[UC] Attn: Kryptonite and other U-lock users

[Andrew Schwalm]

I haven't seen a posting on this yet, so I thought I'd warn all of you who depend on these locks to keep your bikes safe.  U-locks by Kryptonite and other companies which use the barrel-shaped key are vulnerable to picking with--believe it or not--a plastic Bic pen.  I tried this myself, successfully, on my own lock and was able to spring it in less than 30 seconds.  These video clips show others doing the same thing:   http://thirdrate.com/misc/krypto.mov http://biginjapan.com/extranet/assets/ben/krypto_ev_disc_web.mov http://bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=66128&page=1&pp=30 I called Kryptonite (see www.kryptonitelock.com) and they said they'd only heard about the vulnerability on Monday and that "things are going crazy here."  No doubt. But they said they were looking at solutions and would call me to let me know. Andrew