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Clever bike lock scales light posts
- jrockway 16y agoI just bring my bike into the store with me.
- netcan 16y agoSome people like going up a lamp pole with their bicycle. Each to his own.
- csouth 16y agoThe bad thing I see about that is if (for whatever reason) it fails and falls you (and possibly that company) will have your pants sued off. Also birds perching on your bike seat and doing their business... All and all though nifty idea.
- eru 16y agoI guess there's a reason this wasn't invented in the US.
- unwind 16y agoConrad is a catalog-based mail order company for electronics, tools and so on. From the final image of the video, I think this is a commercial for the Conrad company, showing the cool things you can build with their parts and so on. I don't think Conrad is developing this bike lock as an actual product.
- d_c 16y ago"Entstanden im Rahmen unserer Aktion „3 Teams, 14 Tage, 150.000 Möglichkeiten" und entwickelt von Team A aus Hamburg." --- It was a contest - roughly translated 3 teams, 14 days 150.000 posibilities. The lock has been developed by Team A from Hamburg.
- danielh 16y agoI can confirm that the part of the video starting at 1:20 is actually airing as advertising on German TV. It's nice to see that this is a real device and not just CGI.
- eru 16y agoConrad also has a few brick-and-mortar stores. They are like toy-stores for grown-ups (and not-so-grown-ups).
- djhworld 16y agoWhat happens if another guy with one of these locks comes along and parks his park on the same post as yours? Also as far as I can tell this lock relies on the poles/posts being of a certain diameter
- homonculus 16y ago> What happens if another guy with one of these locks comes along and parks his park on the same post as yours? Presumably, if these were mass-produced, each device would have a rare or unique signal similar to car remotes. > Also as far as I can tell this lock relies on the poles/posts being of a certain diameter I thought of that too. There are standard light pole sizes, but they might be different in different countries. I wonder if it would work s well on wooden posts.
- dugmartin 16y agoI think the bigger issue would be how would your bike descend with another bike under it?
- corin_ 16y agoSame issue as "what happens if someone locks their bike next to mine and they are dumb enough to put their lock through my bike". You'd have to assume that anyone who double parks on the same post with a lock like this probably isn't smart enough to ride the bike in the first place. The actual question should be "what happens when there are too many people using these locks so no-one can find any places to use it?"
- ErrantX 16y ago> You'd have to assume that anyone who double parks on the same post with a lock like this probably isn't smart enough to ride the bike in the first place. Such thinking is exactly the sort that is guaranteed to end up with your bike stuck up a lamp post due to a double parking incident ;) (it doesn't quite fit, but the spirit of "Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools" applies)
- brianbreslin 16y agoWe have these things in Miami http://miamibikescene.blogspot.com/2010/09/secure-bicycle-parking-university.html http://miamibikescene.blogspot.com/2010/09/secure-bicycle-pa...
- onewland 16y agoCycling in the same roads as Miami drivers must feel like a gamble for your life. (I cycle every day here in SF, and I used to live in Fort Lauderdale, I speak from partial experience).
- tjarratt 16y agoI've spent many a morning in SF dodging taxis, oblivious pedestrians and potholes and can't even imagine how Miami/Fort Lauderdale could be any worse.
- onewland 16y agoIt's suburban, which means the roads are generally 40MPH or faster, and cars drive extremely aggressively there. Though a busy SF street may seem chaotic, the upper limit on speed gives drivers a lot more time to react to you and vice-versa.
- jules 16y agoI thought one of the advantages of bikes was that you don't need several square kilometers of parking lots in the inner city ;) We have these: http://www.edinboro.edu/dotAsset/141432.jpg http://www.edinboro.edu/dotAsset/141432.jpg
- heyitsnick 16y agoI think this was linked a while back, it's a Japanese automated bike storage system. I couldn't find the original video (which had an interview with the designers), but this shows it in action: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/nov/05/bicycles-japan-bike-tree http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/nov/05/bicy...
- LordLandon 16y agoWhat happens when the batteries die (in either remote or lock)?
- fauigerzigerk 16y agoIt's a fun experiment but unfortunately totally impractical. Who wants to carry and recharge a heavy battery just to have their bike become a prime target for vandalism and police?
- daten 16y agoMy first concern with any new anti-theft solution for bikes is "does it cost more than my bike?". If someone fails to steal my bike but can still vandalise the bike and the lock, I'm out twice as much money. I've had multiple bikes stolen in the Washington DC area.
