Ever watch the movies where some guy sneaks up to a door at night and pulls out a small leather case filled with picks and opens a door in seconds? Well, this isn't the movies, this is the Dutch Open Lock Picking Championship. These guys are the real deal. Your average suburban home with a Weiser lock, 15 seconds. How about those black Kryptonite U shaped locks for bicycles and motorcycles, 10 seconds with a Bic Round Stic ballpoint! These guys are good. Of course, if they can do that on those locks, I would think cars and motorcycles are about as challenging which means those electronic keys we see more of are a very good thing.
Years ago when I had a Harley, another Harley owner came over and asked to try his key in my bike because he had found his worked in a lot of bikes. Didn't work in mine as I recall, but it was something to think about. When I had a company car, a co-worker and I had similar vehicles and our keys worked in each other's cars so the experience of the Harley rider wasn't unique. After all, whatever kind of lock you have, only so many different key patterns are out there. Electronics seems like the answer to that and I would imagine we'll have to see much more digital security to deal with simple picks. Locks have been around for ages and lock pickers haven't been far behind. I never tried my hand at it except on a few basic locks which were actually pretty easy. This seems like a neat sport for the mechanically inclined, might have to take a stab at it.