A colleague of mine recently had the misfortune of having her bike stolen. Was it locked up? Yes. So what happened? Unfortunately she had chosen to use a cable lock, which is one of the least secure options available—it can be snipped in seconds with a bolt cutter, as hers was.

De Defender van AXA is het klassieke fietsslot en alom geroemd om zijn robuustheid en veiligheid. Dit slot is op Fietsslot.be ook verkrijgbaar in een witte en een zwart-zilver uitvoering. Scroll naar beneden om die opties te bekijken. AXA STENMAN INDUSTRIES has a long and rich history, dating back to 1902. The basis for one of the two current successful core business is already established in the twenties, the forerunner of the present company started production and sales of hardware. Twenty years later, a ring lock for bicycles was introduced.

Slip the lock over the wheel, hold in place and decide which screw slot on the lock you are going to use. Put the washers on the screw and a blob of thread lock. Mount the screw on the long end of the Allen key and put it through the chosen slot into the boss, being careful not to cross thread it. AXA STENMAN INDUSTRIES is een Nederlands bedrijf dat al sinds 1902 bestaat. Al sinds de jaren '40 voert AXA het bekende ringslot. Dit slot markeert de start van het ruime assortiment fietsonderdelen, zoals de Defender ringsloten, de bijhorende montageplaten en de alom bekende insteekkabels.

In researching a replacement lock system for her next bike, she turned me on to an entirely different species: ring locks. As their name indicates, they are essentially a small heavy-duty ring that attaches permanently to your bike and is quickly snapped closed to secure your wheel directly to the frame. Kind of like a set of handcuffs for your bike tire.

The convenience factor is high, given that the lock is always in place and can be secured in seconds with the turn of a key, but there’s one obvious drawback. A ring lock prevents the wheel from turning, and thus helps dissuade would-be thieves, but doesn’t actually secure the bike to a rack or other immovable object. So you’re still going to need another lock to accomplish that important theft deterrent.

One of the best reviewed ring locks is the AXA Defender RL (pictured above), which is produced by the Dutch company AXA Stenman Industries. Popular in Holland, it has only recently become available in the U.S.

Made from hardened steel and featuring an anti-drilling cylinder, the Defender also features a click-in chain system that allows you to quickly and easily secure the bike to a rack or other fixed object. A line of optional click-in chains and cables snap directly into the Defender lock for a quick and simple second line of defense. The burliest appears to be the DPI 110, though other (less burly) options are available.

Depending on where you buy, the Defender retails for roughly $50 to $60. The optional click-in cables and chains retail for $30 to $50.

Learn more about bike locks:

“Equipped” is an AMC Outdoors blog, written by Matt Heid.

We live in a low-crime area. But even so, given how expensive bikes are, we’re never going to leave them without locking them.

One of the things that attracted me to these Axa Defender frame locks was the colour – or, I should say, colours. It might seem like a trivial thing – after all, the purpose of a lock is security, not style. But the high-visibility colours we chose – pink for Trish (naturally) and green for me – have a couple of practical benefits.

First, I believe in being as visible as possible. The more colour you add to the bike the better. But I’ll concede that’s a minor point…

Trish’s bike with lock in place. See how it stands out…

The other is that the colour screams “I’m locked” to any potential thief, potentially deterring them before they’ve crossed that threshold of starting to steal your bike.

The great thing about this kind of permanently mounted lock is ease of use. The lock’s always there and you always have the key. That’s because, when the bike is unlocked, the key is captive – you ride with it in place. (But do be careful to lock your bike if left unattended even for a short time, otherwise some miscreant could lock your bike for you and steal the key!) An additional benefit of this is that it serves as a quick visual check of whether the bike is locked – if the key is in the lock, it’s unlocked; if it isn’t, it’s locked. We’ve added a small carabiner to each key making it simple to attach it to a keyring once the bike is locked.

Axa Defender Slot Art 4001

Locking the wheel to the frame is one thing, but for real security you need to chain the bike to something immovable. These Axa locks make that easy, too. A socket on one side of the lock accepts either a cable (in a choice of two lengths/thicknesses) or, for even greater safety, a fabric-covered, hardened steel chain (also available in two lengths/weights). So you can lock the wheel and secure the bike all with one key.

The Defender itself also uses hardened steel and has an anti-drilling plate to protect the lock mechanism. It meets the requirements of UK, Dutch, Danish, Finnish and Swedish insurers – probably others, too. It has Dutch ART 2 approval.

Two keys are provided, one a pocket-friendly type that folds into a case. If you make a note of the serial number, you can order replacements from Axa online.

Slot Fiets Axa Defender

Not all circular locks are the same – not even all the ones from Axa. We bought these locks while waiting for the bikes to arrive. And then we found that they were, in fact, already fitted with Axa locks. But the supplied versions seemed slightly flimsier – at least as far as the casing went. Also, when you unlock, the bolt springs back out of the way. Or it should, but on the supplied locks, this often didn’t happen properly and you had to manually check to ensure that the bolt had cleared the spokes (something you should do anyway, but it’s nice to find it always happens, as it does with the Defender models).

Mounting turned out to be easier than I expected. The locks are supplied with a clever mount system using metal straps in much the same way you might employ zip ties, but obviously much stronger. I’d already worked out a strategy for turning the bikes upside down (not easy with such heavy bikes and where the handlebars are festooned with things like the electric assist controller). It’s easier to fit the locks with the bike inverted because the best place for them is just under the seat stays where – because they’re within the rear triangle – they will continue to immobilise the bike even if they become detached from the frame. But, as our bikes were already fitted with Axa locks, the stays had bosses for bolts. Taking off the supplied lock and fitting the Defender was the work of two minutes, maybe less. There are fitting sets available if the lock somehow clashes with your brakes, but I imagine the supplied straps will allow it to be used with 99% of bikes.

Judging by the keys (and speaking as a hacker and occasional amateur lock-picker) the lock mechanisms themselves look reasonably secure and tricky to pick – we’re not talking about cheap wafer locks here, nor standard (Yale-type) tumblers. These are side-tumbler locks. I can’t say whether they’d be susceptible to bump keys, but they’re certainly beyond the skills of entry-level lock pickers like myself, and therefore will be impervious to nearly all non-professional bike thieves.

We bought our locks, and the optional cable, from Dutch Bike Bits.