Register now  |  Forgotten password?

Review of the Oxford Magnum U Lock

ShareThis

Protecting your bike from the evil bike thief is a priority for all cyclists. However, doing it in practice can be harder than you think. As most cyclists know, bike thieves are sneaky little b******s and seem to be able to ‘liberate’ even the most securely locked bike.

So we thought that we would put some locks to the test and see how easy it was to break into or through various locks. The success or failure of our test you can judge here:

Despite our amateurish attempts to attack the Oxford lock with a hammer, screwdriver, chisel, hack saw and even car jack it soon became clear that we weren’t going to be breaking the Oxford’s stubborn resistance after 5 minutes of sustained attack. The screwdriver and chisel did no more than superficial damage, the hack saw might as well have been left at home and the car jack broke…

So, in keeping with some thieves’ modus operandi we took to it with the angle grinder.. And compared to the other locks in its class it proved much more resilient. Lasting over a minute! (Think thieves don’t use Angle-grinders? See the picture below of my bike lock which was in the ‘secure’ parking at my block of flats. Someone had a go at it..)

Fortunately my lock survived and my bike was there when i went to get it on Monday morning.

So why the Oxford lock? Well here are some of the headline figures:

• Gold ‘Sold Secure’ rating
• High-tech pick resistant locking system
• £1000 anti-theft guarantee (from Oxford themselves)
• Saw resistant
• Drill resistant
• Bolt cutter resistant (up to 10,000kg)

Our tests showed that the Oxford Magnum Locks are strong and compare favourably with other bike locks that come in at a much higher price. The guarantee is also a nice touch allowing the uninsured some extra comfort. Sure the size (180mm x 340mm) and weight (2.1kg) might make it too big for some people to carry around with them, but this lock will protect your bike well.

At £46.74 I think that this lock is great value. The accepted guide for bike locks is to spend 10-15% of the value of your bike. So by that logic for a bike around the £500 mark this lock is definitely one for you. But with the manufacturer’s guarantee it is value for money for a bike of double that value.

See also:

Keep your bike safe

How to lock your bike

from Going Going Bike – Auctions, Bike News, Cycle Stuff

Grab the GGB Weekly Newsletter

and we will send you our second hand bike buying guide.