I’m not throwing any shade on anyone, but I think it’s important to be as clear as we can be regarding picking these disc detainer locks so that newer pickers are not left disappointed and confused. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments 😃👍

This is a brilliant point. I have long been saying this, that many locks will not let you use the 'non 0 front tension disc' trick. Using the silver bullet in centre tensioning mode is somewhat of a last resort because, like you highlight, it is a very hard technique. But possible. Which leaves us needing a better solution ideally. Of which I have 3. Option 1 is use a 3 in 1. This gives you a pick either side of a tensioner. It also allows for front and rear tension too, you simply ignore the extra pick tip. Options 2 and 3 are methods I am still developing but they both get around this problem by use of... Creative tensioning, let's say 😊 I'm sure there are many other ways to get around random 0 disc tension too.

This is the first video I've seen that actually tells the entire story about DD locks and tension. I commend you sir!

You are so right, about some brands of DD lock, only a couple of weeks ago I picked an Oxford HD mini bike lock, that I’ve only ever soon picked using a top tensioning DD pick, & the only way I could get it open was using a rear tensioning tool. One thing I will say is the higher end DD locks definitely need practice. But it’s all worth the effort as they are fantastic locking systems. Have a great weekend. 😎👍

Well done for being really transparent in all of your videos and not making out your some kind of authority on the topic and know everything about it. Unfortunately a lot of people, not just lockpicking channels, try and portray themselves as experts when they are anything but. What works for one person isn't always the best for everyone.

I'm glad I watched this because I didn't realize there was such a thing as center tension and rear tension. Thank you for making this video.

Thank you for making this! I had to learn the hard way, I even for a clear DD training lock that wasn't front tensioning so it's been difficult to learn on. After that I got a lock I saw picked with front tension by another lock picking channel, and again the one I ended up getting tensioned on a disk in the middle

Great instruction video on this subject matter. I personally would like to see more of this type for the disc detainer education. Thank you Noob.

Thank you for helping us be a more professional community

When you used the Sparrows pick (front tensioning) did you first rotate all the discs fully clockwise? That seems to be an important first step.

Your an exception to the rule. Many of the videos are falsified. There's not a lot of people picking disc detainer locks, unless the are the really poorly manufactured. Many of the cheap ones are manufactured in China. Thank you for sharing your expertise. There's a tremendous amount of licensed locksmiths who have a difficult time opening these types of locks when required. My cousin is a licensed locksmith. He shares his knowledge with us. Thank you for sharing your outstanding videos 🙏🎄

i am so glad you made this video ,i have been having problems on tensioning these type of locks,thet are a pain when you are picking because i do not have a look at the key ,it was lost and a neighber gave me his older ,Supercycle Can Tire lock,so far the chinease picks i have tried to customise still no luck,keep on doing great videos a fan mal in bc

Glad I found this video, I also had 2 of the same model number and could rear tension one but no front or rear tension on the other. I thought I was going crazy. I had no idea there was center tensioning. Thanks LN.

Very useful video for me. I have been trying on and off get into DDs. First problem is my lack of locks - I have 4 or 5, most of which are tough locks ( new kryptonite, new Abus Plus, etc) or so cheap that they open when I try to se all the discs CW before I start picking. Second problem is lack of tool variety ( no middle tensioner, and no solid body for my rear tensioner). Third problem is lack of skill and practice, of course. Put all that together and it is a real steep learning curve ! I was really looking forward to Bristol this weekend, to pick the brains of You, yourself, Matt, Daz Evers, Baldiloks and all the others ! Well, there is always next year !!

Thanks, i recently got the BB/LPL pick and have been struggling with 3 different locks.

Thanks for the info Ash, great vid. I'll keep it mind for when i start playing with DD locks. Take care and have a fantastic weekend.

I just started to understanding the cuts on the keys. Lol. But I was a believer that one brand of lock tension the same. But now Iam on it. I’m still crap at picking them. But I get they. Just had to revisit this vid. Great advice as always. Happy picking.

