If you’ve ever had a bike stolen (or know someone who has), then you know how violating it can feel. While there’s no lock that’s 100% theft-proof, the Kyrptonite New York Fahgettaboudit chain lock comes pretty darn close.
It’s HEAVY (this isn’t the lock you want to carry around town), but if you have a place you frequently lock your bikes for long periods of time (at work, in your garage, on the back of your car), you can’t beat the Fahgettaboudit lock in terms of security.
Review In A Nutshell
Pros:
- Incredibly secure
- Easy to lock/unlock
- 5 foot length gives you plenty of chain to work with
Cons:
- Really heavy
- Cloth doesn’t cover the entirety of the chain
Price: $136.96 (Last updated: 2023-03-20 at 01:09 – More Info)
Kyptonite New York Fahgettaboudit Detailed Review
About The Lock
The Kyrptonite New York Fahgettaboudit chain lock consists of a 5-ft long, 4 mm 3t hardened manganese steel chain and a 15 mm steel shackle PVC-coated disc lock.
One end of the chain has a large steel ring so that you can loop the chain back thru it. This allows you to use the full length of the chain quite effectively.
Finally the chain (or most of it) is covered in a nylon cloth sleeve.
My Experience With the Faghettaboudit Lock
My family used the lock while on our year-long road trip–and pretty much every day since. While we were traveling, we often had to leave our bikes unattended at a campsite or in the bed of our truck.
With the Kryptonite New York Faghettaboudit chain lock, our bikes made it through the entire trip without getting stolen. Today, we often use the lock for securing our bikes when on our car hitch rack or even inside our house when we’re going out of town.
It’s my FAVORITE lock and the only one that really lets me sleep easily at night. It’s not the lock I use for locking my bike at the grocery store or library, but for storing my bike for any length of time, it’s the only lock I’ll use.
This Lock Is A Major Deterrent
Criminals like easy targets. The Kyrptonite New York Faghettaboudit lock is not an easy target.
First, just the way it looks is intimidating. Why mess with this lock, when their is another bike on the rack with n easy-to-cut cable lock?
Finally, even if a thief did decide to try to steal your bike, it’s going to take a significant amount of effort to cut the lock. It took he folks over at Outdoor Gear Lab two cuts with an electric angle grinder to break it free.
Other third parties have given it high ratings. The independent lock rating agency Sold Secure gave it their highest rating, “Gold,” and Thatcham Quality Assured gave it a “Category 3” rating.
Kryptonite has their own security rating system for their different locks, and the Faghettaboudit scored 10/10. This is truly the lock you want if security is your #1 consideration.
Too Heavy to Carry Or Transport
So, who shouldn’t buy this lock? Anybody who’s looking for a lock to transport around town.
If you’re looking for a lock to carry with you and lock up wherever you might end up, choose a lock like the Kryptonite U-Lock instead. At 15 pounds, it’s seriously heavy and also bulky enough that it’s just ackward to carry.
This lock works best in places where you can leave it permanently. This might be the rack outside your office where you can leave it locked to the rack at night, or in the back of your SUV where you can pull it out when you want to lock your bike to your hitch rack.
Some Of The Chain Is Left Exposed…Which Can Scratch Your Bike Frame
The only complaint I have about the Kyrptonite New York Faghettaboudit lock is that the cloth cover covers most…but not all of the chain. This means that there is exposed metal that can scratch up your bike frame depending on how you lock it.
After scratching my own bike, we ended up using some Gorilla tape to help cover the exposed chain.
Comes With 3 Keys….Easy To Lock/Unlock
The actual lock is smooth and easy to lock and unlock. This is a key lock (which I much prefer to a code), and it comes with 3 keys. One of these keys also has a little light so you can see the lock hole in the dark.
Kryptonite also offers a one-time, free-of-charge key replacement in case you screw up at lose all your keys. As someone who has been known to do such things, I appreciate the gesture.
5 Foot Length Makes It Versatile
The Faghettaboudit chain is 5 feet long, which makes it easy to use for multiple bikes and in a variety of configurations. I generally loop one end around the bottom tube of my frame, thru any other frames I might want to lock and then to a rack or bolt.
It’s long enough that you can also run the lock thru your frame and front wheel before securing it to a rack.
Finally, this lock is useful for locking more than just bikes. You can use it to lock motorcycles or other gear in your garage.
Bottom-Line: A Super Secure Lock For Permanent Storage
This is the lock to get if you are locking up your bike outside overnight, or at your office for 8 hours a day. You’ll sleep (or work) easy knowing that you’ve done everything you can to deter a thief.