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Litelok launch new Flexi-U Silver, 'the world's first insurance-rated flexible U-lock'

“What we’ve done is turn a very tired, and traditionally heavy, product category on its head”, says Litelok founder Professor Neil Barron...

Welsh bike security specialists Litelok have launched what they claim is the world's first lock that both bends and carries a Sold Secure Silver rating. The Flexi-U Silver U-Lock weighs in at a mere 640g in its smaller size, made with a patented material. 

By the Litelok Flexi-U here

Six of the best bike locks
Review: Litelok Gold Wearable

Litelok began its life on Kickstarter, and raised over £100,000 to launch their original silver lock (you can check out our review of the gold version in the link above). Their CEO Professor Neil Barron said that while Litelok's round silver lock proved popular and successful, there was a demand for a lock with a more traditional shape with the same flexible technology found in their other products:

“While Silver has proved incredibly successful, there are plenty of people out there who prefer the more traditional U/D shape for a lock. What we’ve done is turn a very tired, and traditionally heavy, product category on its head”, he says. 

litelok flexi u 2

The Flexi-U Silver comes in two sizes, weighing just 640g in the smaller size and 750g for the larger one, which Litelok say is half the weight of most U-locks. It features the same housing as their standard Silver lock made from steel alloy, and the body of the lock itself is made from Litelok's patented ‘Boaflexicore’ material. They claim this is highly resistant to attacks from common bike thieving tools such as crowbars, saws and bolt croppers. The flexibility should give you more options for securing a bike compared to traditional U-locks, allowing you to bend it around sign posts, lamp posts, telegraph poles and trees.

The Flexi-U Silver is £69.99 for a size regular and £79.99 for size large, and you can also purchase them in twin packs. There's an additional option to purchase Litelok's own bike theft protection with your lock for an annual fee; as an example, their Gold coverage on a bike worth under £2,000 is £65 for the year. Head over to Litelok's website for more info. 

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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6 comments

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hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
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There's a LockPickingLawyer video picking the lock on this one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpI2GoHtU9c

It seems a reasonable lock (I haven't had much luck picking those kinds of locks myself - I'm better at the pin type locks) but I'd be interested in seeing him do a destructive test on it as that's where their other models seem lacking.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
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If you had a tool designed by him and Bosnian Bill you might have more success. 

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hawkinspeter replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 4 years ago
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I've got a similar looking tool but I think it's more down to practise. I've got a clear practise lock but I'm not convinced that the tool is the right size for it as I have trouble reaching the first disc.

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Fluffed replied to hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
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It's less cables than the gold, which lasts 16 seconds vs bolt croppers, I can't see how it would last even than long.

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ktache replied to Fluffed | 4 years ago
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They were the biggest cable cutters I had ever seen though.

No lock will last too long to a determined and talented person with the right tools, as lockpickinglawyer has shown so many times.  And videos of people with angle grinders.

I think we are lucky that most of the scrotes never want to pick the locks, much more likely to use super glue and come back later with power tools or just strip everything off.

I always thought, after I got my third very heavy D lock, that there would be a market for a D lock, that looked the part, made of hollow plastic with a thin cable inside, just to deter a little bit.

Of course, it's all about doing enough for the insurance, just in case.

That and parking her next to a worse locked up bike (always easy) or not being the nicest (Sometimes more difficult, but I never clean anything but the drivetrain).

The twisting attack ripping the cables out of the crimps did mean that I would never buy the big LiteLock.  They do kind of look the part and the people I've asked seem to like them.

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hawkinspeter replied to ktache | 4 years ago
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*Locks bike inside Fort Knox*

Me: There that's nice and secure; no-one's going to be able to steal it now.

*muffled voice from outside* : Got a click on 2

Me: Crap!

 

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