LN -- Thanks for pointing this out and helping us all understand a bit more about disc detainer locks

A very valid point well put! I''ve been messing with some DD locks and picks lately and I've been having a nightmare getting anything open harder than a cheap Chinese one. This (along with my lack of skill on these locks) is my major downfall - knowing where they tension from. I will be working on some different tips and home made picks very soon, got a load of metal on order and I've just learnt how to silver solder 😁🥚

Thank you for clearing that up for me...very useful and extremely helpful

Thank you, that helps me a lot. I got to modify my pick some more. Have a great day.

Great video, thank you for the demonstrations and explanations, very helpful! 😊

I agree with you I think most people may not know if the same model lock will tension differently, especially if they only have one example of that lock, or even multiple examples but that all tension the same. I genuinely think most of the time when they fail to mention this is just an Innocent mistake, or simple ignorance.

This was very informative, thanks. Question for you, how would you handle a lock with no key to look at and determine the best tensioning disk?

A couple observations and a couple follow up questions, here. So I've watched a lot of LPL and BB videos using the front tensioning tools that they helped popularize (as I'm sure you and many of your viewers also have). They start by rotating all the discs as far clockwise as they can go with a dimple rake or something similar, but it appears you omit that step. Any specific reason for this? Second, I've seen a bunch of LPL videos where one of the center discs are the zero cut, but he's able to get it open by rotating all the other discs to their true gate, tension the pick tip clockwise off one of the ones still set fully clockwise, rotate the front disc counter-clockwise with the tensioner until it's in its gate, and then rotate both the pick tip and the tensioner clockwise to open. Are you saying this technique did not work for you on that second lock? If so, do you believe it was because of features inherent to this particular lock?

This is a really valuable video and given they are in the thing at the moment.

Brilliant, this might explain why I've been having so much trouble with some of my DD locks, I will be having a close look at those keys now for any clues has to why they've proved impossible to open so far, Cheers ;-)

Excellent point, thanks for sharing. These is an eye opening concept :)

great video Ash my friend Well you learn something new every day I certainly did😎😊🇬🇧👍👊

Would be cool to see the sparrows tool with backk and center tensioning setup instead of its default front tensioninc nose setup.

Very good point! Great information!! Thank you for sharing this!!! 🐈👍🐈👏🐾😷

Poignant. Great Video. Another thing to mention= People seem to think that a lock brand or specific type of said brand determines how hard it is to pick. Completely false. Master Locks get a lot of shit talked about them as they are easy to open. But they're not ALL easy to open. I've had ones that have buggered me for a wee. I work on SFIC's pretty much exclusively and I usually pop them in a few minutes- BUT, I had one that I worked on for 30 until I got it turned. When lock picking, an important thing to remember is it's not the Brand or Type of lock that determines difficulty= It's The Bitting. Period. That's why when I see LPL or BB pick a hard lock easily and it's a lock that I've worked on before it just means that THAT particular lock is easy to pick and might not be indicative of that Brand or Type. Even a Master can present a challenge if the bitting is as hard as can be made. My 2 cents.

Thanks that explains a lot I ovously have been getting all the wrong locks because I haven't had any luck picking any locks with them tools I was beginning too think I was just useless lockpicker just bad luck all my disc locks must be middle tension

Good point to highlight Ash. Thanks for that heads up 👍 let us know if you figured out how to diy a pick tip for a back tensioning dd pick. Btw the vice was squeaky

It's a very, very good point! Thanks for this video, Lock Noob

I never knew this, thanks for the info Mr Noob.👍😎

Very good to know, thanks for sharing!

Very helpful video as always

Great video! I'm still not sure how to find the tensioning disk. Do you have to try every disk and look on the other disks for feedback?

That's really good information. Do you know if this also applies to the Kryptonite Original Keeper you picked some videos back? Also how many disks does that particular Kryptonite have? Thanks again for uploading this video, it's very good information and advice 👍🏻

Had to watch the video twice. My stupid brain kept staring at that upside down sticker on the bike lock on the right and I couldn't focus

I really was thinking that it is my fault I can't understand where are binding discs. But now I looked at the key, and yes, first disc is not a zero cut.

