NEW bicycle lock.

[trekkiedane]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YbFqWdpzLU[/yt]​

Not only does it make the bike unusable to a thief, it also makes the parked bike take up less space.

So far only two prototypes (made in aluminium) exist, but eventually we might actually be able to get this installed on our bikes. The price-tag (including installing) is projected to be under 70 USD.

I think the idea is OK, but I really like tethering my bike to something big and solid when I leave it somewhere public -Not that any of my bikes have been -or are likely ever to be- the kind that are picked up in the street and loaded onto a truck headed for Poland...

 

[Roger Wilco]

I don't think this works. Imo the most important aspect of a bicycle lock is not how difficult it is to open for a thief, but how difficult it looks to open and whether or not it seems like your lock needs more effort to open than the one on the bike next to yours. A professional thief can open any lock anyway.

This lock doesn't even look like a lock. Plus, unless you use an additional lock, a thief could just carry away the whole bike and at home just replace the stem if he can't pick the lock.

 

[trekkiedane]

I don't think it's intended for those expensive bikes thieves would run off with (the Polish joke isn't actually a joke, it's what happens around here!). I think it's to scare the convenience-thief off -to the one standing next to yours.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Thieves steal almost any bike where I live; almost nobody rides expensive bikes anyway here for exactly that reason.
This looks like something a design student came up with, not someone who's a cyclist himself, imo.

It's an interesting idea, but I would use it only in addition to a conventional lock, not to replace it.

 

[trekkiedane]

^Would make it easy to make short stop on your way, but yeah, German steel is what I use to protect my bikes from getting stolen!

 

[scotpens]

This gadget would be completely useless in most American cities. Serious thieves don't wheel or ride an unguarded bicycle; they'll grab it and toss it in the back of a truck. You need a heavy chain lock that encircles the frame and both wheels, and is tethered to something at least as solid as a telephone pole.

FAIL.

 

[Rii]

This looks like something a design student came up with, not someone who's a cyclist himself, imo.

Hey, at least it doesn't violate any laws of physics.

 

[trekkiedane]

This gadget would be completely useless in most American cities. Serious thieves don't wheel or ride an unguarded bicycle; they'll grab it and toss it in the back of a truck.

Most bikes here spend a lot of time in designated bike parking areas found around schools, workplaces, supermarkets...
And for that use I really think this idea could work.

You need a heavy chain lock that encircles the frame and both wheels, and is tethered to something at least as solid as a telephone pole.

I prefer a D-lock (German steel as I said ) and while you're right about the best thing being a total locking together of all the ('loose') parts of a bike to something solid, securing the frame will usually deter the "oh, look; a bike -now I won't have to walk home!" kind of thief from stealing the normal "gets me from A to B" type of bikes (not just my experience, but also that of Danish insurance companies) and those are the ones this kind of product is aimed at -I suspect.
Besides, it's illegal to use (public) lamp posts, and that sort, to secure your bike to (not that we don't all do it though)
In fact, once a hardened version is available I don't think it'll be a problem to get insurance certification for this product -especially considering the shitty locks that already are accepted by the insurance community.

FAIL.

I think that is a bit premature.

 

[farmkid]

Besides the security issues brought up, I see two other problems. First, I don't want my bike to take up less space when it's parked; it's hard enough already to squeeze between my bike and the one next to it to unlock it when the rack is full. I couldn't do it at all if they were packed any tighter. Second, that looks like castration waiting to happen in some kinds of accidents.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Second, that looks like castration waiting to happen in some kinds of accidents.

True. The lock should be directly integrated into the stem somehow, without some part sticking out.

 

[trekkiedane]

/.../ that looks like castration waiting to happen in some kinds of accidents.

-that's the first think I thought when I first saw it! -I sincerely hate pointy things pointing towards me (at all levels)