Watch Out For That Bike Lock

Here at Kryptonite we've been picking up on an unsettling trend lately. Be aware and beware! It seems that in some cities enterprising bike thieves have been targeting bikes that can be easily broken, putting their own lock on the bike and leaving for later pick up. When they return what does the passerby see? Nothing out of the ordinary - a guy unlocking a bike with a key and riding away. Don't get me wrong, even a lightweight, flimsy lock can serve a good purpose, but when you need to make sure your bike isn't stolen, don't risk becoming a target like this. Make sure your lock is strong enough to do the job all day, or all night, until you return.

Message to Thieves...Fahgettaboudit!!!

Pardon me while I brag for a moment...Kryptonite's New York Faghettaboudit U-Lock just received expert's pick (no pun intended) in Commuter Conversion article in latest issue of Men's Journal Magazine. The lock was put through its paces by world-champion safecracker Dave LaFarge and passed with flying colors.

eine kleine cycle-roman

Shame on us (me)...been quiet for too long. Caught up in the flurry of work activity that always seems to occur right after the holidays. But, couldn't let another day go by without sharing a great story about a lock that just wasn't going to let go! Forgive me while I get totally predictable and trite and say "now that's an unbreakable bond!" From our friend, JMW in London, England...

What music would we use to accompany display of this little story!?

Elsewhere, ghastly wars, flung in everyone's conscience; other ghastly wars kept away from our guilt glands; all around us, a collapsing economy - and we choose to spend 15 minutes on THIS?

A cycle has been obstructing our pavement - it has been there for about a fortnight like this - single pedestrians can readily step round it but those wheeling a pram might find it more awkward; this is the second cycle in recent months, fixed to this post - the previous bike disappeared leaving a massive locked chain at the foot of the post; the present one is in a rigid position.

A jack for lifting cars has been inserted into the D-Lock and expanded, intending to force the D-Lock apart; indeed, it has bent - but the car-jack is now rigid and so is the position of the whole assembly. This is why the bike can not be moved, as things are ...

It does not take too much of an effort - with a wrench - to force the car-jack to fold back, and so to remove it and allow the bike to be set straight.

We have now set the bike straight. It has suffered one cut brake-cable, and scratches to the frame. We do not have time to knock on local doors to find the owner - who might be far away, and this bike itself stolen . At any rate, it is now less obstructive to users of the pavement.

The battered, bent but undaunted (kryptonite) D-lock continues in place to do its job.

Kids Don't Do This At Home

After my beloved fixie went missing from campus a few weeks back, I decided to invest in your company. I got your lock in the mail today, and I'm afraid that it needed a little personal touch. I hope your not offended with my 'upgrade' - but I just couldn't run around campus with a stock'er - even if it's just the lock. JSM, Lincoln, NE

J, we'll just ask everyone to cut us a little slack for language that's a little saltier than we normally use here, because we probably all have to agree that if we're really truthful, we'd say the exact same thing if we were in your shoes!

PS - We're happy to report that the police found J's bike at a local pawn shop and he's going to be reunited with it today!

Bond Broken

Be forewarned that this is one of those stories that will really crank off many of our readers... its a story about an occurrence that's just wrong, wrong, wrong....but it does highlight the importance of being sure you're careful to use the right type of security for your bike or motorcycle, considering the value of your stuff that may need to be replaced, not to mention the vehicle when its stolen. I do have to say, these two have a much more generous attitude toward the thief than I would have had!

http://www.registerguard.com/rg/Home/story.csp?cid=126107&sid=1&fid=1

This you gotta see!

Just discovered a GREAT advert for Kryptonite from the UK....check out "Kryptonite Clown" on YouTube...its a a hoot. Thanks, Tom Sillars!

Bob Roll's Interbike Experience, 2007

by Bob Roll


As expected, the 2007 Interbike extravaganza lived up to its pre-event hype and was a great event, thoroughly enjoyable to all. For me, step #1 is extracting myself from the airport and arriving at the hotel without incident. Coming from a small town in the mountains to the megalopolous that is Las Vegas is always a shock to the system. The melee at the airport never ceases to amaze me. Las Vegas, for some reason, remains a powerful attraction to zombies from all over the world.

Consequently, getting from the airport to the room is one of the most substantial challenges of Interbike. Thanks to Donna Tocci my journeys have been smooth and without incident. The place of habitation is the Venetian Hotel and Casino. The casino part is what makes it more difficult than it needs to be. Although at the Venetian, at least, you can check in without wading through an ocean of slot machines. Not the case, however, when you navigate to your room. Everybody has to pass through the casino in an effort, I presume, to pry peoples’ hard earned cash out of their wallet. For religious reasons I do not gamble and consequently my trips to Vegas have been much more enjoyable. The room, as always, was fantastic.

The first order of business at the trade show was to serve coffee to the thirsty masses at the Kryptonite booth. Then, it was time to be the judge at a video contest sponsored by Shimano and presided over by such luminaries as Phil Liggett, Kozo Shimano and, of course, Donna Tocci.

From there I had a signing at the Hi-Torque booth and after that was a reunion with my teammates from my racing days on 7-Eleven at the Tourneau Watch store sponsored by Bicycling Magazine. All of which was a fundraiser for the Davis Phinney Foundation. What a fantastic honor and great pleasure to be reunited with some real legends of American cycling. On the panel was Tom Schuler, Chris Carmichael, Alex Stieda, Ron Kiefel and, of course, Davis Phinney. The assembled throng were regaled with the tales of our efforts in Europe. A lovely time was had by all. Thereafter was, just like the old days, a team dinner where much wine was drank at Spago.

