future use master key plan with them and had the lock keyed appropriately. So currently I got the master and he got the kid's key. It doesn't matter now, but maybe one day when I get rich and can replace all the locks around the home.

[petemoss]

Now that’s a good solid padlock & chain!
Make sure that the tree is good and solid

Thanks Mick,

Yeah that would be bad if the tree was my weakest link.

[billdeserthills]

WOW! Actually going to USE a lock?

Haha! Crazy huh?

Very good choice. Cheaper (and lighter) than an S&G. Though a 342 might have been better with that chain.

Oh man, it was a challenge trying to go through all the pros and cons of all these different locks. It was almost like buying a car. You're just glad when the process is over.

If your son is not yet an adult, it may be advisable that you keep one of the keys, or find a place (perhaps Security Snobs) to make another key for it. A lost key could be a problem if he intends to use his bike after losing the key(s).

Yeah thanks. That is where the lock came from actually. I generated a future use master key plan with them and had the lock keyed appropriately. So currently I got the master and he got the kid's key. It doesn't matter now, but maybe one day when I get rich and can replace all the locks around the home.

Good luck with making the kid drag around and use that lock

[demux]

Yeah thanks. That is where the lock came from actually. I generated a future use master key plan with them and had the lock keyed appropriately. So currently I got the master and he got the kid's key. It doesn't matter now, but maybe one day when I get rich and can replace all the locks around the home.

I am always torn on this point every time I go to buy a lock. I have some stuff from SecuritySnobs, including Protecs, and know they're about the best you can currently get. But the tinkerer in me likes being able to work on my own stuff, including writing my own master systems and cutting keys/pinning cylinders, and even if I had the money to buy all the service parts, blanks, machines, etc for the Protec line they wouldn't sell them to me as I don't have a contract. I really wish high security companies would release one or two keyways for public use that anyone could buy.

[petemoss]

I am always torn on this point every time I go to buy a lock. I have some stuff from SecuritySnobs, including Protecs, and know they're about the best you can currently get. But the tinkerer in me likes being able to work on my own stuff, including writing my own master systems and cutting keys/pinning cylinders, and even if I had the money to buy all the service parts, blanks, machines, etc for the Protec line they wouldn't sell them to me as I don't have a contract. I really wish high security companies would release one or two keyways for public use that anyone could buy.

Yeah, I know what you mean. It is kind of weird buying this thing knowing that I REALLY don't need to mess around with it, but just use it like any other end user.

The other thing that kind of threw me off is the master keying. I am certainly not very knowledgable about such things, but after reading almost all of the master keying forum on here, I had developed what I thought was the right way of designing these systems (at an elementary level). However, the system that I put together for Abloy was one of secured resources and roles where essentially every role is linked to a set of resources. I think it is effectively a fully cross keyed system. From my reading, this would generally be considered a bad thing. I guess though that with the number of bittings offered with Protec and the realistic number of actual elements in the system on a household scale, it probably don't matter. It is certainly convenient to be able to specify exactly where every person/role can access.

[demux]

However, the system that I put together for Abloy was one of secured resources and roles where essentially every role is linked to a set of resources. I think it is effectively a fully cross keyed system. From my reading, this would generally be considered a bad thing. I guess though that with the number of bittings offered with Protec and the realistic number of actual elements in the system on a household scale, it probably don't matter. It is certainly convenient to be able to specify exactly where every person/role can access.

At the scale of a personal household, you could probably do something like this on a master system even with conventional pin tumbler cylinders by being clever with the math (e.g. using row and column masters and carefully controlling points of intersection, etc). Of course, the Protec system has a lot more usable bittings than a standard pin tumbler system.

That said, I'll also point out that cross keying in and of itself is not (at least in my opinion) inherently bad. It's the rampant, un-thought out use of cross keying that creates problems in systems. If you use it appropriately in limited circumstances and understanding its implications, it doesn't have to significantly degrade the security of your master system.