There’s a new door handle product that has just been launched into the market. You seen it yet? It’s called Lock Lock and it’s by Brisant, the makers of the wildly popular Ultion high security door cylinder.
Brisant, headed up by Nick Dutton and Stephen Stewart, oversaw the massive success of the Ultion door cylinder, which even now continues to grow at rapid pace. So, what exactly is this door handle, and will it be able to match the growth of the Ultion door cylinder?
What is Lock Lock?
Well it’s a handle for a start, but there is a lock inside that rather smart looking casing. Here is one of their videos to explain what it is and how it works:
They say that the best ideas are the simplest ones. Not sure who “they” are, but they’re right, and the workings of Lock Lock are very simple. The simple flick of an internal switch after the handle has been lifted renders the spindle fixed in place. So no matter what happens to the cylinder, the home owner is still protected. Easy.
The start of that video also made a valid point. Each time lock makers improve the design of their cylinders, burglars do eventually find a way to break through them anyway. That’s always been the pattern, and even the current crop of very high security cylinders I am sure will end up being circumnavigated by burglars at some point in the future. So it would be logical to look at other methods to keep a door secure. Hence, Lock Lock has been invented to do just that. To provide resistance at the handle level.
It looks very slick too, and comes in 5 different finishes:
Credit: Brisant/Lock Lock
The cylinder-free options also interest me. This handle looks at it’s best when it’s not interrupted by routing holes for door cylinders. Although right now we don’t sell many handles without cylinder holes in them, this product might be the one to change that. It wouldn’t surprise me if I read in a years time that the cylinder-free type Lock Lock handles were one of the highest selling options.
On the quality front, the video above showed a very well reinforced spine to this handle. I have actually held a sample of this in my hand and I can vouch for the product and say that it really does feel very substantial in the hand. The reinforcing is far better than a lot of other handles out there, and the rounded shape feels good and looks good. Incidentally, the round shape stops gripping tools to grab the handle. So, useful and stylish at the same time.
Routes to success
If Brisant want Lock Lock to take off in the same way as their Ultion door cylinder did, then they are going to have to hit fabricators hard. One of the best facets of their Ultion campaign was that it was taken on by fabricators and indeed installers very quickly. I remember being Solidor being one of the first major fabricators to take on the Ultion as an optional upgrade, and then moving to the product as standard. From there, other fabricators followed and installers did too. Ultion caught fire from that point forward and has not looked back since.
For Lock Lock, Brisant will need to grab that same attention from fabricators and then installers in the same way. Already though, Solidor have come out with this announcement on Twitter:
We will be the 1st composite door company to offer @LockLockSecure as "official" launch partner for the fenestration industry #leadingtheway
— Solidor (@SolidorLtd) May 3, 2017
A big vote of confidence from Solidor in the product. It looks like it will appear on their cloud pricing software as an optional extra upgrade. But if sales of it do well I won’t be surprised to see it become a standard offering before too long.
Where one company goes others tend to follow suit. I don’t think it will be long before other fabricators are signing on to supply Lock Lock as either an optional extra upgrade or to make it their standard offering to installers.
Brisant have also said that installers will be able to buy Lock Lock directly from them soon. As you can with their Ultion door cylinder.
Quality, reliability and an attractive price point will be key to Lock Lock becoming as successful as Ultion is. Looking at their reinforcing and the plating which is designed to combat tarnishing, build quality shouldn’t be a problem. Hopefully the industry will be able to have a handle that won’t pit within five minutes of installation! I’ve also seen the prices at which these are likely to be sold at, trust me, pricing isn’t going to be an issue.
The background, knowledge and experience of Nick and Stephen should mean that this is a product that is nailed on for success. After being lucky enough to see this product for myself, I have no doubts that Lock Lock is going to change how we look at door security in general. I also have no doubt that whatever stock levels Brisant have already got, they’re probably going to need more.
Lock Lock is going to be available to see at the FIT Show so I am told, so you’ll all be able to take a closer look at this new type of handle, how it works and whether your company should be offering this product to home owners. You can find out more about Lock Lock here too: www.lock-lock.co.uk
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To me it sounds like a reinvention of the door chain, not quite as practical, but with the same disadvantage that it prevents legitimate access if engaged. I think it is a bit gimmicky to be honest , fancy name and all the jazz to go with it should make it sell though.
what is legitimate access if you lock it with a door chain?? I’ve just locked my door from the inside, with a device that I don’t want to be accessible from the outside? So what would legitimate access be?
Let us suppose that for any reason you have entrusted a key to a family member , friend or even a carer. The use of a chain or this new device would completely negate the use of the key you allowed them. I do appreciate however, that while social care may not be a big thing in doors to many , it provides a bit of trade to the keysafe suppliers .
It’s nothing like the door chain, of course it prevents anybody from entering the door from outside with a key IF engaged. So what? You’re finding a problem where there isn’t one. The most important advantage of Lock Lock is that the case is CURVED and therefore impossible to grab with mole grips, greatly increasing the time and noise required to break the case off, and then even after breaking the cylinder and handle off, (it has a sacrificial spindle), a burglar still can’t get in. That is what MOST people want in a door handle – one that prevents… Read more »
If only it could be activated when leaving the property rather than only when you are inside the property…. I want a product that makes my property more secure when I am out…
It’s already more secure than any other door handle on the market from outside, because of the curved casing, which can’t be grabbed by mole grips, therefore burglars can’t snap your Euro cylinder. So it does make your property more secure when you’re out. One possibility for activating it when leaving your property would be some kind of motorised version, that you use a keyfob to activate. Then you have two strong forms of protection – the Lock Lock and the protected cylinder, so even if (big IF) somebody managed to somehow get your keyfob code and open the Lock… Read more »
Cylinder free version? What type of door bolt is this operating with? Or it it that it just locks off the spindle after locking points are thrown?
Was wondering how insurance companies would view this… my insurance companies proposal form insisted I had ‘key locking’ on all external doors and windows….
would that be Paul Collins of Avocet (ABS) Hardware???
Yes , from the video it seems that that is exactly what it does.
Funnily enough , having seen the video, the first thing it shows is the ‘burglar’ ripping the handles off. Now maybe I’m missing something , but surely , having dispatched with the handles the inside ones will fall off and the spindle hole is thus exposed without any security at all . Is that right ?
If so, the claim of added security without a cylinder barrel can’t be correct can it?
It looks like the video is describing the problem with normal handles and locks. And Lock Lock could be the solution to that problem – but I wouldn’t like the thought of not locking my door properly with the key.
There are other videos which explain the mechanism in more detail on Youtube. The spindle is fixed inside the inside handle with pins, the spindle cannot be hammered through into the inside of the house, the outside part of the spindle is sacrificial and will snap off if a burglar tries to force the handle. So the Lock Lock mechanism will still be active and holding the internal handle and spindle in place.
Can’t see this taking off. The styling doesn’t look right for a start, who wants a red colour band like a toilet door lock on their front door?
People who are more concerned about being burgled than about an alleged aesthetic problem that doesn’t exist? The Lock Lock is beautifully styled, are you looking at the same product as everybody else?
This is THE best door handle ever invented, for both looks and security. Is there even one other handle on the market that can’t be snapped off in five seconds with mole grips, thus exposing the cylinder?