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Yerka bike uses frame as lock
- osigurdson 5y agoGood if you can find an unoccupied pole or ultra low density bike rack. Presumably clunky in a normal bike rack (which are clunky at the best of times).
- kwhitefoot 5y agoA minor quibble: the frame of the bike is being used as the hasp of a lock. The actual lock is not discussed at all. If it is anything like most of the mainstream locks on the The Lock Picking Lawyer's Youtube channel it will be easily defeated without damaging the frame.
- TaylorAlexander 5y agoSo there are these bars that swing out from the frame. The bottom one holds the lock while the top one holds the seat tube. I wonder if you strike the top one with a sledgehammer right by the pivot point, would it shear the bolt that holds that tube to the frame? Could be a quick attack.
- m0ngr31 5y agoI'd hate to have to reset my seat post every time I got back on. Would get old very quickly
- Kenji 5y ago
- Jerry2 5y agoHmm... be careful not to use that locking feature when 'locking' it to a regular sign post. When I lived in NYC, my roommate's bike was stolen when a thief just removed bolts holding the sign and then he just lifted the whole bicycle and the lock over the post. He then bolted the sign back on. We saw the surveillance video from a neighbor's surveillance camera and the whole thing took under 3 minutes. We initially assumed the lock was defeated but this was a much more ingenious way.
- technotarek 5y agoI believe you may still have a useless bike in the case of this design.
- maxerickson 5y agoDepends on how pickable the lock is at that point.
- mike_d 5y agoYou mean if it doesn't get stolen?
- klyrs 5y agoStolen bikes frequently get tossed onto a truck full of bikes. Even if the frame is a goner, it'll scrap. The rest of the components can be resold / used to patch up another bike.
- teknopaul 5y agoIn Barcelona many "stolen" bikes are actually the council taking them because you are not allowed to park bikes against sign posts. You can get them back. Unless you have one of these bikes. Pity the folk that loose their keys. Some times a crap lock is useful as a deterrent but you don't want to make it hard to get your own bike unlocked by people authorised to do so, including yourself. Cool idea t'ho if your only problem is lazy thieves riding off with your bike. This post is one of a long line of my "more security is not _necessarily_ better security" posts.
- wolverine876 5y agoNothing is impossible to steal; you just want to make it harder.
- Gigachad 5y agoUnfortunately the rate of bike theft is so high that even with the best locks, if its left in view of the public, its going to be stolen.
- peterfield 5y agoNot impressed at all. If any of these tubes is aluminum (I'm 90% sure the seat down tube is), a battery powered grinder can cut through it in less than 1 min. Even a handsaw would need only a few minutes.
- Gualdrapo 5y agoBut as the article rightly points, that immediately would render the bike useless.
- SECProto 5y agoVery little of my bike's value is in the frame - the components are worth much more (though if I bought this bike, that would likely change - looks like a pricey frame)
- giraffe_lady 5y agoIf you know the specific value of even a single component on your bike you are in a tiny tiny minority of bike users already. That's cool me too. Just we should keep that in mind in this context probably.
- marcinzm 5y agoIt's not a question of the user knowing the value, it's a question of the chop shop the thief sells the bike to knowing.
- tempestn 5y agoA lot of bike thieves steal bikes to use themselves or to sell as bikes. Nothing will prevent every potential theft, but I can see how it would help.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- x3n0ph3n3 5y agoJust needs the LockPickingLawyer to review it.
- Animats 5y agoSend the lock to the Lock Picking Lawyer and see what he has to say.
- scoofy 5y agoMost people stealing bike aren't doing it as hobbyist lock pickers. Bike theft is genuinely one of the main issues with cycling as a very real transportation alternative.
- sturmeh 5y agoCorrect, but if the lock is trivial to defeat, you can assume people will be carrying screwdrivers / shims and whatever else is necessary to break locks. If you need to spend 5 minutes carefully setting pins then yeah it's probably going to be safe in public.
- couchand 5y agoSaws don't care about the pins in the lock.
- giraffe_lady 5y agoI'm curious and optimistic about alternate lock setups like this. I'm a heavy bike user, and a lot of the situations where theft is likely are also ones where carrying a good lock can add significant friction to the activity. Things like running an errand a neighborhood over, beach, sports game, quick trip to grocery store, etc. And anyway a common wisdom I believe is that if someone targets your bike specifically they will have it. This (or any) doesn't have to be a better lock per se, it just needs to be no worse and not make your bike more of a target. I have no insight or really even educated guesses about the quality or value of this specific one though. It looks like 6ku or retrospec or something which cool I like those fine for city bikes.
- wolverine876 5y ago> a lot of the situations where theft is likely are also ones where carrying a good lock can add significant friction to the activity. Things like running an errand a neighborhood over, beach, sports game, quick trip to grocery store, etc. Why is carrying a good lock so hard?
- cush 5y agoThey’re heavy.
- loeg 5y agoThis bike is 30 lbs.
- giraffe_lady 5y agoIt's not hard it's unfun. I'm a pretty utilitarian user of bikes but the reason I use them so much is that I just enjoy the experience of riding. The weight and hassle of carrying a lock takes some of the enjoyment out, so I avoid it when I can and maybe ride a little less when I can't. It's not a big deal it doesn't apply to everyone but the more you do stuff on a bike the more it grates.
- 5y ago
- _carbyau_ 5y agoWheels "feature unique nuts that can only be undone with a special adaptor which comes with the bike" C'mon, really? Just another specialty socket/drill bit?
