Abus vs. Pewag Security Chain

bikeman242

Active Member
Was about to order an Abus Chain for my primary bike lock, and then I discovered the Pewag brand here:


It comes in both 10mm and 12mm chain thicknesses, which is the highest that Abus offers, for a fraction of the price.

I have never heard of the Pewag brand, but the YouTube videos on the site of the chain trying to be broken seem legitimate.

Anybody familiar with the quality of this brand?
 
I was considering Pewag, but then saw a couple of reviews for the Beast chain from OnGuard, which has been more geared towards the motorcycle and ATV type crowd.

Their Beast chain is 14mm.


You can find it online for FAR cheaper than their listed retail price.
 
I've had 2 of the locks in the photo get the keyhole moved out of place when dropped and then you see a spring showing inside. I did find that you can use a dentist type hook to grab the mechanism from the side it slid to, and slide it back into place, but it's not an encouraging thing. :)
 
I've had 2 of the locks in the photo get the keyhole moved out of place when dropped and then you see a spring showing inside. I did find that you can use a dentist type hook to grab the mechanism from the side it slid to, and slide it back into place, but it's not an encouraging thing. :)
The OnGuard lock? Hmmm, I'll keep an eye out, but I've dropped it a couple of times, and so far so good. :)
 
I dropped them when I was putting the chain on or off the bike. I was unlocking the bar and lock part and leaving it dangling from my key chain around my neck while I dealt with the heavy chain. The lock part fell off the keychain flat on the sidewalk from about 2 feet. I thought one was a fluke, but it wasn't. Others have reported the same on Amazon.
 
Currently I use locks of different makes to lock my bike: 2 kinds of OnGuard, 1 Kryptonite Evolution, 1 Abus u-lock. Plus a screamer.
The one thing I still want to do is make the display removable or unworkable when the bike is locked.
 
I was considering Pewag, but then saw a couple of reviews for the Beast chain from OnGuard, which has been more geared towards the motorcycle and ATV type crowd.
Their Beast chain is 14mm.
You can find it online for FAR cheaper than their listed retail price.
Yeah, but that Beast was 3.5' long. About long enough to reach around a city supplied bike rack. Which there might be some of in megacity Toronto. You can buy the Pawag in 7' length which will go around an electric pole which we have in my downtown. Plus, ebay/amazon/alibaba are full of counterfeits; who knows what the "steel" is? Westechrigging is a big supply house that has things like tree climbers gear and safetyharnesses. When they say pawag is made in Austria, they probably mean it.
Plus thanks for the reference: I just bought a crane to deal with 3 acres of trees falling on my cars & trailer at the summer camp, and had no good idea how to rig the logs to the crane. Just the language of westechrigging is an education. A **** tree fell on the tractor I need to repair with the crane this winter. Another tree is 2' from lying on top of my '56 Chevy.
 
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Yeah, but that beast was 3.5' long. About long enough to reach around a city supplied bike rack. Which there might be some of in megacity Toronto. You can buy the Pawag in 7' length which will go around an electric pole which we have in my downtown. Plus, online is full of counterfeits; who knows what the "steel" is? Westechrigging is a big supply house that has things like tree climbers gear and safetyharnesses. When they say pawag is made in Austria, they probably mean it.
I'm not an OnGuard spokesperson, but the OP didn't specify a length, just a quality of chain, and OnGuard chains are a solid option, including a 7ft by 12mm diameter chain only option.