Day 1 was supposed to include the annual Sinclair extravaganza, where I have imbibed dramatically in years past. But this year I was too exhausted to attend - so much for Day 1!

Day 2 began early again at the Kryptonite booth with coffee for an even larger assemblage of attendees. Repositioning myself at the front of the booth rather than the storage unit in the middle inexplicably seemed to draw more people. The rest of the day included, but was not limited to, a speaking engagement at the Wounded Warrior Project press conference and a book signing at Velonews.

Directly after the book signing was six hours of live TV courtesy of the World Criterium Championships held at the Mandalay Bay parking lot. The professional men’s race was an exciting and very competitive high stakes, great race. It was a real pleasure to commentate on.

The women’s race was won by Laura Van Gilder but it was the Industry Cup race that provided the most crashes and thrills. Such luminaries participated as Steve Bauer and Mario Cipollini. The rest of the field was made up of supposed employees of the cycling industry, which is a pretty broad requirement. There were so many crashes it was difficult to know the beginning and the end of field. Also, the variety in fitness levels made the pack impossible to differentiate from the stragglers. Add oil on the streets and two days, at least, of heavy drinking and you have a recipe for hilarity.

I am sure the next day at the show there were many employees nursing their wounds. Six hours of live television is not easy but having a crash to commentate on about every half a minute makes the time fly. Generally, my job is as a commentator on cycling events and it was nice to be able to apply my trade at the bike show. However, being able to meet the people at the Kryptonite booth is the main attraction for me going and remains an event that I look forward to throughout the racing season.

I’m looking forward to next year’s races and have enjoyed a fantastic relationship with Kryptonite and look forward to all of our promotions in the future. So, everybody go out and buy some locks!

The trip home was uneventful, which is my favorite kind of trip. My liver has shrunk back down to normal size and I’m looking forward to ’08.

The New York Times & Urban Velo

Our friend Brad over at Urban Velo teamed up with The New York Times to do a review of some bike locks. We think Brad did a great job! You can see most of the piece online, but what you will only see in print is a photo of Brad, his bike and the New York Fahgettaboudit U-lock that keeps it safe. Go pick one up; you'll find him in the Style section.

Also today over at Urban Velo is a very good reminder of why you should always wear a helmet when riding your bike. We are just thankful that Jeff is ok and hope he mends quickly.

Safe riding to you all.

Road Trip

I spent the majority of last week visiting Bicycle and Powersport dealers with our 2 new Regional Sales Managers(Don - West Coast and Craig - Central) and our National Sales Manager (Roby). It was great to pound the pavement with the troops, speak with the dealers and really get a sense of what is happening in the marketplace. I spent Tuesday in Portland with Don and Roby visiting all of the major dealers - Shout outs to Mark, Dave and crew at Rivercity - what an awesome set up - expecially the test track upstairs. Got a lot of cool product ideas that we are excited about - keep em coming. Also got an idea for my oldest daughters 8th birthday gift (Specialized HotRock 20). We also spent some time out at establishments notorious for bike theft activity and was proud of the fact that a Kryptonite lock was the lock of choice. They are pretty serious about their bikes in Portland - seeing a multiple lock setup(cable and Ulock) wasn't uncommon and the Evolution ulock or New York Fahgettaboudit were everywhere.

Headed to Dallas for the second leg of the trip on Wednesday and spent Thursday with Craig and Roby visiting Powersport and Bicycle dealers. Being a former sportbike rider it was like being a kid in a candy store. I spent as much time talking to managers and store personnel about security as I did about the bikes. Thanks to the folks at Central Yamaha I now have my eye on a 04-05 Yamaha Vmax preferably black on black ( any sellers out there???) Psyched about the opportuntity to work more closely with many of the dealers in Dallas and Craig will be working hard to support them with some cool promotions and displays.

Being out interacting with customers and dealers is what its all about. Looking forward to hitting the East Coast next so look out for me I might just be in a bike or powersport dealer near you.

Rumor Patrol - Evolution Mini Stays Put!

We've talked about rumors before. Some make us laugh, some make our eyes roll and some just confound us. This one just astounds me...it was a jaw dropper, actually.

I'm surfing around Bikeforums yesterday afternoon and see that someone heard that the Evolution Mini is being discontinued. What?!

Not true. Not true. Not true.



Yes, the Evolution series 4 is new in the standard and long shackle size, but the Mini is not going anywhere! Holy schmoly. No Mini? Really? That's just silly!

Check out these photos from North American Cycle Courier Championships this past weekend in San Francisco (here, here, here and here). You'll see bits of orange around bikes and in messengers pockets...that's the Evolution Mini. The Mini that isn't going anywhere. The Mini that we love.

Oh, we love it so much, we added another Mini - the KryptoLok Mini. You should be seeing that soon at bike dealers worldwide. Right next to the Evolution Mini. The Evolution Mini that isn't going anywhere. Did I say that already? Got it? Good.

Ta-Da! Evolution series 4

The brand spankin' new Kryptonite locks have left the warehouse, folks. Actually, they should be to most of our distributors by now so you might start seeing them on your local IBD shelves soon. We are very excited here at Kryptonite. There is just so much new, new, new this spring and summer.

Here's a peek of the Evolution series 4 U-lock with its oval crossbar. Snazzy, eh? I'm expecting a few of them in my office this week. Woo-hoo! I know, it's kind of corny to get excited about a lock, right? But, when you see all the work that goes into developing a product and then you see the finished item, it's kinda cool no matter what the product or widget is. Of course, there is always a big sigh of relief, too, when there is a completed, packaged product in front of you.

Now I just need to get a photo of the product in my office instead of the 'beauty shot' here. I'll work on that.