Interesting to see in this weeks MCN this chain lasted 37 secs in the hands of an ex-bike thief and got awarded 2/10.
Want a refund?
I saw that! How poop! They sell it as nutter bassa double thai toshie hard cor muthaphuqer lock and some bloke can mash through it in 37 seconds!
Glad I never brought one now.
How did he do that? what sort of tool did he used?
Problem with these chains is that as soon as the lock is on the ground it’s at risk. They usually advise that the lock itself isn’t left on the ground or able to be postioned as such. Leaving them suspended with no slack make certain attacks harder as the support offered by grounding the lock is denied. At least with Almax you can have the length adjusted.
It’s the same old story of no one piece of equipment is 100% safe.
It’s not ideal though and the advert blurb never mentions it…
I think a very large hammer and some cutting equipent.
Almax advise you on how to arrange your lock, chain, bike and ground/wall-anchor. If you don’t do it exactly as they say, then the security is compromised. Also, who’s going to get to use a sledge and large cutting equipment outside your house? It’s not going to happen, everyone’s going to wake up and you’re going to go out and cut their testicles off with a rusty bread-knife.
As has been mentioned, you are advised to hang the lock off the ground so no leverage can be used, or to have anything to hold the impact of a sledge, not to mention you need to do this all nice and tight so there is no room inbetween the bike and wall/floor to strike it or do much else.
As ever, I wouldn’t immediately trust what you read in MCN.
I’ve just read that. They wouldn’t disclose the methods and tools he used (for obvious reasons). They did have lots of pics with him wielding a sledgehammer.
The Almax IIII got the best marks and thats not even Sold Secure/Thatcham approved
The alarming thing is though Jay is that when you buy it Almax said unbreakable and 4 mins with an angle grinder etc but 37 seconds? Even with making noise thats a pretty quick time for a lock that big!
Big debate about this on another forum.
They sprayed it with freeze spray and place it on an anvil and hit it with a 14lb sledge hammer.
If chain and lock are used correctly, as someone else has already e.g tight and not touching the floor then this method is very unlikely to be used.
Imagine the noise!
Almax 3 and 4 are both uncroppable, which is the most common method used by pro thiefs.
The chances of sledge hammer attack is pretty rare, even if the chain and lock are laid out on the floor.
Yeah, discussed on VD. Bit of a cheek really. So much for an unbiased test. All the other chains were on the ground and Almax in a metal vice!! MCN do like using jouralistic license.
MCN do often give the tabloids a bad name with the stupid hysterical drivel they drum up in order to sell a weekly bike paper. They are run by EMAP, a company who are by and large not very nice people - sadly I have experiences of working for them & know for a fact that [amongst other cr**] some of the competitions are won by mates of the staff [not bike related titles] . . . . and can proove it.
Also, dont know what they use for news print bit it gets everywhere. Sure they use old engine oil.
There you go then. Unfair test, and not following the manufacturers instructions. That’s akin to driving a Volvo off a cliff then complaining that it has poor crash-protection qualities. What a load of toss. If you’re investing £200 in a chain, you’re going to follow the very clear and personal instructions given to you by the manufacturer on how to get the best from it.
Yes, different methods, perhaps, but still a significant difference though between the almax IIII (13 MINS) and the Almax III (37 SECS), considering their both Almax and considering the blurb they spout to sell their chains.
I gotta agree though that MCN IS crap. But then most bike journo’s opinions are just a load of old w*** anyway.
MCN is the Sunday Sport of biking, sadly the only t!ts in there are the ones writing the articles
There’s no such thing from Journalist Licence - if you claim or say someone is using it - they’re not a journalist - they are a creative writer.
Those of us who are / where Journalists take this very seriously… 5 years at the BBC hammers out any thoughts of ‘creative writing’. They should be up in front of the management for what they’ve written.
m
Nicked from Visordown.
Big difference to what MCN reported
To be honest MCN have about as much credibility as VIZ. At the end of the day if a tea leaf wants your bike he’ll have it, but I doubt he’ll carry around a big Anvil and Almax can’t be cropped so I reckon they would still be pretty safe. Also remove the Anvil and you end up with a broken floor!
"Right, here we go.
I dragged the anvil into the back garden (took me 30 mins, yes it’s big) and had a go myself. I’m going to have to ask you all to trust me here because I am not going to give away my exact technique, suffice to say, if you lock your bike properly and don’t leave 2m of slack, the attack I used would be impossible. I tried twice on the anvil and succeeded both times, and then again with a slab of york stone on the anvil to make it a little more realistic (remember, most kerbs are concrete and a little more delicate) The result of that attack can be seen here. (It’s in slowmo for dramatic effect)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e7ALVq1RJc
Now before all the owners of Series III’s start foaming at the mouth, the 2 successful attacks were done using a 90kg (same (ish) weight as a CR250) anvil and a 14lb hammer, you can hear for yourself the amount of noise it makes. If I were desparate enough for a bike, I’d be using a petrol grinder not a flippin’ anvil. Like I said, use a bit of savvy and anvil/hammer based attacks can be entirely eradicated, thus forcing the thieves to use croppers which I know for a FACT, will just break, or a grinder of some sort which makes a helluva lot of noise.
So there you have it, if you have a SIII (or any other chain for that matter) keep it tight, you’ll be alright, leave it loose and it’s no use. "
Yup. subject closed IMHO.
Terry - get a grip man and don’t believe everything you are told or read 
Yep.