BIC Pens The Kryptonite For 'Krypton' Locks...

(SAN FRANCISCO) Mission District cyclist blew whistle on flawed lock. The triumph last week of the Bic pen over expensive, state-of-the-art steel locks has panicked the bicycling community, and churned Internet rumor mills about how much the lock manufacturer knew and when the company knew it.

Bike shops across the country have pulled the mostly U-shaped circular-key locks from the shelves. Clerks in San Francisco shrug when customers ask how to secure their wheels. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has declared a crisis. And the lock manufacturer that is receiving all of the attention -- Kryptonite of Canton, Mass., which until Friday was the industry standard for security -- is planning a widespread recall of almost every lock it makes.

It all started in San Francisco, at Dolores Park, last Sunday night.

That's where 25-year-old Chris Brennan complained to his friend that the custom-made wheels on his 2004 Bianchi bicycle were stolen just a week after he put them on the frame. Brennan's friend asked, in passing, if he knew that Kryptonite locks could be opened with a Bic pen.

Yeah, right, Brennan said.

But when he got home, he gave it a try. He pulled the back off a black ink pen, shoved the white tube over the round keyhole in the lock and twisted.

"The first time I did it, it was like I had stuck in a key and opened it," said Brennan, whose Mission District apartment resembles a hipster movie set -- full of vinyl records, comic books, a bank of computer monitors and an aging futon. "One half of a twist, and it opened right up."

He immediately posted a warning on an Internet billboard popular with bicycling enthusiasts. "Your brand new U-lock is not safe!" it said.

The recalled lock models include: the Evolution lock, KryptoLok lock, New York Chain, New York Noose, Evolution Disc Lock, KryptoDisco and DFS Disc Lock.