In message , David
writes
On Fri, 19 Jul 2019 15:41:13 +0000, Tim+ wrote:

David wrote:
On a cycle trip earlier this week and one of the group made the classic
mistake of padlocking the bike with a flexible cable lock without
checking that the key matched the lock.

A bit of frantic planning later and we located a set of bolt croppers
at a railway station on the route and managed to get the cable cut.

However I don't want to carry my bolt croppers just in case, and was
wondering if the survival type wire saws would (eventually) cut such a
cable.

I doubt it.


If so, is there a recommendation?

When I had to cut a cable lock after €œclicking€� it on (and leaving key
at home) I was able to borrow a small wire cutter. By nibbling away at
the individual wires (or a few at a time) it didnt take that long to
chew through the cable.

I imagine a junior hacksaw would do the job too but not tried that.


Tim

Thanks to all.

A small wire cutter seems to be the most sensible option.

Survival type wire saws seem to be of limited value.

I think that cable locks are there merely to slow down opportunistic
thieves and meet insurance requirements (locked to an immovable object).

Noting that we immediately thought of the railway staff (turned out to be
the transport police) because anywhere which has a major bike storage
facility must have countless incidents with cable locks and lost keys,
with the consequent need to release the bikes.

Noting also that combination locks are allegedly easy to crack if you know
the technique (which I don't) and there will always be someone who has
forgotten the combination.

First few digits of your mobile phone number?


--
Tim Lamb