Abus Titalium

[Josephus]

I acquired a diskus on sale not too long ago. Diskus with a K, made in Germany on the box, same stamped on the lock face. Mine is also really easy to open. It doesn't compare to the others of the same brand. I have a smaller diskus-a-like branded Chateau. Have owned that one forever and is much more difficult. Tighter keyway and a mean bitting.

Fuck just got a bigass metal sliver from the Diskus. Must not upset the ABUS gods.

Edit:
Look at it. Pulled it, and some skin, out with pliers. Can't be too careful with things like that. Even a little fleck can do serious damage if I need an MRI later.

Damn Sliver.jpg

[Neilau]

Hi Deadlock.

I also wondered if my Abus was a ripoff.

Here is my post with pics. http://keypicking.com/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=8594&p=76544#p76544

It is a "k" and made in Germany stamped on back of lock. Also pics of a Lockwood disc lock made in China. Much netter finish and quite difficult to pick.

[mercurial]

Whilst they seem far too easy to pick, I'd be surprised if these Diskuses are fake.

I was wondering the same thing and asked a few locksmiths about them. They come into the shop with other stock from Abus, so if they are fake, they are getting in very high up the food chain.

I'm leaning towards thinking they now manufacture them more cheaply & to poor tolerances & relying on past reputation to keep them selling.

The first Diskus I came across many years ago was much tougher to pick, unfortunately that lock is long gone, so it's hard to say how much improvement of my picking ability is at play here.

I also have one of the Diskus style locks made for Lockwood(in China). It looks to be of much better quality & its quite challenging to pick. It doesn't help that it has a very nasty bitting.

...Mark

[s1deshowmick]

Hey, very interesting thread..

mecurial what do you call a cheap abus lock? what size were you after?

[mercurial]

I didn't have a specific price in mind, but hoping not to spend much because I anticipate destroying it. Any size would be useful, as long as it's made of their Titalium alloy. Condition is irrelevant, one with a cut shackle would do just fine.

...Mark

[Deadlock]

Thanks for your answer Neilau.

Thanks also to Josephus and mercurial for their input.

Sad state of affairs to see what's happened with the Diskus.

[s1deshowmick]

Lockwood manufacturing were moved overseas a few years ago, that's why your seeing the "Made in China" stamped on them.

http://www.kgbsecurity.com.au/resources/43/security-door-lock-repairs-brisbane.php

[s1deshowmick]

Maybe i missed the whole point of the thread, but i don't see anywhere on my suppliers site where they or ABUS announce these locks are made of titanium ?
Titalium Is the trade mark, but they could well have used mud brick as a trade mark. They say its made from Aluminium Alloy, not Titanium.
It also says "higher security, less weight". I read, higher security = ABUS product, Less Weight = Aluminium.

I'm suspecting third party advertising is to blame for this misguided Titanium claim.

I'm happy to supply you a Titalium brand lock as they are quite cheap ( just give me time to order it ) and suspect they are cheap because they're made from aluminium.

PM me mate and I'll get it to you in due course.

Mick.

[Deadlock]

s1deshowmick, you're right in saying that Abus don't claim there's any titanium in a Titalium padlock. I just did a web search* and this supplier was at the top of the list: http://www.nothingbutpadlocks.com/products/titalium-padlocks What they're saying is wrong, of course.

If you read femurat's thread, which is linked in mercurial's original post here, you'll see where this started. femurat uses the word titanium. As I've said before, Abus cannot be accused of false advertising, but I think they've been sailing pretty close to the wind by the way they describe this lock. You know the old saying, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing"? If somebody knew nothing much about metals, the word Titalium wouldn't mean anything to them. If somebody had heard of titanium and only knew it as some special aerospace metal, they might assume that Titalium was some kind of titanium alloy. Abus also use the words, "...in the aircraft industry", possibly again suggesting that this is some superalloy.

Edited to add: I've seen people on the lockpicking forums refer to Titalium as titanium alloy more than once. If Abus had called it mud brick, this wouldn't have happened. As I've said before, Titalium is only one letter away from titanium. It just looks like it should be a titanium/aluminium alloy.



* Abus Titalium to buy

[Neilau]

My last words on the Titalium locks.

Whatever else may be said about these locks the six pin models (at least the one that I have) are a BITCH to pick.

I still haven’t gotten it yet. Set pins ….. almost there……click , click, click …. Pins fall. SHIT!!!!

These cylinders in a decent stainless steel lock would be awesome …. Assuming that they are all as difficult to pick as my one.

I would be interested to know if others have found them to be as difficult as I have. Six pin models.

I know BosnianBill in his YouTube vid says that they are a difficult pick.

If anyone has picked a couple of them, I would be grateful for any tips.

[escher7]

The thing about Abus is that several of us wrote to them asking if Titanium was in the lock or if it was an aluminum alloy, but they refused to respond. Clearly they are content to mislead the public with their silence when they could just say what the metal is. It is not likely an accident they used the name Titalium the way they did. Abus loses 10 points with me.

Edit:
In reviewing their website and brochurd it appears to me that Abus now makes much more reference to the lock bodies being made of a "special aluminum alloy". Maybe the comments here have caused them to clarify their product specs.

[s1deshowmick]

if you look back through the threads a few years, Buying stuff made from "Aircraft industry materials" isn't new. Pick cases made from quality grade aircraft materials actually turned out to be vinyl. it's all a marketing ploy. I didn't use the mud brick trade mark thing as well as i could have i must admit, but if i ordered an ABUS Rock trade marked lock, would i be expecting an actual dug from the ground rock in the mail ? It's all a matter of perception. IMHO Abus Locks are the best quality off the shelf locks available, full of nasty Mushroom/spool pins. Good on them for introducing such a discussion to this forum, and quite possibly selling locks to people just to see if it is some kind of inter planetary alien technology , lol.

Mick.....

[Deadlock]

Well no, I wouldn't expect to get a padlock made out of rock if I ordered an Abus Rock, the same way I wouldn't expect to get a padlock made out of granite if I bought an Abus Granit. I would say that anyone who's in the market for a padlock knows they're made out of metal, not stone.

The thing is, the word 'Titalium' tends to make people assume (that fatal word...) that it's a titanium alloy. I thought so at first. Whether by accident or design, that is what has happened. My original post in femurat's thread was basically making a point of information that there's no Ti in a TI.

I've got no complaints about the security of Abus spools/mushrooms (I've seen both words used). I can't pick 'em, and my proverbial hat is doffed to anyone that can. Skilful stuff. As far as the security of the smaller Titaliums goes, well, watch the YouTube vid in mercurial's original post.

I reckon if some no-name lock had appeared with the word 'Titalium' on it, people would just laugh. Because it's Abus, people have taken this word to mean something that it actually doesn't.

[s1deshowmick]

it's not titanium no matter what. It's really not that big of a deal, it's not like it's the first time an advertising company has stretched the truth.
Ya know, things Like "It's not a blender, It's a nutrient extractor" and the thousands of people that brought it, got a damn blender!!....lol
If you feel so strongly about the name of the thing, I'm sure your time zone would allow for a call to their head office, and they would love this conversation.
Anyway, got to go, i got a new Lockwood to pick...Hey this thing isn't made of.......