- electromagnetic 16y agoYour first concern should be - does it work? From the close ups in the video there appears to be way too many leverage points that you could simply break it with a hammer. By looks it's hollow aluminum, a decent gauge but I work with aluminum and this doesn't appear at all sturdy for brute forcing the lock. Aluminum is rather malleable, meaning it looks like force could easily be used to open the device enough to get it back down to ground level, at which point brute forcing becomes much easier. It also looks highly susceptible to leverage forcing or even wedging (which can be done very simply with two hammers) Standard bike locks have the advantage that leveraging the bars generally only fastens the locking mechanism tighter meaning force has to be applied parallel to the bars against the lock - noticeably along the mechanisms strongest axis. Every other way generally fails in a way that makes it harder to separate the lock from its bars. This being a circle allows forces to be applied to directly manipulate hinges, welds, and the lock. However, given that it fits tightly against the lamp post, it is highly susceptible to leverage - unlike a standard bike lock that has a solid 1 foot gap between the end of the bars and the mechanism, which reduces the leveraging potential enormously. You could easily get 40x the leverage on this climbing lock than you could on a standard bike lock. The actual lock they place on this wouldn't last 2 seconds against a $5 screwdriver, I'm assuming it would be a genuine locking mechanism. However the device will have at least 4 welds at best, or likely a non-welded joint, 1 hinge or set of hinges and 1 lock. This means your lock is only as strong as your weakest element and if you're using a hinge, it's likely only as strong as a 1/8th screw. Step 1: brake the wheels with hammer and bring it to ground. Step 2: Force a prybar under the hinge plate. Step 3: hammer the prybar and brake screws. Step 4: ride off on bike.
- JoeAltmaier 16y agoThat thing weighs more than my bike!
- a-priori 16y agoI heard a joke once that the weight of bike+lock is a constant regardless of price. People with more expensive bikes buy bigger, heavier locks to protect them.
- krakensden 16y agoAs someone who is an award-winning keychain loser, I am concerned about recovery in case you lose the damn remote.
- seabee 16y agoThat's no different to a sufficiently secure bike lock, though.
- woadwarrior01 16y agoI can't vouch for its security, but I've seen lots of people use combination locks on bikes.
- hugh3 16y agoI'm concerned about the visual pollution of all these bikes halfway up lampposts, blocking sight lines. If it becomes popular, it'll get banned. Also if it doesn't go up all that high then it'll be at the right level that passing pedestrians have to duck under it.
- lwhi 16y ago.. and what happens if it falls on a passer-by?
- jrockway 16y agoWhat happens if a meteor from space hits a pedestrian? Clearly the government must intervene to build a space shield to protect us all!
- hugh3 16y agoY'know, it's poor argumentative technique to respond to "What if [fairly likely scenario]?" with a sarcastic "Oh yeah, what if [very unlikely scenario]? Clearly [outlandish idea]!"
- burgerbrain 16y agoMaybe he should consider actually locking his bike up correctly in the future. I notice from that picture he hasn't locked his wheels, which tend to be pretty prominent targets.
- tdok 16y agoStrippers can climb that pole and take that bike.
- da5e 16y agoI wonder if you could sell ad space on those wheels? They will really capture some eyeballs. Ya know, if you asked me before this, I would have said, "Bike locks don't scale." :-) This gimmick seems impractical but it's good to see that there's always a new solution to every problem.
- pak 16y agoWell, it appears that this solution scales vertically, not horizontally. Vertical scaling for bike locks is a commercially solvable problem but ROI drops precipitously after about 20 feet.
- metageek 16y agoAnd then it gets stuck halfway up because the user didn't notice that there was a traffic sign attached to the post.
- iloveyouocean 16y agoIt seems to me that one of the best preventative measures for both theft and vandalism is having a bike that 'doesn't stick out' or attract attention. This fails at blending in.
- famousactress 16y agoPoor guy, once two other people come over and use the same post. How do you get it down, past two other bicycles!?
- daten 16y agoTwo thoughts. Would this be a nuisance to utility workers who have to access lights or wires on city poles? This inspires an idea for a similar product. The bike could have an RC-operated hook and winch. The owner can toss the hook onto any high mounted object such as a street sign or low aerial utility line such as phone or cable. Then real the line in with the remote, pulling the bike out of reach. There would be many more potential "parking spaces". The utility lines are supported with steel guide wires that can handle a significant amount of weight[1] and they're much lower than power lines so a careful toss is more of a danger by missing and falling than by reaching an electrical hazard. [1] as a former cable technician I can testify to this, we were trained to hook our ladders onto the lines half-way between two poles if necessary