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An acquaintance gave me this recently when she learnt that I am interested in locks. I am told it is a Chinese bicycle lock.



The combination is on the small sticker on the shackle. I don't read Mandarin but I'm told the pictograms relate to seasons and weather.
Each end of the lock has the image of the "happy buddha".



The shackle will only slide out from the lock when all of the gates in the dials line up with the extensions on the arm.





Decoding is very simple:

-- apply moderate tension to the shackle so that dials bind against the extensions on the arm;
-- the dials on either end will bind first so start with these and proceed through each dial in turn;
-- binding dials will have friction (in proportion to the amount of tension you apply);
-- turn the dials until the rectangular extension on the removable arm falls into the gate, you will hear and feel this;
-- when the dial is in the gate the dial will move easily within a narrow range.

Here's a video of the decoding:

Cool lock! "What's the code?" - "Well just let me draw a picture for you"

i have one of those... they sell on ebay CONSTANTLY... i did not decode it tho, very cool man

Yeah they are pretty cool. They sell in the thousands in Asia as tourist pieces, I picked one up in Hong Kong as a neat addition to a Chinese style cabinet i have. Interesting not to point out, it shows the clear principle to how a cryptex works.....the ancient lock/message keeping device made famous by Dan Brown:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptex

I love the lock, they are a great addition to anyones collection..