Tuesday, November 9, 2010

How to: Removing Bike Locks

First of all, I did not steal a bike, but if you were in Japan about to steal a bike these steps would be similar. What did happen, a friend left her bike at the train station.The bike was left with a one lock around the wheel and frame and a second ring-lock attached to the frame left open with the key in place.Typically bikes in Japan only have a ring-lock that keeps the rear wheel from spinning. Other then that, bikes are not locked to anything else. Over night, the open ring-lock had the key removed, maybe a joke, making the bike more-or-less unusable. Thus, the perfect opportunity to figure out if I could remove a bike ring lock in less then 3 minutes. Step 1, remove ring lock from frame, for this you need a plus head screw driver (Philips head in English). Second, exam the back of the lock to determine there is nothing really useful back there.Next step, take a flat head screw driver and apply some force to the key hole.And if you apply enough force, the inner mechanics of the lock should just fall out freeing the ring.With that you are done, less then 3 minutes. For over 10 million bikes in Japan, we can now see what keeps them locked up.That thing on the left interacts with the key (this was flat key style) and ring-spring. And those two screws hold the lock to the frame.... that's it.mon-dai-nai (no problem)

7 comments:

Erin said...

Good job!
[Stay away from my bike!]

Anonymous said...

most of bikes are registered at the police office:)

hlF said...

wow thanks! the ringlock on my bike is stuck and now i have the knowledge to destroy it! :D

Unknown said...

Did you destroyed it?

Unknown said...

Did you destroyed it?

. said...

I ve just done the same to mine. I kept the key in a safe place , too safe even I can't find it lol

. said...

Btw, thank you !