Kryptonite's Weakness

An internet video exposing the ease with which Kryptonite bicycle locks can be picked could pose problems for the large number of Harvard students who own the popular device.

“I remember watching a video during Freshman Week that said that the type of bike lock to get is the U-lock,” said Inna G. Livitz ’06, a concerned student who purchased a brand-new bicycle—along with a Kryptonite lock —before coming to school this fall.

Last week, Benjamin Running, a 28-year-old New York graphic designer, posted a video of himself uncapping a ballpoint pen and jamming the barrel of the pen into the round keyhole of a $50 Kryptonite lock, rotating it until the lock popped free. The U-shaped bicycle locks are popular among bicycle owners, who have been told that these locks are the safest that money can buy.

As news of the video spread, local bicycle shops have become aware of the problem. Andrew Marchetti, an employee at ATA Cycle on Mass. Ave., said that his store sells only “higher-end” Kryptonite locks that do not have the same round keyholes as those susceptible to easy picking.

But Juan C. Agudelo ’03, co-owner of Quad Bikes, the student-run bike shop in the basement of Cabot House, said he did not believe that the lock failure posed much of a threat to bike owners.

“We have sold and continue to sell the locks...U-locks generally tend to be safer because they’re made of steel,” he said, adding that alternative types of locks, such as cable locks, can be broken by wire cutters.

“All locks are breakable—it’s just a matter of how hard they are to break,” he said.

On average, about 150 bicycles are reported stolen to the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) every year, HUPD spokesman Steven G. Catalano said.

According to its log, HUPD has taken five reports of stolen bicycles since Running posted the video on Sept. 14. Catalano, who was out of the office yesterday, did not have figures on whether bike thefts have been unusually frequent.

Thomas D. Spellman ’06, who has twice been the victim of bicycle theft, said that his first bicycle was stolen during the Head of the Charles Regatta during his freshman year but that he had a cable lock at the time.

A few months later, he bought another bike, along with a U-lock—because of its supposedly better security features.

“This time, the guy just took the back wheel,” he said.

But Spellman said the lock did serve a purpose. “The lock was more for my own feelings, that I’ve done my part,” he said.

Agudelo echoed that sentiment, saying that bicycle security “is not about making your bike impossible to steal, but about deterrence.”

But some students said they aren’t taking any chances.

“If I were to buy a new expensive bike now,” Spellman said, “I’d definitely bring it inside my room every day.”