My lock stuck!

[PamNY]

Tonight my Kryptonite lock stuck. I tried for 30 minutes to open it and got nowhere. Luckily I was close to home, so I fetched the two extra keys, some graphite lock lubricant and canned air.

I'm not sure which (if any) of these remedies worked, because it took another 15 minutes of fiddling to open the lock.

I don't think I will be able to trust this lock again after it almost caused me to spend all of Christmas Eve night weeping and gnashing my teeth in front of Whole Foods.

[Melalvai]

Glad you got it out. I used to lock my ulock onto my bike when it wasn't being used to lock the bike to a rack, and once it got stuck there, so I had to get someone to cut it off. He was worried I'd stolen the bike!

[OakLeaf]

Could it have been iced up? I've had some interesting experiences trying to get into my car. They sell some chemical lock de-icer. There's probably some lubricant you can use to prevent icing, but I don't know what it might be.

[DebW]

I had a very old ulock that wouldn't open. Tried Liquid Wrench and some other lubricants to no avail, but WD-40 fixed it right up.

[PamNY]

I don't think it was iced up -- temps weren't below freezing. Which reminds me of when I first moved to the Northeast and had no idea car locks could even do that...

I looked on the Kryptonite website and they recommend lube once a month. Once a month? I had no idea. I don't even use the lock very often, but I guess it gets dirty.

[smilingcat]

My first thought was it was frozen from water being inside.

I remember back in HS days. guys would pull a practical joke on each other by squirting water into the lock on very cold days. Most of the boys carried some kind of de-icing spray.

But it sounds like from what DebW and the kryptonite people say, I would suggest that maabe wash the mechanism out with WD-40 (its a solvent not a lube) then oil properly afterwards. I would hope that WD-40 would get the grime out. Doesn't WD-40 come in a spray can with straw attachment?

I would give that a go... And I think I will keep this in the back of my mind too.

Well thank goodness you got the lock to let go and your bike is safe at home.

Wish you a safe Christmas evening.