Abus Bordo Granit X Plus 6500 review

The Abus Bordo Granit X Plus 6500 is one of the very few folding locks that has been awarded the coveted Sold Secure Gold rating, making it a great option for anyone looking for a high security lock with a large and flexible lockable area.

>>>Read more: Best bike locks

Founded in 1924, Abus is a German security brand with a long history of manufacturing high security bike locks.

Security

Ultimately, all locks can be broken through, with the right tools, knowhow and inclination. However, a good bike lock has important roles to play in defending against opportunistic theft, convincing more systematic thieves to go for an easier target and – most importantly – complying with the wording of your bike insurance policy so that you are at least covered, should your bike be stolen.

Sold Secure is an independent lock testing company which sets the standards for locks on the UK market. Until recently, three rankings were awarded: Bronze, Silver and Gold. For context, bikes worth over £1,000, will usually only be covered by insurers if locked using a Gold rated lock.

Now, however, there is a new “Diamond” rating, which gives recognition to those locks which greatly exceed what’s required for a Gold rating.

>>>Read more: How to keep your bike safe

The construction

It’s typically much harder to produce a folding lock with a high security rating. With so many moving parts, there’s many more potential weak points than with a simpler design, such as a D-lock. This makes the Abus Bordo Granit X Plus 6500 one of only a few folding locks that has been award a Gold Sold Secure rating.

The consequence of such superlative security is a significantly greater weight. At just under 2kg, the Bordo Granit X Plus weighs more than the majority of other folding locks, as well as most Gold rated D-locks.

That said, it is worth remembering this lock does have internal dimensions of 14cm x 31cm and a lockable area of 434cm² — which is more than the vast majority of D-locks. This, when coupled with the flexible nature of a folding lock, makes the Abus Bordo Granit X Plus significantly more versatile than a D-lock.

A bike mount comes included, making for easy transportation of the lock. It attaches using wire cables, so you aren’t limited to only mounting in places where there are bottle cage mounts. The cables do have a plastic coating which should protect your frame from being scratched, but I would add a bit of helicopter tape to the tube first just to be on the safe side.

There is also a rubber coating over all parts of the lock that are likely to touch your bike, meaning scratches to your paintwork are unlikely with this lock.

Only two keys are provided, and while it is a shame that a third doesn’t come shipped with the lock, you can at least order duplicates from Abus. With keys that you do get, one does come with an integrated light which can be useful for locating the lock barrel in the dark.

In use

When setting off and climbing hills with the Abus Bordo Granit X Plus, you do notice its weight. But that said, in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t significantly more than a Gold rated D-lock and you get used to the extra couple of kilos quite fast – it feels heavier in the hand than it does on the bike.

The bike mount is very simple to use, the lock simply clips in and out of it. But even though access to the lock is very quick, the mount still held the lock securely in place, even over ill-kept roads.

With such a large lockable area, securing my bike properly through the rear wheel and the frame was a lot easier than with an ordinary D-lock. It also meant I could lock both mine and my partner’s town bikes with just one lock, making things a little simpler. It is worth making sure that your insurance will cover locking two bikes in this way before giving it a go, though.

In all, I found the Abus Bordo Granit X Plus performed really well, offering all the benefits of a folding lock (compact size coupled with a large and flexible lockable length), without the considerable downside of a low security rating — which often blights locks of this design.

Value

At £144.99, the Abus Bordo Granit X Plus is undoubtably expensive. The Gold rated Zéfal K-Traz U17 D-lock costs just £34.99 by comparison. But compared to other folding locks, there are very few that can match the Bordo Granit X Plus for its security rating.

One of the only other options is the Tre-Lock Folding Lock FS500 Toro which is also Sold Secure Gold and retails for £100.00. With a length of 100cm compared to the Bordo Granit X Plus’s 110cm, it is a little smaller than Abus’s offering.

Sold Secure also doesn’t provide any more of a granular stratification beyond just the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond ratings, so we can’t say which is more secure. We also haven’t yet tested the Tre-Lock, and so can’t vouch for its performance.