Kryptonite Locks hit a small design glitch that could potentially have serious consequences for the brand. It turns out that due to the use of ‘tubular cylinders’ in many of the company’s mid and low price-point locks allows the locking mechanism to be picked with a plastic pen. Several consumers have posted videos on-line showing Kryptonite’s U-Lock un-locked in seconds by simply twisting the end of a pen into the key-hole.

Bicycle consumer blogs are covered with comments and questions about this issue. Kryptonite is considered by many to be the most widely distributed and trusted brand in the specialty bike business.

One customer said, “The Kryptonite locks were the only thing that gave me a sense of security for my bikes. Now all of the technology that went into the “unbreakable” portions has been made pointless by the simple ball point pen.”

Another wrote, “I have a crappy lock and now I can't write a complaint letter!”

Kryptonite, once made aware of the issue, released this statement: “The current Kryptonite locks based on a tubular cylinder design continue to present an effective deterrent to theft. As part of our continuing commitment to produce performance and improved security, Kryptonite has been developing a disc-style cylinder for some years. In 2000, Kryptonite introduced the disc-style cylinder in its premier line of products, the New York series. In 2002, Kryptonite began development of a new disc cylinder system for both its Evolution and KryptoLok product lines, which currently use the tubular cylinder design. These products are scheduled to be introduced in the next few weeks.

“We are accelerating the delivery of the new disc cylinder locks and we will communicate directly with our distributors, dealers and consumers within the coming days. The world just got tougher and so did our locks.”

Many of the Kryptonite locks in question carry a type of bicycle theft insurance provided by Kryptonite upon evidence of product failure. Some of the locks in question are protected up to $3,000. Kryptonite has yet to give consumers any recourse for the faulty locks, and has not commented on what it will do for consumers whose bicycles were stolen by this method.

Editors note: Shortly after this story was published, Kryptonite released the following statement:

In light of recent demonstrations on the Internet that explain how to
criminally defeat tubular cylinder lock technology, which has performed
successfully for more than three decades, Kryptonite intends to expedite
the introduction of its upgraded Evolution and KryptoLok lines. These
products will have the disc-style cylinder that has the same technology as
the company's famous New York Lock.

Specifically, Kryptonite will provide the owners of Evolution and KryptoLok
series products the ability to upgrade their crossbars to the new
disc-style cylinder, where possible. This cylinder provides greatly
enhanced security and performance.

Kryptonite is finalizing the details of this upgrade process and will
publicly communicate these details as soon as possible.