The EBT bike lock amnesty - the angle grinders have arrived!

The EBT Lock Amnesty

We are offering a 'buy back' of locks as credit towards an angle-grinder resistant version. 

1. Select your preferred grinder resistant lock - this is best done in store with your bike present
2. Give us back the lock we sold you for a credit of its original purchase price up to a limit of 50% of the value of your newly chosen lock!

Why are we doing this? Put simply, a lot of the locks we have sold in the past are not as fit for purpose now as they were when you bought them because battery powered angle grinders have become more prevalent amongst bike thieves. The sorts of locks that we recommended as best practice for locking up an e-bike in the city could be cut by an angle grinder in 20 seconds to 2 minutes. The security industry is keeping up with this arms race and more 'angle grinder resistant' bike locks are coming to market every month. 

We want you to be able to use your e-bike for everyday transport use for years to come. A fit for purpose e-bike lock enables this. 

Terms and Conditions

• The lock must have been sold by us originally. Don't worry if you don't have the receipt, we'll have it on our system
• The locks are expected with 2 keys. We can order replacement keys at your cost if needed. 
• Wheel locks and plug in chains are not included in this offer. Why not? Because they are a sensible compliment to an angle grinder resistant u-lock - you should keep using them as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What will you do with the returned locks?
  • We will list them for sale here at a reduced price as a used lock. They are still fit for the purpose of an additional e-bike lock or as a primary lock for lower security situations such as non-electric bikes in localities with less bike theft.  
• Which is the best angle grinder resistant lock to buy?
  • This depends on you and your bike, so it's best to visit our store where we have them out of the packaging for actual testing with your bike. They have different pros and cons which boil down to a decision ranking priorities of strength, weight, convenience, ease of use, ease of mounting/carrying and cost. As a generalisation, the Onguard Rock Solid is the strongest and lightest and lowest cost but hardest to use due to its size. The Abus 2500 is the most convenient thanks to its mount, larger size and keyed alike option to match with any existing xplus Abus locks you might have (like your battery lock on your e-bike) but it isn't the strongest. Buying the Hiplok DX1000 and its mount is the highest weight and price but will give you strength and size (no key matching). This website has thoroughly reviewed all the ones we sell.
• I'd like to take you up on this and I've chosen a lock but want to purchase online. How do I go about this?
  • You can purchase the lock from our online store now and we will send it out immediately. You can then send us your lock and 2 keys through the post or by later dropping it off to us. We will process a partial refund at that point. The courier we use to deliver your lock won't pick up your old one, the world of couriers just doesn't work like that.
• I want a different angle grinder resistant lock to any that you're listing. Can you get it for me? 
  • Probably not, as we aim to have all of the locally available options in store already. But if we've missed your preferred one, please let us know and we'll see what we can do. 
• How common are angle grinders amongst bike thieves?
  • I really couldn't say. We definitely have had customers losing their e-bikes to angle grinders, verified sometimes by CCTV, sometimes through witnesses and sometimes by inspecting the discarded lock. But most times we don't know what tool was used. 
• Do thieves use angle grinders during the day in busy areas?
  • Yes, it's almost always during the day - who leaves their e-bike locked up in public overnight and expects to see it again? CCTV confirmed a grinder was the tool of choice in this article about a bike stolen in Auckland City. It was locked with this $250 U-lock, which was cut in 2 minutes, which isn't bad for a non-grinder resistant lock but clearly isn't fit for the purpose of using an e-bike for daily transport.
• How long will this offer be valid?
  • There's no particular planned end date but we reserve the right to remove this offer at anytime. If you're reading this, then it hasn't been removed yet, so come on in
• I bought a lock elsewhere, why can't you take it back? Why should it matter where I bought it?
  • Fundamentally because it was someone else who sold you a not-quite-good-enough lock, so it is up to them to make that right. Other reasons are that when we sold the lock, we generally recorded the key number and we know the relative merits of the lock for re-sale.