Locks & Security

Sold Secure is the UK testing house, owned by the Master Locksmiths Association. It attacks locks with the tools thieves actually use — bolt croppers, hacksaws, drills and angle grinders — and grades them Bronze, Silver, Gold or Diamond, with each grade facing a longer and harder attack than the one below.

There are two separate ladders: Pedal Cycle for bicycles, and the stricter Powered Cycle for e-bikes and motorbikes. They overlap — a Pedal Cycle Diamond lock sits at roughly the same level as Powered Cycle Gold. Many UK insurers set a minimum grade before they will cover a bike, so it is worth checking your policy before you choose.

It comes down to which tools the lock faces in testing, and for how long. Gold locks are attacked with bolt croppers, hacksaws and drills. Pedal Cycle Diamond, the top bicycle grade, adds a full five-minute attack using the largest bolt croppers and high-speed steel drill bits.

Here is the part most people miss. There are two separate Diamond ratings, and only one of them involves an angle grinder:

• Pedal Cycle Diamond — the highest bicycle grade. Tested with hand tools and drills. No angle grinder test.
• Powered Cycle Diamond — the highest grade of all. Must survive at least 90 seconds of angle grinder attack, plus a five-minute attack with the full tool list.

So a lock can say Diamond on the box without ever having met a grinder. If your bike is left outside, or it is an e-bike or cargo bike worth several thousand pounds, Powered Cycle Diamond is the one to look for. For a bike kept indoors and locked briefly during the day, Gold is often enough — and it is the level most UK insurers actually require.

Not necessarily — most UK insurers set Gold as their minimum, not Diamond, so a Gold rated lock will satisfy the majority of policies. Check yours before you spend more than you need to.

That said, it is worth considering. E-bikes and cargo bikes cost more to replace than a pedal-power bike, and batteries and drive units are increasingly targeted on their own. If the bike lives outside, or is left in a communal store or on the street during the day, the extra margin matters — and specifically Powered Cycle Diamond, the only grade tested against an angle grinder. Hiplok's 1000 Series carries it. Some insurers do specify Powered Cycle Diamond for an e-bike, so it is worth reading the policy wording rather than assuming.

A D-lock (or U-lock) is the most compact and generally the hardest to attack, but its fixed shape limits what you can loop it around. A chain flexes around awkward shapes — railings, cargo bike frames, two bikes at once — at the cost of extra weight. A folding lock, like the ABUS Bordo, splits the difference: it folds down small to carry but opens out further than a D-lock can reach. Most people riding daily in London end up using two — a D-lock or chain at the anchor point, plus something lighter to carry.

The shackle. Locks like the D1000 and DX1000 use a specialist composite that wears down an angle grinder disc rather than being cut by it — the disc gives out before the lock does. They carry a Sold Secure Powered Cycle Diamond rating and have been independently tested to resist a sustained grinder attack for several minutes rather than seconds.

If the bike is stored anywhere outside your line of sight — a shed, a side return, a communal bike store — yes. A lock is only as strong as what it is fixed to; without an anchor, a thief can cut through a drainpipe or bike rack instead of the lock itself. Hiplok's ANKR and 1000 Series anchors bolt into concrete or masonry and give you a fixed point rated to match the lock.

For anything left outside for any length of time, two is worth it — ideally two different lock types, so a thief needs two different tools rather than one. A D-lock through the frame and rear wheel, plus a chain through the front wheel or a fixed point, is a common combination. For an e-bike or cargo bike kept at home, we would also add a ground anchor rather than relying on a portable lock alone.

No — treat it as an addition, not a substitute. The ABUS Alarmbox triggers a loud alarm on movement or impact, which draws attention and can put a thief off mid-attempt, but it does not physically stop a bike being cut free or carried away. Keep it paired with a Sold Secure rated lock rather than in place of one.