Protect Your Bike With a Kryptonite New York Legend Chain & Padlock

I recently wrote an article on Motorcylce Security as I had not long bought a new Motorbike. I've had motorbikes since I was kid and have had to experience the horrible feeling of someone taking your pride and joy. Here in the UK a Motorcycle is stolen every 14 minutes and that stastic is worse for bicycles. Theft of bikes will always be a problem as they can be moved and taken away in a normal sized van. I looked a many videos of theft of bikes on youtube to see if there was a way to stop your bike from being taken. Although all forms of security can be bypassed in some way I concluded that If you want to have a chance of keeping your bike, the best way to do this is to chain your bike to a solid object. This eliminates the biggest problem with owning a bike, it can't be taken away. If someone really wants your bike they're going to have to cut the chain. This then took me on to my next step on my search. Finding a chain that was going to be difficult to cut and what the characteristics are to make that so. I chose to buy an Oxford HD Chain and an Oxford Monster and an Almax Chain on my wish list but these are only availible in the UK, I wanted to see what was availible in the US market. With my chain and padlock criteria checklist in hand, my search lead me to the Kryptonite New York Legend Chain. There's also a Bonus when buying a Kryptonite Chain which I'll go in to in a bit.

So this what I look for when buying a good quality chain and padlock and why they're important.

• Material: We obviously want our chain made from solid steel but solid steel isn't enough, we want hardened steel, this is to make sure it's resiliant to strike from say a sledge hammer although this isn't the prefererred method of breaking a chain, hardened steel will also be more durable against cutting.
• Insurance: In the UK we have something called "Thatcham approved" this means it will be recognised by insurers and can potentially reduce your insurance premium. It also means the chains have gone through tought testing and would need to meet high standard to pass. There's a bonus with Kryptonite Locks with regards to insurance recognition,
• Thickness of Links: The Larger the thickness of the links the harder will be to cut and crop. The Kryptonite New Yorker has a whopping 15mm rounded links and 16mm shackled padlock. which also has a double dead lock.
• Length options: This is doesn't make any difference to it's resilience against it is something to consider, Sometimes you might not be able to get up tight against what you want to chain your bike to. 1.5m is a good size and is obviously lighter than 2m chains. 1m chains are only good if you get up close.
• Shrouded: A protective braided shroud makes cutting a cropping harder and also helps to stop you scratching your bike. Plastic shoruds are rubbish and reduce manouverability.
• Padlock: Thickness is a key feature you want on your padlock. The New York Legend's is 16mm but what you also want to look for is one that is enclosed rather than has an open hoop. The New york legend has enclosed padlock making it harder to crop.

Is easy to tell that Kryptonite have a massive reputation in the US and it's easy to see why, they're products are exceptionally good! The company started in the 1970's out the back of a VW camper (can you get any better than that?). Security is a tough industry to gain an excellent reputation, if your product doesn't deliver then it will quickly become apparent. In 1972 Michael Zane the founder of Kryptonite locks was so confident in his product that he went "all in" and tested his product for real by locking a bicycle not far the new york shop, to a sign post. The bike stayed there for 30 days and 30 nights and had a barrage of abuse thrown at it, the bike was stripped of anything removable and the lock itself had multiple attempts at it to break it. The bike remained though. This catapolted Kryptonite in to the limelight. They then repeated the same test in 93' by locking a $600 bike to a parking meter. Again it received plenty of abuse but the bike remaind albeit a little worse for wear. There was even attempts to pull the parking meter out of the ground. A picture of the bike and parking meter was used in Kryptonites ad campaign with the slogan, "nice try".

The business has had some negative publicity. In 2004 Kryptonite recalled 400,000 customers Kryptonite locks and replaced with new ones due to a floor in the lock mechanism wherby it could be opened with a biro pen. Kryptonite jumped in to action replaced these recalled locks free of charge and changed the lock mechanism. Although this wasn't a great thing to happen it still shows the focus of the company, their customers and their needs.

If you remeber me saying there's a bonus that comes with owning a Kryptonite lock. As I said before, here in the UK it's a good idea to buy a Thatcham approved chain and lock as this means it can potentially reduce your insurance premium and also means the chain has had rigerous testing by thatcham and meet certain requirements to pass. Well Kryptonite carry their own insurance with their U-locks and Chain ifyou register with the Anit-Theft program, Kryptonite offer! Can you get anymore confident?! Kryptonite New York Legend Chain can be covered in the Anti Theft program. Make sure you always read the terms and conditions which can be found on Kryptonites website.