While buying counterfeit products is always a danger, that's really tangential to the discussion of quality, and I would GUESS that given the brand recognition, one is more likely to run into a counterfeit ABUS or Kryptonite chain than OnGuard. :)
 
I watched videos on locks for a month before I purchased locks for our Rad Mini's. We normally don't leave our ebikes unattended, mainly only at the camping grounds locked to the trailer, or a run to the local store for whatever we may need. We went with the Abus Folding Locks, expensive, but easy to mount to the frame when folded for storage. I'm happy with them, but expensive and heavy. https://www.amazon.com/Abus-Bordo-G...sprefix=folding+bicycle+locks,aps,164&sr=8-37
 
I'm happy to see amazon lists the abus-bordo is undefined length. Wrap that around a light pole , one of the 2" diameter ones. Ha! One light pole I regularly use is 16" diameter. One shopping center has only poles mounted in 24" diameter concrete bases, or cart racks that could be cut with a grinder in 1 minute. The real estate company told one tenant that they intended for there to be no bike racks on their property. Bike riders are undesirable as customers. The alternate, Kroger's, is 5 miles out a 55 mph highway with no sidewalks or berms.
 
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I see these big, heavy chains on bikes all the time, and laugh when I notice that they often have Dollar Tree locks on them! To me, these sort of things are just the wrong type of locks for bikes. Get a good Kryptonite U-lock or something similar and be done w/ it. Keep in mind that if someone wants to steal something bad enough, they will, and a portable grinder can cut through even hardened steel in no time flat. U-lock and parking in high foot traffic, well lit areas is the bike mantra.

Indianjo, nothing said about realtors would surprise me, unless someone said something good, and I would drop dead if that came from someone other than a relative or another realtor. It's like the old joke about what do you call 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea......a good start. Works for realtors just as nicely.
 
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Get a good Kryptonite U-lock or something similar and be done w/ it.
I want to see a video of you locking your bike with a U-lock around a 24" diameter concrete light pole pylon.
The only bike racks we have in this town are for inserting the front wheel in. The frame never gets close to the steel rack.
I liked the look of the Vivo lock the westtechrigging site had. I like better using the same key for my bike, garage door & house door. Less bulk in my pocket. So I'm using master grade 11. The only sets of keyed alike abus granite locks on ebay came without key cores as best as I could determine.
I'm using a seven foot 1/2" stainless steel sling instead of chain. I've cut stainless steel bolts with a 16 amp grinder at work, and it is a real PIT*.
 
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I’m going to pick up the 12mm Pewag chain along with an Abus 37RK/70 padlock for securing my bike in my apartment patio. Will post back on perceived quality once I get them.
 
I'm happy to see amazon lists the abus-bordo is undefined length. Wrap that around a light pole , one of the 2" diameter ones. Ha! One light pole I regularly use is 16" diameter. One shopping center has only poles mounted in 24" diameter concrete bases, or cart racks that could be cut with a grinder in 1 minute. The real estate company told one tenant that they intended for there to be no bike racks on their property. Bike riders are undesirable as customers. The alternate, Kroger's, is 5 miles out a 55 mph highway with no sidewalks or berms.
So bike riders are undesireable customers now? How quaint...
 
I have two, 4 foot, 10mm Pewag chains for our Lectric XP bikes. I'm using Viro Panzer locks keyed alike for them and I am very pleased that they will be secure against most attacks. The Viro locks are designed specifically for this size chain, and are pretty solid (And Heavy!).



1595769223541.png
 
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I have two, 4 foot, 3/8" Pewag chains for our Lectric XP bikes. I'm using Viro Panzer locks keyed alike for them and I am very pleased that they will be secure against most attacks. The Viro locks are designed specifically for this size chain, and are pretty solid (And Heavy!).



View attachment 60129

Are you in the US? Where did you buy the chain from?
 
I want to see a video of you locking your bike with a U-lock around a 24" diameter concrete light pole pylon.
The only bike racks we have in this town are for inserting the front wheel in. The frame never gets close to the steel rack.
I liked the look of the Vivo lock the westtechrigging site had. I like better using the same key for my bike, garage door & house door. Less bulk in my pocket. So I'm using master grade 11. The only sets of keyed alike abus granite locks on ebay came without key cores as best as I could determine.
I'm using a seven foot 1/2" stainless steel sling instead of chain. I've cut stainless steel bolts with a 16 amp grinder at work, and it is a real PIT*.
How much does your lock and sling weigh?
 
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