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review
Locks
Squire Urban Paramount lockSquire Urban Paramount U lock

Squire Urban Paramount lock

6
by dave atkinson
UPDATED Thu, Oct 15, 2015 04:24

First Published Sep 13, 2009

0
£59.99

VERDICT:

6
10
Good protection from attack but you might need a new one when the thieves give up
Weight: 
0g
Contact: 
www.chickencyclekit.co.uk
How we test

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The Squire Urban Paramount boasts a Sold Secure Gold rating and a 10 year guarantee, so we were expecting a good level of protection, which it certainly delivers. However, our efforts attacking the lock, while we didn't break it, rendered it useless for the next trip: not a good thing.

The Urban Paramount is a good quality U lock with a Boron Steel shackle double locked at both ends into a hardened body with a very decent 6-pin tumbler mechanism. There's a mount included which is functional rather than great, but holds the lock fairly steady.

We attacked the lock with our usual thieves' armoury: 30" bolt croppers, persuader, hacksaw, hammer and cold chisel. All sorts of twisting and banging didn't get the lock to budge but the plastic casing on the body did get pretty wrecked. After the allotted five minutes we gave up and unlocked the unbreached Squire, at which point the the lock simply fell to pieces.

It seems that the internals are held in by the plastic sheath, and when it breaks they slide out: far from ideal, and all it would take to fix the problem would be a plate at both ends of the body.

Verdict

The Squire gave good protection and as such is a very decent lock. However, after an attack you may need to go and buy a new one, as bits that are easy to break are part of the essential structure.

road.cc test report

Make and model: Squire Urban Paramount lock

Size tested: n/a

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
6/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
6/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
7/10
Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

Did you enjoy using the product? It's a lock

Would you consider buying the product? No

Would you recommend the product to a friend? No

Overall rating: 6/10

About the tester

Age: 36  Height: 190cm  Weight: 98kg

I usually ride: Schwinn Moab, urbanised with 700cs  My best bike is: Trek 1.5 with upgrades

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, sportives, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling, track

Urban Paramount
U lock
Squire
Bike security
Bike locks
Bicycle security
Dave Atkinson

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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