Lock Problem

[dasgeh]

We arrived home from a lovely vacation in the NC mountains late last night. Got the kid in bed, unloaded the car, went to take the bikes off the car and … couldn’t open our On Guard U-Lock. Odd. I thought I’d ask if any of you have any suggestions.

We have the bikes locked onto the bike rack with an On-Guard cable + U-lock (like these). The cable goes through the front wheel, through the back triangle and through the back wheel of each of two bikes, then connects to the U-Lock, which is on the bike rack.

We’ve stuck the key into the hole of the U-Lock, turned both directions, jiggled the bottom piece up and down and held it at various angles, all while trying to turn the stinking key. It doesn’t budge.

Thoughts?

Topic

[DismalScientist]

Make sure the thing across the U is pushed in against the U when turning the key. Sometimes the locking mechanism keeps the key from turning.
Then swear at it a few times.

[vvill]

My second/newer OnGuard is super “sticky” like that. It sometimes takes over a minute of fidgeting to get it to turn. What I found works best is actually pulling the 2 pieces apart just a little. Somehow it was manufactured so if you push it in all the way it’s not right.

My original OnGuard is fine as long as the U is pushed in all the way.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Perhaps spray some oil or wd40 (the duct tape of the lubricant world) in the lock mechanism.

[jordash]

@ShawnoftheDread 28848 wrote:

Perhaps spray some oil or wd40 (the duct tape of the lubricant world) in the lock mechanism.

Any kind of lube will work without the key in, but perhaps you’ll be able to drip some in there even with the key in place.

[dasgeh]

Thanks all. As an update, the lock didn’t work with the bar pushed into the U. It didn’t work with the bar pulled out of the U (a little, a lot, medium). Somehow, after trying for 5+ minutes Sunday night, Monday morning and Monday evening, right as I was about to walk over to the neighbors to see if they had some WD 40 (we haven’t unpacked our garage yet), I slipped the lock over the vertical bar of the bike rack, pulled it out a little and it worked! (There’s no way on Earth that it mattered whether it was diagonally across that vertical bar or parallel to it).

Anyway, I’m planning to contact On Guard today to see about a replacement. I think we’ve only had this puppy since December.

Thanks all!
G

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