This is very enlightening. I also have only front and rear tensioning picks. I am just beginning to learn to pick disc detainer locks and have been having trouble with one of my two cheap practice locks I bought. I count 6 discs and one problem I found early on is that My rear tension pick needs to be filed down to fit through the keyway to the rear, so I can't rear tension it. The key cuts look to be 6 3 0 6 0 3, so from this video I have learned I can't tension disc 1 because it's not 0 cut, right? So I need to tension on disc 3 or 5 or else fix my rear tension pick. Is this correct? EDIT: I have filed down my rear tension pick and got both lock opened now. Thanks for this video. It was a great help.

Was unsure if I would go dimple or DD after 'regular' locks.. hearing this, I'm pretty glad I chose to go dimple.

Clariyfied an important point in a good cause.

Henry aka LPL is very good at picking these but he has never explained what you did. Much appreciated.

every disk ive opened has been rear tension admittedly only 6 so far

A great job & explanation my friend, have a great week ahead also.

I've never heard about center tensioning, perhaps a video about the to clarify it more? A good video, never thought it that way!

Between front and rear always depends on the feedback.

Great info my friend.

When you were counting at 10:05, I guess you were county what disk you were working on but you didn’t explain what you were doing in the moment on the disk so we could learn. I learned a lot from this video though.

Disc detainer picking is my next goal. On the hunt for best pick since I missed getting the sparrows one. I've been able to learn SPP and other pin picking. I guess im going to snag a silver bullet. Any other pick u suggest since i don't want the cheap models that require modification anyway??

after watching this video, people should go watch some of the lpl videos a 2nd time. Then they will have better understanding for why he often have to set the tip a zero disc and spin the front tension counter clook to get an open, after setting all the other discs with front disc tensioning

Where can we buy the rear and center tools

How do you use the tool for the pins 1-3 if the tensioner is on 4. I thought the pick was in front of the tensioner.

LLP seams to be able to pick either front, centre or rear, with a front tension tool?

I am not at all impressed by rehearsed picking that gives off the impression that a lock is as easy as it is or the person did not practice before hand. I tension the off the rear but prefer front tension tools but they are not all readily available atm lol.

Can u pick a 6th pin tention lock with the mid lock pick you have ?. Arent they able to do all disc d locks ?

For middle tensining lock, how do we know which disk is the disk we have to use to tension the lock?(without looking at the key)

Great vid Mr Noob. I'm attempting to play with DD locks. Ordered 7 cheap Chicom locks. Can I assume their all front tension? Of course my cheap Daihu DD pick showed up broken. Do you or anybody for that matter know if Sparrows are going to make replacement pick rods? Hopefully they would be universal. Thanks.

I had no idea... And there was me blaming myself for just sucking as a lock picker. OK, it probably was me just sucking as a lock picker lol But, this is a very valid point and one that we can all learn from... Add to that the Bosnian Bill video about people stealing your confidence by scamming an open, or my problem right now is I am still getting the feel for SPP, I still have two Masterlock No.3 padlocks that everyone says are easy to open, these two little buggers have extremely bad bitting for me right now (Deep on 1 and three). I have other No.3's that I can rock, Rake, Zip, but not these two. Excellent point, and excellent video... Since you started I have watched your confidence and skill in presentation grow (I am a teacher of some 27 years now, so I "present" for a living). I subscribe to 4 Channels BB, LPL Yourself and Helpful Lock Picker... Keep up the good work guys! I am learning a lot... Thank you. So, one last question... does this mean that without having sight of a key, and seeing the cuts so we know where to tension we are screwed? How would we deal with this if it is sight unseen, just the lock. If we "feel" the discs in the lock can we feel a zero cut... sorry if that's a noob question. Get it? Noob ques.... Oh ok

Do I understand correctly that you use both pciks of that tool for both picking (in front and behind) and tensioning, and need to switch the tension between them while maintaining it?

A+ 👍

Lock Noob, send the non front tensioning lock to the Lockpicking Lawyer as a challenge and see how he does it lol

how do you detect if its middel tensioing and how do you know witch disc?

