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review
Squire Urban Paramount U lock£59.99
VERDICT:
Good protection from attack but you might need a new one when the thieves give up
Weight:
0g
Contact:
www.chickencyclekit.co.uk
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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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.
If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website
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
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
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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