Tested: Pragmasis Protector 19mm chain & RoundLock review

Date reviewed: October 2017 | Tested by: John Milbank | Price: £169.95 | Weight: 11.17kg | securityforbikes.com 

The Pragmasis 19mm chain is made of boron steel and available in sizes 1.0-6.0m, with a tough sleeve that’s zip-tied at both ends to protect your paint. Like most sleeves of this type, it can hold water if left out in the rain, so it’s worth having a plastic bag to hand if you need to transport it. But this is a relatively heavyweight chain, built for where security is more critical, and generally intended for home use, or elsewhere you’re unlikely to need to carry it.

The 1.5m package on test includes Pragmasis’ own Sold Secure Motorcycle Gold-approved RoundLock, which doubles as a very compact and convenient disc lock. Included are the RL21 and RL21A sockets, which fit over the 21mm diameter pin of the lock’s body, and are shaped to allow it to fit Pragmasis’ 19mm, 16mm and 13mm chains.

Three keys are supplied, which can be keyed alike to other RoundLocks or the Pragmasis DIB D-Lock for a small charge.

Size and weight

Rolled up, the 1.5m chain covers a diameter of about 32cm, weighing 10.64kg, which equates to 7.09kg/m. The padlock ads just 0.53kg, making for a total of 11.17kg.

Resistance to attack: chain

With a typical thickness of 19.2-19.5mm, the chain’s round links only showed very minor surface marks after attacking with 42” bolt croppers.
With a sledge hammer, the Pragmasis resisted a full five minutes of attack before we gave up, the surface of the chain only deforming. It’s worth noting however that, like most chains, if a thief uses freeze spray correctly, the resistance to a noisy hammer attack can be severely compromised. As always, make sure you keep any chain and lock off the ground as much as possible.

With a 1.2mm cutting disc, our mains-powered angle grinder cut through the chain in an impressively long time. We use a mains grinder as a benchmark – a battery grinder is impractical for multiple cutting tests – and this is ideal conditions, with easy access to the chain. Always keep any security product as inaccessible as possible.

Resistance to attack: padlock

The RoundLock is an excellent piece of kit, fitting snugly against the edges of the chain’s links, making it very difficult to attack. With a sledgehammer, the lock merely deformed, its shape making it very hard to hit squarely.

It’s inaccessible with bolt croppers, and is so thick that an angle grinder attack causes little damage – the chain is the easier option for a crook.

To understand how best to use your lock, click here

BIKESOCIAL TEST RESULTS

Product: Pragmasis Protector 19mm chain & Roundlock

Size tested: 1.5m

Weight as tested: 11.17kg

Rolled diameter: 32cm

Bolt cropper attack: GOOD

Sledge hammer attack: GOOD

Angle grinder attack: GOOD

Conclusion

This is a large chain, but it’s very tough – Pragmasis has found an excellent balance of hardening and ductility. It’s not got the very highest resistance to angle grinder attack of the chains we’ve tested, but it offers an excellent balance of weight and protection against other attacks.

The RoundLock completes a very good value package, and adds the benefit of being able to be used as a disk-lock.

This chain’s resistance to hammer attack is so good that there’s less need to worry about keeping it tight and off the ground. Still, that is possible if you pull the sleeve back and expose the end of a link anywhere on the chain (the two attached to it will drop to the bottom). Then you can pass the end link over this and secure it. For more information, see the useful videos here, or check out the pic below, which is my own bike after several years with this lock.

To see the other chains and locks tested by BikeSocial, click here.

Find out how and why we did this test

Consumer editor John Milbank explains how you can get the best out of your chain and lock, and how this test was done