Design For A Better Bike Lock
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 04. 3.08
Design site Core77 regularly runs "One Hour Design Challenge" competitions; I would love to see how many of these ideas were thought up and drawn in an hour. The winner in their latest, to design a better bike lock, is very clever. I use a heavy chain that weighs more than my bike and don't think that cable would stop a dedicated thief, but perhaps there are still parts of the world where this would work, or some new superstrength cable that would foil the boltcutter.
Componet is an idea that was very successfully applied to backpacks with the pacsafe; looks like it might be a bit time-consuming.
Here they integrate the lock into the front wheel. See them all at ::Core77
I think it would be simpler to just sentence bike thieves to death. That should eliminate the need for bike locks altogether.
The Saddlelock is brilliant! I replaces those quick thinggys with nuts right after I bought my bike, but I have to carry the lock with me. So yes, this is a good idea.
Some interesting ideas....but many (most?) of these would render the bike COMPLETELY unridable. The Steal Wheel is a good example. Adding a U-lock and 2 other locks would make that wheel weigh upwards of, probably, 10 pounds. Might not sound like much, but keep in mind that that is all rotating mass.
But wait...what was wrong with just throwing a U-lock in your back pocket?
While I do agree that these are interesting ideas and I think it's great that people are trying to address the problem of bike theft in new ways, I don't think any of these designs would work.
The first design is probably the best one and would work well for trips to the supermarket or quick trips. I wouldn't leave my bike locked up overnight with one of these, but would consider buying it for use in my smaller sized town.
2nd design- I lugged a PacSafe around Europe for several months. It might work really well, but honestly I never used it and the people I did see using it were not using it correctly. I think this would be too heavy and cumbersome. Also I imagine it could scratch up your frame quite a bit.
3rd design- While I think this is the most challenging and unique design I think it also the most flawed. I wonder if the person who came up with it has spent much time on a bicycle. It would add considerable weight to the front wheel, which I imagine would cause problems with balance and braking. Most of your stopping power comes from the front wheel and I imagine this would really make things hard on a rider.
Cool ideas! I think I would even purchase one of them.
Bike locks are a hassle to use and heavy to carry, and they still don't completely prevent theft. I agree that punishment is the only way to stop bike theft. Most bikes you see on the street aren't worth that much, yet they still get stolen -- substantially upping the punishment would simply make it less cost effective to steal bikes, especially those on the low end of the quality scale. Seems you could put a small chip on your bike (or on its front wheel) that could track its location. When the bike is stolen, you could then find your bike (or its wheel) and punish the culprit.
Interesting idea since no bike thief wishes to get thier testicles damaged while stealing a bike. ;)
ok- I saw these on Core77- and all the cable lock ideas neglect the fact that cable locks are useless. Cute wont get it done.
Asfaras u-locks not working..I call BS. They work fine when you use them correctly. User error, laziness, dimwittedness are the cause.
I say more good bike racks more often.
The seat lock is a pretty neat idea, especially since those that use quick release seat bolts often have the seat stolen (either prank or not I don't know) so solves two problems at once.
In regard to the idea of harsher punishment. The reason that cheap bikes are stolen, often when next to more expensive ones, is very poor and often homeless people steal the bikes. The bikes are not stripped down at chop-shops, they are used for transportation. Harsher punishment for the extremely disadvantaged rarely yields good results. Social programs to decrease homeless populations and get disadvantaged people wheels of their own would probably have a better outcome. Programs like this exist in many major cities already, they just need more support. Another thing that can help, on which there is no need for elaboration, is bike lockers. Until these sort of things become the norm, though, lock up the best you can in a well lit heavily traveled area.
What was wrong with carrying your U-lock in your back pocket or tucked into your belt?
In my area it's the homeless who steal the bikes, because they have nothing to lose, but they don't use them for transport, they sell them to a "dealer" who moves them and takes a cut off the price. Having a low-jack type device on the bike would at least help to bust the higher-up dealers.
Also, the best defense against bike theft is to have a slightly better lock, and slightly uglier bike than the one parked next to yours.
I had no idea bicycle (and bicycle seat!) theft was so bad. I live in a small town and the impression I get is that the bikes that are stolen around here are the ones that aren't locked up at all. I assume the numbers are higher in cities, but I would be curious to see statistics if anyone has them...on cities vs. small towns, locked bikes vs. unlocked bikes, expensive bikes vs. cheaper bikes etc. Until then I have a hard time relating to the necessity of bike locks such as these.