Went to give my wife’s bike a bit of a blitz at the weekend, as it’s been sat for a couple of months, and found the Squire SS65CS padlock had seized. Lock felt a bit gritty when I first put key in, so blasted the hell out of it with WD40, but no joy. Tried both keys for lock, both slide in smoothly now, but the lock doesn’t open. Tried WD40, GT85 and some Halford Shock & Unlock spray to completely douse it (and left it over night with such soaking in). Giving it a tap with mallet to jolt pins, too, but still no joy. Key goes in, turns a fraction, but then no more as though there’s still pin(s) blocking it.
So, now we have Mary’s bike chained to ground anchor on front drive, unable to move it. Any ideas? Or is am I going to have to bite the bullet and get an angle grinder out, then buy a new padlock?
I guess at least the bike’s on our drive and not locked up in some random part of town!
Give the stuff a chance to work … repeat a few times and if available try heat ( paint stripping gun rather than flame but be aware lock will be hot to handle )
Sent an email to SecurityForBikes.com who I bought it from - will see what they say. Their website reckons these padlocks have a 10 year guarantee! £90 to replace though…
Will try some heat tonight, I have a paint stripper gun in loft.
Just checked, it was late February when we last had the bike out. Padlock was fine then. Suppose we’ve had a fair bit of rain since then.
Squire have been back to me, given me some tips to free it (tapping with hammer on side & shackle, and pliers on key to provide more torque). But they have said, if it does need repair/replacement it will be covered under their 10 year warranty. Will see how I get on tonight.
You could also try raking the pins. First spray some brake cleaner or carburettor cleaner into the key aperture then repeatedly insert and withdraw the key, without turning it, as fast as you can. The idea is to clean off the pin end.
So, sorted it. Followed Squire’s advice, tapping with hammer, on side and on shackle. Still no joy. Also tried the carb cleaner and raking of key in lock, didn’t work. Didn’t get around to trying heat gun. Did follow Squire’s advice and used pliers on key to provide more torque, and it clunked opened! Key intact too! Once off though, I couldn’t unlock the padlock again though. So gonna send it back to Squire for repair/replacement as they advised.
At least the bike is free and didn’t have to resort to angle grinder.
Lock felt a bit gritty when I first put key in, so blasted the hell out of it with WD40, but no joy. Tried both keys for lock, both slide in smoothly now, but the lock doesn’t open. Tried WD40, GT85 and some Halford Shock & Unlock spray to completely douse it (and left it over night with such soaking in). Giving it a tap with mallet to jolt pins, too, but still no joy. Key goes in, turns a fraction, but then no more as though there’s still pin(s) blocking it.