I don’t know anything about lock picking, I’ve just watched some videos here and there, but I a had a question. I’ve noticed that the LockPickingLawyer rotates all discs with a tool as far as they can go before, before starting picking; it also seems to me that he often manages to tension from a mid-disk even though he uses the tool that should tension from the first one. Could the two things be related?

Without looking at the key, or the lock design info, how do you know where to tension the lock?

Blindin---- I really needed a good reason when I cant pick them

I didn’t get why you can’t front tension the second lock. Can’t you feel the gates when tensioning from the front? I understand that disk 1 is not a 0 cut but you can tension from another 0 cut disk and position disk 1 at the end . Did I miss something ?

Does anyone have any tips for me where I can get good rear and/or centre tensioners?

Then this brings up the question, we've seen both BosnianBill and LPL tension off of rear or middle discs with their original versions of the tool. So it is possible, we are left to assume, right? Is it just down to the skill of the user, then?

This should get more attention methinks

Good video LN!! This will help those just learning DD locks. Like me! 👍👍👍👍🧡

I've been working on disc detainer padlocks the past few weeks and i have consistently opened them with my Chinese front tensioning pick, even those that are not zero-bitted on the first disc. When i'm convinced that all the other discs are set, I would centre my pick tip on the zero bitted disc and tension off the tip. Then I will counterrotate the first disc with the tensioner. At some point of time I will feel a click which indicates that the sidebar has fallen into the groove, then I rotate both the tip and tensioner clockwise together to open the padlock. Theoretically this method would not succeed if the discs have a specific binding order and the first disc isn't the last to set - however my experience so far suggests the concept of "binding order" is not as absolute on disc detainer locks as compared to pin tumblers. At least, that is the case for the cheap disc detainer locks that I have (all Chinese dollar store varieties, no Abloys here)..

Almost any lock is pickable if u know how to pick it which I dont but Im learning.if I ever need to know..

Note to self. Make sure I get a centre tensioning lock for my motorbike! Didn't realise that the same make could be different

In what direction you tension, and in which direction you pick?

Okay, Fair Point. All you’re TRYING to do, is say: hey, the tools ARE available, and there ARE videos out there by talented people, (like yourself) that make using hem look as easy as sneezing. However, these are people that have essentially Mastered the Art of Lock-picking, so you should not just assume that even bough hey make it look easy using these picks, it's not, correct?

5:53 isn't that the second disc and not third?

I'm NOT A Lock Picker, BUT After Taking Apart and Rekeying Many ABLOY® "Knock-offs" I Can Say That 99% of Them Do Not Have False Gates OR Have Ones That Are Easy To Identify. When I Have To Open Them, I Force The Sidebar OR Drill In Front Of It & Remove It, > ABLOY® RULES ! ! !

Went in with low expectations. My mistake.

Front, back and middle disks have all been used by lock companies. It is a concern but in no a cheat. Good pickers will say where they are tensioning.

Personally i think these lock picking instructive videos are irresponsible . They allow the unscrupulous to improve their skills . Yes i know the standard xcuse of , by showing the weakness to lock companies , they will be motivated to improve their locks . Hmm , i doubt that very much .

A strong flathead screwdriver always disassembled every disc-type lock in less than 10 secs.. 😂 you agree?

I think that all of you other pickers are natural,and your base is to teach people ,but many of novices start with Lpl and Bb.At least for me those two are not good for beginners because they like clicks and money more than they want to share knowlege.Other thing is that they want to be fancy and not naturally professional but comercially professional,so it seems that they can defeat almost every lock .But new pickers must have a clear fact which will block discouraging ,and that fact is that they practice a lot untul they pick some particular lock .It looks supernatural but it isnt ,they learn every single step and even dissasemble it to learn the hights and pins etc,thats why lpl always pick it fast like a god.You can cheat alot and of course while practicung until the recording you can wear pins a little bit and it is some kind of help too.Thats why anyone shouldnt take for real those two because they arent alwaya honest with us.Some guyus lobe them but for me its not about lobe but to learn more but when i see a moneylover and man full with vanity its not tje right one to learn from or to begin from.