Security
Thicker links, or the extra reach?
Both carry a grade from an outside body. They differ on the two figures you actually carry: thickness and weight.
| Compared on | Makalu 120 cm | Helsinki 125 cm |
|---|---|---|
| Certification cited | ART 4, from the ART Foundation | Sold Secure Gold, from the insurance certifier |
| Link thickness | ø11 mm | 8.3 mm special steel |
| Length | 120 cm | 125 cm |
| Weight at this length | 3.8 kg | Not published |
| Keys supplied | Not published | 4 |
| Protection against paint damage | Dust- and tear-resistant nylon sleeve | Sleeve to protect paintwork |
A tick means one listing published something the other did not, or published a better figure. It does not mean the product is better, and the column is not a score out of anything: a maker who says less loses lines here without losing a comparison. The two verdicts below are where the page is settled.
The one that lets you decide before buying. Thicker links, and a published table pairing every length in its range with its weight — the only chain in this catalogue that does.
A Gold-graded chain with five more centimetres of reach and four keys, from a maker that tells you in its own listing why thin chains are lighter. It does not publish what it weighs.
Both are grades from independent bodies rather than house scales. Which one matters depends on your insurer, who publishes the grade it requires — and that is the check to make before buying.
A chain that reaches a fixed object stops the machine being lifted, which a chain through a wheel does not. Every extra centimetre is also weight you carry, which is why the length-and-weight table is worth so much.
ART 4 certificate · ø11 mm · 120 cm, 3.8 kg · nylon sleeve · full length and weight table published
A 120 cm chain lock with 11 mm links carrying an ART 4 certificate, weighing 3.8 kg, listed alongside its maker’s full table of lengths and weights up to 300 cm.
Best for: A rider choosing a length deliberately, with the weight of each option in front of them.
≈ £43 / €40
Sold Secure Gold · 125 cm · 8.3 mm special steel · secure cylinder · 4 keys
A 125 cm chain lock in 8.3 mm special steel certified Sold Secure Gold, with a picking-resistant cylinder, a protective sleeve and four keys.
Best for: Parking against a fixed object, with an insurer that asks for a Gold-grade lock.
≈ $80 / £74 / €65
Nothing written into the text below is a current price. Where an amount appears in a sentence, it is the reading taken on the day that sentence was written; what a shop is asking at this moment loads beside the product itself, and that is the figure to go by.
