Halfords Advanced 23cm D lock

The Halfords Advanced 23cm D lock is really good value and put up a much better than average fight against the dreaded road.cc angle grinder. It’s pretty cheap, and not especially heavy, and for all those reasons it’s easy to recommend, especially if you have a bag to sling it in – the bracket is the only sub-par bit of the offering.

> Buy now: Halfords Advanced 23cm D lock for £50 from Halfords

This is a Diamond Sold Secure lock, the highest certification given to bike locks in the UK, and Halfords, on its own security scale, rates the lock as a 10/10, the first time the company has awarded top marks.

It’s a pretty standard lock to look at: you’re getting a 23cm shackle which locks at both ends into a hardened steel base, with a barrel that’s designed to be resistant to both drilling and picking. The shackle itself is ultra-hardened steel, and the whole thing is covered with a rubberised coating to stop it messing up your nice frame.

There’s a mounting point on the shackle which slides into a frame mount, which is secured by two plastic jubilee clips and has a locking mechanism to stop the lock bouncing off down the road if you hit a pothole.

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You get a very generous five keys – some locks costing three times as much only come with two – and even an LED key to make unlocking after dark easier.

All sounds good? I thought so too. Let’s be realistic, you’re not going to be getting an angle grinder-proof lock for 50 quid. But how did the Halfords Advanced 23cm D Lock fare against our attacks during testing? The short answer is: really well. Of all the locks that didn’t make it to two minutes this lock was the best, surviving for 94 seconds before it finally succumbed. There are a couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, it’s a solid lock. There’s nothing inherently special about its construction, it’s just hardened steel with a rubberised coating. But there’s plenty of material in it, and at 1,422g (plus 39g for the mount) it’s a pretty weighty lock. But more importantly, it’s well made. The tolerances are nice and tight, and both ends of the shackle lock in place and can’t be twisted, and that means that when you have sliced through it with your metal cutting disc you can’t get the cut edges far enough apart to slip a bike frame through, even a weedy, narrow-tubed frame like the Peugeot racer we were using as our guinea pig bike. That means you have to cut the lock twice to liberate the bike from the rack, and that means more time shooting sparks and attracting attention to yourself.

Given how much the lock costs, it’s punching significantly above its weight, which is reflected in its road.cc security score. The score reflects its price, weight and resistance to attack, and the Halfords Advanced 23cm D lock posted a score of 77; the only locks we rated more highly were all £150 or more.

Sounds great, right? It is, for the money. This was easily the pick of the cheaper locks, and if you’re going to sling it into a rucksack or a pannier for the daily commute then unless you live somewhere really dodgy or you have a really nice bike you’re probably okay to leave your bike locked up all day. Halfords doesn’t offer any additional guarantees for this lock like some manufacturers do, and for 50 quid you couldn’t really expect it to, but if your bike is insured – it is insured, right? – then the Sold Secure Diamond rating will be more than enough for any policy if you do get your pride and joy nicked.

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The only real downside of this lock is the mount, which is pretty average. The plastic jubilee clips don’t allow you to do it up especially tight, so if you’re mounting it vertically you’ll need a wrap of old inner tube first to stop the weight of the lock pulling it down. I ended up with it mounted horizontally like you can see in the picture and it was okay, although the lock rattled and swayed a bit and didn’t feel especially secure. It’s okay, but I’ve seen better.

Conclusion

Overall, the Halfords Advanced 23cm D lock is easy to recommend. It’s miles better than its £20 cheaper non-Advanced cousin, and was the best of the low- to mid-range D locks that we tried in terms of its resistance to attacks. If you want a no-nonsense lock for your commuting bike that you can sling in a bag and use around town, this is one to go for.

> Buy now: Halfords Advanced 23cm D lock for £50 from Halfords

Verdict

Excellent budget D lock that’s really good value for money

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