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This page explains what governing bodies, standards bodies and road authorities publish. It is not a substitute for cycle training from a qualified instructor, for a qualified bike mechanic, or for medical advice.
Who Sold Secure is
Sold Secure describes itself as having been set up in 1992 by Northumbria Police and Essex Police with Home Office backing. It says it is now owned and run by the Master Locksmiths Association, a not-for-profit trade association, with test laboratories in Rugby. It says it develops its test specifications with stakeholders including the police, insurers and industry bodies. These are Sold Secure's own descriptions of itself.
Sold Secure says its product database is updated daily, and that products that no longer meet a grade have their rating amended. It also says insurers often name a required grade in their policy documents, so a policy's wording, not a general statement, decides what a particular insurer requires.
The four pedal cycle grades
Sold Secure's ratings for bicycle locks are called "Pedal Cycle" ratings. It says they were called "Bicycle" ratings until 2022, when the name changed without any change to the ratings themselves. From lowest to highest, Sold Secure describes the grades like this:
| Grade | What Sold Secure says it is for | How Sold Secure says it is tested |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze | A deterrent to opportunistic theft, for short stops | A short attack with one hand tool that is easy to conceal |
| Silver | Resisting more determined thieves | An enhanced list of tools |
| Gold | Resisting dedicated thieves; meant for high-value bikes or high-risk areas such as big cities | Heavy-duty tools |
| Diamond | Its highest pedal cycle grade | An extended list of heavier tools, including power tools and machine-based testing |
Sold Secure's own pages do not publish how long each attack lasts. A press summary gives attack times per grade, but we could not open the article or confirm them with Sold Secure, so they are not given here.
E-bikes: the powered cycle rating
Sold Secure also rates locks for powered cycles. It says its Pedal Cycle Diamond and Powered Cycle Gold tests use the same tools, attack methods and time limits, and it recommends a lock with a powered cycle rating for an e-bike. The e-bike batteries and fire safety page covers the other official guidance on e-bikes.
Lock types
Sold Secure's own product categories name these types of lock and security product:
- D-locks (also called U-locks)
- chain locks
- cable locks
- folding locks
- disc locks
- ground anchors
Sold Secure's ratings are listed product by product in its database, which it says is updated daily.
What a rating does not say
- A grade reports a test under defined conditions. Sold Secure describes its grades in terms of deterring and resisting thieves with different tools; nothing we read from it promises that a lock cannot be defeated.
- Ratings can change: Sold Secure says products that no longer meet a grade are amended.
- Sold Secure is one testing body. We did not research other lock testing schemes, so this page does not cover them.