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Developments in Angle Grinder Proof Materials and Design

Battery powered tools are great for DIY, but portable angle grinders have now become a standard tool for bike and motorcycle thieving criminals. In our latest post we look at latest developments in angle grinder proof materials and designs.

Just recently, the mastermind behind an organised crime gang, which stole and handled many bikes in the City of London, has been sentenced to two years and nine months behind bars by Inner London Crown Court.

A City of London Police investigation discovered that the gang had stolen more than £100,000 worth of valuable bikes over a two year period. Evidence collected by the police included CCTV footage in which the perpetrator was seen handing over angle grinders to accomplices. The City of London Police have stated that angle grinders are now a common tool used to steal bikes.

Common Bike Theft Techniques

Bike theft is a relatively common crime that can often leave victims without their essential means of transportation. Thieves tend to consider cycle theft as a low-risk, high reward crime. The most commonly used criminal techniques to steal bikes include:

• Cable cutters
• Bolt croppers
• Lock picking
• Angle Grinders.

Cable cutters are used to by bike thieves to cut through relatively low-security bike cable locks. Police advice is to use high quality D-Locks or chain locks which are highly rated by Sold Secure.

Bolt croppers are known to be a standard tool in the bike thieves arsenal. Heavy duty bolt cutters, with long handles, can potentially cut through cable locks and even some chain locks. Police advice is to use only highly rated, Sold Secure approved bike locks and to security label bicycles and all of their removable components.

Lock picking thieves can use specialised tools to manipulate and open some security locks. Again, Police advice is to invest in the best available, high security, Sold Secure approved bike locks.

Portable, battery operated angle grinders are now powerful enough to overcome many of today’s commonly used bike locks. While angle grinder attacks can take some time to breach a bike lock, brazen thieves are increasingly using these powerful tools to steal valuable cycles, often in broad daylight.

Other techniques are also sometimes used such as smashing locks with hammers or prying locks with crowbars. But police forces routinely highlight ineffective or non-existent bike security as a key factor in many bike thefts.

Reports of Brazen Bike Thieves Using Angle Grinders

Paying attention to bike and motorcycle security is essential. Even if you are just popping to the shop where you’ll leave your bike outside, unattended for a few minutes, its vitally important to make certain its locked up securely. Today’s battery powered angle grinders are very powerful, easily affordable and can cut through almost anything, often in only a couple of minutes.

In London, four bike thieves were witnessed brazenly stealing bikes in broad daylight. When a bike owner challenged them one of the thieves threatened him with an angle grinder.

In Rotherhithe, a gang of masked bike thieves used an angle grinder to cut through a Trek e-bike’s lock in just a few minutes. The crime was committed in broad daylight, outside a busy shopping centre where it was witnessed and recorded by many onlookers.

In another case, this time in Shoreditch, a crook was recorded as he used an angle grinder to cut through a bike lock in only a few seconds. This was another angle-grinder assisted crime committed in broad daylight, witnessed by many passers by.

Developments in Non-Cuttable Materials

The need for robust security that can withstand aggressive attacks using angle grinders has prompted the development of innovative non-cuttable materials and designs.

One of these new materials, developed by engineers at Durham University and the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, uses ceramic spheres encased in a cellular aluminium structure, inspired by the natural cellular structure of grapefruit and the tiled structure of Abalone shells that protect the mollusc inside.

The ceramic spheres, embedded in this clever material, are very fine particles that stiffen to resist the effect of an angle grinder when the material is cut or drilled at speed. When the material is attacked with an angle grinder the vibrations effectively blunt the grinder blade, turning the cutting energy back on the tool itself, rendering it ineffective.

This remarkable light-weight material, named Proteus, is not only highly effective against angle-grinder attacks, it can also withstand armour-piercing bullets. The developers also say the material has potential to be useful in protective safety equipment for people using dangerous cutting tools.

Another innovative development in angle-grinder proof materials and design is Ferosafe. This is a weldable, composite material that is capable of resisting high power angle grinders and drills. A hardened, high-tensile steel core is further strengthened by an anti-angle-grinder armour that’s permanently fused to the steel core. Its expected that this light weight, practical material will boost security performance in a wide variety of security devices - including bike locks.

Robust security and safety products are set to be enhanced by these and other technological advances over coming years.

Squire Defiant Disc Lock

The incredibly tough Squire Defiant motorcycle disc lock is amongst the strongest disc locks currently available. It consists of a one piece all-metal body, a six-pin dimple key cylinder and a clever angle-grinder resistant design.

This incredible lock has achieved the highest possible Sold Secure Powered Cycle Diamond rating, which was previously the Motorcycle Diamond standard. The Sold Secure assessment of this lock included a full 5 minute manual attack followed up with 90 seconds of angle-grinder onslaught. As Bennetts Bike Social reported in their review,  whacking this lock with a lump hammer only managed to damage the lock’s plastic cover and put some minor dents in the body. A persistent attack on the lock with an angle-grinder demonstrated the toughness of the angle-grinder proof design and grinder resistant material used in the most vulnerable areas. As reported - it took more than two abrasive discs to cut through the lock.

Squire Stronghold D-Lock

The Squire Stronghold D-Lock is a fine example of the best currently available portable security device for bicycles and motorbikes. This incredible lock has achieved the highest possible Sold Secure Diamond rating for bicycles and Sold Secure Motorcycle Gold.

Sold Secure labs, along with a number of independent bike security product evaluators, have subjected this lock to rigorous, destructive testing. The 16mm boron steel shackle along with the 6-pin high security lock cylinder are features that contribute to this lock achieving the highest possible Sold Secure Diamond rating.

Big Boy Ground Anchor

A secure anchorage is vital to prevent valuable motorbikes and scooters from simply being lifted into the back of a thieves van or truck. Our Big Boy ground anchor has achieved the highest possible Sold Secure Motorcycle Diamond approval and gained praising reviews from independent assessors including Bennetts Bike Social.

Achieving a Sold Secure Motorcycle Diamond rating means this exceptional ground anchor was subjected to the most brutal forms of destructive attack. These tests included attack with an angle-grinder, which isn’t part of the lower level Motorcycle Gold standard. As noted by Bennetts Bike Social, a mains powered angle grinder was only able to cut through around one third of just one side of the Big Boy before the grinder disc was destroyed. This is due to the clever Big Boy design that ensures the most vulnerable areas, that might be targeted with an angle grinder, are strongly reinforced to repel even a sustained angle grinder barrage.

If you have any questions about the the best available bike and motorcycle security devices, or if you have any special requirements, remember we are here to help. Give us a call on 01273 475500 and we’ll provide you with free, expert advice.

This message was added on Thursday 23rd May 2024