Hiplok MD1000 disc lock in neon yellow

We are always wary about getting too involved with motorcycle security devices. And that's because nothing you can buy in a shop, or affix to your bike, will ever completely ensure that your pride and joy won't be stolen.

 

If a bunch of petty thieves can steal some of Napoleon's crown jewels from the Louvre, then there'll be somebody who can find a way of 'lifting' your bike if they really want it.

 

Which doesn't mean that we don't think there's a role for security devices like the one we're talking about here. Indeed, if you are going to try and do something to make your bike less attractive to the opportunist thief, we take the view that there's no merit in brooking half measures.

 

I just don't see the point in cheaping out when it comes to protecting your bike. Even the cost of the very best D-locks and disc locks pales into insignificance when compared to the value of your bike. And you're going to feel pretty foolish if you're eventually forced to the realisation that the £50 disc lock you found on Amazon didn't prove up to the job. 

 

Get your bike stolen, and you'll immediately be out of pocket to the tune of the excess. And then there's the increase in your premiums; and of course it will take many years for the insurance company to get over your claim.  Heck, we have customers who, after a theft, have simply found that they are uninsurable.

 

When looking at how to make your bike less stealable, all you can really do is try to get the perpetrator to come to the view that going for your bike is too much hassle; and that there might be easier pickings aound the corner.

 

The way to do that, in our view, is to present him, or I suppose her, with a device that looks like it's more trouble than it's worth.

 

And if that's the aim, then the MD1000 appears to be amongst your best bets.

 

Truth be told, we are are not experts in this arena. I have never taken an angle grinder to anything, so I cannot speak from personal experience, but we do our research, and from what we have read, from what we have been shown and from what we have been told, these are as good as it gets.

 

And what allows us to make this claim is that both the Hiplok devices are Diamond rated under the industry's 'Sold Secure' scheme. Now that's the highest rating you can get.

 

Sold Secure define their 'Diamond' rating as being reserved for products that deliver 'the highest level of theft resistance, including against specialist tools. The rating is aimed at preventing the most destructive attacks, including those that are perpetrated using an angle grinder'.

 

That sounds fairly reassuring, although without making any definitive guarantees. But one has to fall back on the knowledge that this is the highest level that can be achieved in a motorcycle lock.

 

None of this will necessarily prevent your bike from being stolen, but use a device at this end of the market, and you can take comfort perhaps from the fact that you've done as much as you legally can.

 

Measuring some 4" x 2 1/2" x 1 1/2", the MD1000 is pretty compact and portable. For those who only talk new money, that's 105 mm x 80 mm x 33 mm. At just over a kilo it's no lightweight, but it's going to be much easier to carry around with you than either of Hiplok's D-locks.

 

Hiplok talk about the MD1000 being angle grinder resistant. Now that claim doesn't sound totally convincing, but we have seen videos of this lock being attacked by an angle grinder, and I think it's safe to say that very few people are going to put in the kind of effort that's required to cut through it.

 

The locking pin, apparently, is hardened steel. The pin is 12 mm in diameter. The locking area, in other words the width by the length of the 'aperture'  in the lock itself, is 44 mm x 8 mm. Apparently, that means that it will fit most motorcycle brake discs.

 

The lock itself is termed 'anti-drill'; again a statement that is in line with what you would expect a manufacturer to say; and one that is, once more, not totally re-assuring. So again, we have to fall back on the MD1000's Sold Secure Diamond rating.

 

The lock comes in a little case. And you get three coded, replaceable keys. The lock is also supplied with a couple of magnetic, rubber, reminder tags, but we think they're a bit useless, and so we are going to supply the MD1000 with a spiral reminder strap, which we think does the same job but much better. It would be upsetting, after all, to spend all that money on a lock, only then to damage you and the bike by coming to a very abrupt stop in the car park.

 

The lock comes with a lifetime warranty. Hiplok says that you need to register to activate it, but that's not the case. You legally only have to register for a warranty if there's the option to extend it. And that doesn't apply here. The warranty is therefore a lifetime one, whether you register or not.

 

In summary, if you want a top-of-the-line disc lock, they don't get much better than this one. That having been said the Squire Defiant is also Diamond rated. It's a few quid more, but who's quibbling?

 

There are some who would point out that an angle grinder-resistant, disc lock is of no great value if the brake discs themselves are not. And indeed they are not. And so this raises the question as to whether you would be better off with a D-lock. Well a D-lock is somewhat less portable, but hook it around the frame of your bike, and you can be confident that nobody's going to use an angle grinder to bypass the lock.

 

There is, of course, no right or wrong here. All you can do is go for the best security device you can afford; and the one that you're going to find the easiest to live with.

 

After that, there's nothing you can do but put your trust in the mercy and kind wisdom of providence!