New Hexlox system tackles component theft + video

I've got a couple of Hexlox from their original KickStarter campaign that I used in QR skewers on my previous bike and was thinking about using them along with some suitable Thru-Axles. However, I eventually got hold of a pair of their Universal TAs (https://hexlox.com/products/universal-thru-axle-hexlox-ready) and fitted them only to find out that my old Hexloxs were the wrong size for them. Also, annoyingly, the front and rear TAs weren't the same colour - one silver and one black.

Anyhow, I was using the TAs for a couple of weeks and then I suddenly had my front wheel flop to the side whilst riding - the thru-axle hadn't been screwed in sufficiently or the length adjustment had gone awry. So, to cut a long story short, I've gone back to ordinary thru-axles that will reliably hold my wheels in place and I'm just careful to not leave my bike out in public.

I have just spent an inordinate amount of money on many of these little things in an attempt to protect various bits of my new bike from being stolen.  I did a bit of research and did find evidence of someone being able to defeat them, but hey the lockpickinglawyer can seemingly pick all of my big locks with relative ease.  And it still requires certain tools and technique, and they are not that popular yet, I was just shy of the 9,000th customer.  German engineering at its finest.

Many 5mm, a few non-magnetic 5mm and a few 4mm ones.  Front security skewer and a few bolts to change as the 4mm does not come in non-magnetic version.  And a spare key.  I did spend a long time trying to figure out what ones I really did need, I didn't want to spend on unnecessary ones, they are kind of shockingly expensive, but not really compared with some of the bike bits and the inconvenience to having them disappear.  I did want to keep my security skewer from my old commuter and use that, original kryptonite, (now pitlock design), but I never could torque it up much anyhow, and that was a rim brake bike, let alone a disc.  So, the whole bike is now secured with the one system.

They are tiny and ingenious.  Small package for the cost.  I did a lot of initial testing on bolts that were nowhere near the bike, with both keys, I didn't want any mistakes.  A lot of preparation, with cleaning before installation, the site has videos.  Started with the full magnetic bolts first, relatively easy, then did the non-magnetic ones.  The adhesive for the tiny and strong flat magnet could be pressure activated, you are meant to hold them down for 5 minutes after application, that's a long time, and after another day (being very careful) the glue did hold when I needed to remove the hexlox to adjust the disc brakes.

So, my new bike's bits are reasonably secure, at least from a scrote with just a set of hex keys.  Some of the bolts are still vulnerable to attack with mole grips, and maybe I should have thought about that some more, and replaced those bolts with something more resistant, and HexLox do sell those.  And I did do the minimum I thought I could get away with, so maybe a few more when I'm feeling flush.

They are wonderfully easy to remove with the key, so they work in that respect, of course only time will tell how scroteproof they could possibly be.

I do also have to cut down the front skewer, to make it more secure, never did that with my Kryptonite ones, but they are much thinner and didn't seem that vulnerable.  I will still lock my front wheel whilst at work, and probably still use my Kroptoflex seatkeeper, but maybe not replace it if I lost it, which has occurred before.  Enough security for just locking the back-wheel frame and object, maybe? For a quick stop anyway.

A little more peace of mind, perhaps?

10% off code at Stolenride.com, which did help, and I do have a single use friends code if anyone might want it, (don’t know how much it’s worth, mind)

I’m happy with them, and the better half seemed to think they were cool too.

Quote:

The picture of the 'key card', allowing you to order replacement keys, *suggests* there are just 20 keys - if you assume that the numbers on the key card are 1-6 and you only have three out of those selected for each key, and no number duplicated. This would kind of make sense from a product perspective on their end. They can just have 20 bins full of keys to pick from when sending out replacement keys, rather than have to specially manufacture keys.

That's a worst-case reading of the numbers on the card, and assumes order doesn't matter (i.e. 362 is the same as 632). What do you see that suggests that 6 is the largest number and that order is unimportant? Best case, there are 1000 different possibilities (or more probably 729 if zero is not used). It depends on the complexity of the mechanism, of course -- it may be that a '2' will also work on a '3' or a '1' but not a '4' due to manufacturing tolerances, for example...

If you're going to be incredibly cynical, all we can really be sure about is that from 2Speedy4U's post that there are at least two different keys. Maybe the code is just 'odd' or 'even'?

So I was an early adopter of this via kickstarter. When I got the lox I put them into three bikes I have without issue. The issue was removal. It seems that after months of back and forth communication with them about the issue, they accidentally mixed the hexlox bolts to different keys. I was then promised replacement bolts and additional keys to get them out. two months later and more emails I am still waiting for what was promised. Meanwhile, I can't get anything off or on the bikes. 

I haven't located the patent (which is a little alarming in itself), so there are some *big* assumptions here:

The picture of the 'key card', allowing you to order replacement keys, *suggests* there are just 20 keys - if you assume that the numbers on the key card are 1-6 and you only have three out of those selected for each key, and no number duplicated. This would kind of make sense from a product perspective on their end. They can just have 20 bins full of keys to pick from when sending out replacement keys, rather than have to specially manufacture keys.

Sure, it would still be a deterrent to a thief carrying around just a hex set, but if they become popular enough it wouldn't be so hard to obtain all the possible keys. 

Even if the above is not true, I predict somebody will find a way to defeat the mechanism and post it to YouTube within a day of these things being dispatched.

Did they try super-glueing something onto it and just pulling it out I wonder? That wouldn't take long or draw a lot of attention.

It'll be interesting to see how this is defeated. The bike industry is littered with "un-pickable" locks and similar, they've all failed one way or another.

Not particularly convincing.  A seatpost bolt can be sawn in two.  A wheel bolt can be removed with mole grips.  The stem, well you just saw through it and take the bars.

There's no better security system than locking your bike in a secure room.

Would seem an ideal add on for a town bike/commuter that maybe has to be locked up in a not particularly secure place.

So is this basically the same as the old trick of gluing a ball-bearing in there (and making sure you carry a tube of glue-solvent with you)?

“We've… tested it to withstand tweezers, lock picking tools, needle nose pliers, gator/vice grip, hammer, liquid ice, hacksaw, screwdrivers and numerous other things,” says Hexlox.

What about a drill? That's the first thing I thought of when I saw this.