Bay Area Lock Doctor

I've had this old Schwinn Cruiser since high school. It's been everywhere with me for the past 20+ years. And unfortunately, there's been a Kryptonite lock stuck through the frame and around the seat for the last ten years. The bike still rides, but the lock always rattles over bumps and is just plain useless without a key, so I figured it was time to get this thing off for good.

I called up my friendly neighborhood locksmith and he said he could get the lock off the bike for $35, so I rode the bike down the the shop.

As I entered the locksmith's shop, I started to wonder if this was really a good idea. There was crap everywhere. Key, locks, safes, tools, etc. The place was a mess. And the locksmith was this burly dude with a goatee and maybe three teeth, seriously. But he was nice enough and he remembered my call. Before long, he was going to work on my old lock.

First he tried some sort of lock-picking gizmo, but after 10 minutes, no dice. Then he asked me if I was trying to "preserve the lock."

Um, no.

So he pulls out a saw blade sort of thing attached to a drill bit, but that hardly cut through the rubber casing. "Gotta get the big one," he says.

Next thing I know, he's got the bike behind his counter and he's going to town on the lock with a bigger saw and sparks are flying everywhere. After about a minute, I hear a loud "ping" and the sawing stops. The locksmith looks up.

"Huh?," he says.

"What?," I say.

"My blade broke. That could have killed me. But it wouldn't do that..."

Lucky for me, he cut through the lock just as the blade broke.

I paid my $35 and got out of there.

Thanks, locksmith!