Abus Granit Super Extreme 2500 + USH 2500 mount

The Abus Granit Super Extreme 2500 could be all the lock you ever need to keep your pride and joy protected against theft. It’s easy to use, with plentiful space inside the lock, and there’s an optional top-class mounting bracket to enable you to carry it around too. All this comes at a cost, though.

The Granit Super Extreme 2500 – it sounds quite impressive in name alone – consists of a chunky 28mm-thick shackle made of hardened steel (as is the housing and structural parts), with a Wolfram carbide material compound around the shackle and body.

Abus also claims the Plus cylinder ‘offers protection against skilled lock breaking methods such as picking’, although this is best considered a ‘nice to have’ given we’re not able to verify its effectiveness in our testing – more on that in a bit.

The lock is Sold Secure Powered Cycle Diamond rated, which is the highest level of security a lock can be awarded in the UK, designed primarily with high-value bikes in mind, or anyone who just, you know, likes to hang on to their bike when they go places.

Lock bustin’ efforts

How does all that fare in the real world? Thankfully, I didn’t have to leave one of my own bikes in the middle of Bristol to find out, because Dodgy Dave, our surrogate crim-for-hire, has already tested its security prowess.

The road.cc two-part test consisted of the most common forms of attack a lock might face in the real world: firstly via a pair of 600mm bolt cutters, and secondly with a cordless angle grinder – in this instance freshly charged and with a new disc ready to go (a pro could be on his or her second disc of the day), with two minutes to cut through.

The jaws of the bolt cutter wouldn’t fit around the 2500’s chunky body, so that was a pass, and it survived the angle grinder test after two minutes, though it didn’t actually destroy the angle grinder disc.

Some of the other more expensive locks reviewed not only survived the test but rendered the cutting disc useless within the allotted time frame (after just 34 seconds, with the Kryptonite New York, for example), but according to the testing bods there was still plenty of lock remaining at the end. That’s still a very good win, and it’s possible the disc would have died shortly after two minutes anyway – only more in-depth testing would tell.

From a personal point of view, these results give me the confidence to leave a nice bike somewhere in a city without worrying too much about it. Clearly, provided you leave your bike in a busy public place, this is probably enough to put off everyone but the most determined criminals.

Everyday use

Measuring 23cm long and 10.2cm wide, and weighing in at a reasonable 2,215g (Abus claims 2.47kg!), and 2,533g with the mount, the Granit Super Extreme 2500 is one heck of a lock, but that’s to be expected with the level of protection.

It’s definitely at the larger end of the spectrum – bigger, for instance, than the similarly rated Hiplok D1000 and the Kryptonite New York.

I’ve owned the older and somewhat less secure version of the New York for many years, and have found that to be sufficient enough to lock a bike in your preferred way. The bigger Abus certainly gives you a bit more leeway – for example, if you want to pass the lock through a wheel and a tube before locking it to a bike rack, there’s just a bit more room to do so.

> How to lock your bike when you’re out and about so it’s there when you come back

A plastic coating around the body of the lock helps to protect against damage, though I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was anti-scratch.

Locking or unlocking is a joy thanks to its smooth operation, and the in-built spring-loaded covers mean you don’t have to worry about removing a cover each time (as you have to with the New York, for example). The only downside of the cover is the potential for water to get inside the lock, but I guess as long as you don’t leave it pointing up when it’s sat in the rain, it’ll probably be fine.

Speaking of the locking mechanism, included with the Granit Super Extreme 2500 are two keys, as well as a code card if you happen to lose your keys.

Mount

It doesn’t come with a lock mount, for that you’ll need to purchase the USH 2500 bracket, which costs £10 if buying along with the lock, £20 on its own. It’s worth having, so you can travel around without having to worry about storing the lock in a bag. It’s super secure too, and in use was completely silent, even over bumpy roads.

I mounted it on the left side of my rack and although it’s obviously adding a fair bit of weight to one side, relatively high up (2.53kg total), because it’s so secure and the weight is spread out along the side, it’s not that noticeable. With a similarly weighty pannier bag on the other side, it’s nicely balanced.

Fitting it is a doddle too – just slip the two included plastic straps through the end that secures the locking body, and secure it in place, then use one or two of the adjustable rubber straps to affix the other end.

My only gripe is that when fastened, the rubber strap (I only used one) sort of dangled in place and looked untidy, though it would be easy enough to cut this down to suit.

If you don’t want to mount it to a pannier rack, or can’t because you don’t have one, then it might be possible to mount the lock to a part of your frame – your top tube and down tube, near the head tube junction, for instance – though it wouldn’t work with thick or non-round tubes, and it would also depend on your frame size.

Value

The lock on its own retails for £270 (though I’ve seen it for between £210 and £235), while the USH 2500 mounting bracket adds £10 to the total if bought at the same time, bringing the overall price to £280. A lot of cash, then, but if you have a high-value bike, or one you just don’t want to part with (who does?!), then it’s definitely a worthwhile investment.

That said, while the other Diamond-rated locks we’ve reviewed were also quite expensive, there are cheaper options out there.

The OnGuard RockSolid 8590 – full review imminent – comes in at £199.99 and the Litelok X1 is even cheaper at £149.99. Both of these locks also performed better technically in the angle grinder test, and are the only two in our round-up that scored a full 100 points.

The advantage the Granit Super Extreme 2500 has over the competition, however, is with its excellent mounting bracket. If that’s a must-have requirement then I would definitely say it’s worth spending the extra on this lock to get access to that perk.

Conclusion

Big, heavy and with plentiful protection against attacks, Abus’s Diamond-rated lock is at the expensive end of the spectrum, and although there are others out there that give you similar protection for a lot less money, the optional mounting bracket makes the Granit Super Extreme 2500 very appealing from a day-to-day usability point of view.

Verdict

High-performance Diamond-rated D-lock, with an excellent optional mounting bracket, though it’s a lot of money

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