- jrockway 5y agoThey are usually a little bit more unique, but still not particularly secure. Just something to fuck you over when you're out in the middle of nowhere and need to repair something.
- rrix2 5y agoyou can also leave it in your little saddle tool bag that'll make your tire thief's day easier maybe figure out how to make one an irritably shaped keychain?
- Gigachad 5y agoI’m not sure what the alternative is though. Theft of wheels and seats is unfortunately common.
- Chirael 5y agoI recommend The Completist’s Guide to Bike Security https://www.aaronhamlin.com/articles/completists-guide-bike-security https://www.aaronhamlin.com/articles/completists-guide-bike-...
- Gigachad 5y agoUnfortunately this just reaffirms why I don't use a bike for transport. For me, the mental stress of worrying about bike theft and going through all these procedures + the depressing feeling of eventually having it stolen is greater than the actual value of the bike.. I enjoy riding my bike for fitness but when I'm done riding, it always goes back inside my apartment where it's pretty close to impossible to steal. This does unfortunately make it useless for anything but fitness. I'd love to see some systematic changes put in place to crack down on bike theft but its out of my control.
- jrockway 5y agoA dead comment mentions having to readjust the saddle height every time you unlock the bike. Just draw a line on the seatpost with a sharpie. Easy and reversible.
- hinkley 5y agoThat is an old trick, commonly shared or reinvented. It’s hit or miss. Usually it’s close enough you don’t notice, but some people realize something is wrong and have to readjust. Also it’s more of a one off thing. Sliding the post past the line has a habit of removing bits of the line, or obscuring it if you used a little too much grease. Not often but I have seen someone lose the line entirely by fucking around. If you were using it daily you’d get the same effect quickly enough. Once you are really, really certain you have dialed in the right post height, I’ve known a person or two to use a scribe line. I was never that brave. Another just used electricians tape which might fit depending on how this system works.
- SirZimzim 5y agoMy bike fitter put a sticker on mine, could replicate that with any tape really.
- hinkley 5y agoDefinitely, but at the cost of a minor annoyance. The sticker/tape solution means you've made the choice to remove the seat post entirely when you move the seat. Since seat posts historically have been greased (to prevent galvanic action between the aluminum seat post and the steel/titanium/?? frame), that can get messy. Most people, when they stuff their bike into their car, drop the seat post all the way into the seat tube, rather than removing it, and that can peel a sticker off (worst case, inside the seat tube). On the way to a trip these things are trivial, but at the end of a trip, every little problem is much more likely to get on your last nerve, so finding solutions that take care of future you is a useful investment of problem solving. If it's raining and you're covered with road rash you don't want to deal with your greasy seat post for the 35th time on top of it all.
- adolph 5y agoThe idea of theft of something that could be as ubiquitous as a simple bike is a tragedy. How is bike theft still a problem?
- jrootabega 5y agoBikes are expensive high-tech status symbols. I read an article about one where the frame had a lock built in.
- cush 5y agoI read this once too. Can’t remember the name of it though. Yerba, maybe?
- ehnto 5y agoI think they're not as ubiquitous everywhere, and different areas tend to trend toward more expensive bikes for those who do ride. Bike theft in Japan happens, but the vast majority of people have very moderate bikes and there are millions of them, the incentive for theft is really small, and there's no real need to buy stolen bikes since bikes are already pretty cheap. Meanwhile in somewhere like say California or Melbourne, it's not uncommon for a bike to be $1000+, sometimes much more, making them a pretty attractive target, and a market for stolen bikes exists because of that higher price, people are often looking for a deal on second-hand bikes, they may not even realize it's stolen.
- loeg 5y agoTo be clear there’s also a lot of theft of bikes under $1000, in pretty much any major metro in the US.
- rtpg 5y agoI've had my extremely shitty bike stolen in Japan! It was a normal mama-chari, and I called all the usual suspects to confirm it hadn't been towed. The main thing was that it was parked in a place it shouldn't be parked, for enough time. Meanwhile my much nicer replacement bike is parked like 50cm away, but inside actual bike parking, and is just there. My neighbor has an even nicer bike, with a fancy GPS thingy attached to the frame, there for the taking. And it's still there! The Completist's Guide mentions that cheaper bikes are more likely to get stolen, and I heard that from police here as well. Though I think the general contours of "everyone has a bike anyways" is very true. They're also harder to fence cuz bikes in Tokyo are registered (not 100% but enough). Personally, I think that just social dynamics from having real bike parking (read: not attaching to stop signs...) helps a lot as well.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoThief just has to cut the extra long seat post then walk off and pick the lock to restore the downtube in their spare time.
- scoofy 5y agoAgain... most people stealing bikes aren't stealing them to repair them. They're stealing them and either using them or flipping them immediately.
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y agoThis is pretty cool. The one thing that springs to mind, is I wonder how robust, and long-lasting this will be? Bikes get put through a fair bit of abuse, and the mechanism looks like it might have problems with said abuse. Robustness is often the Achilles' heel of innovative design. I used to work for a defense contractor, and it was amazing what came back from the field; even when it was packaged in one of those "floating rack" cases.
- madrox 5y agoI had a similar thought, but this strikes me as a city commuter bike. While I used my daily driver a lot, I wouldn't say I used it hard. This probably has a lot of the same structural concerns as a convertible car...servable, but probably less likely to serve after an accident.
- cush 5y agoOne of the better ways of preventing the theft of a bike in a city (aside from bringing it indoors), is to use an old, junky, beater bike. The Yerka’s unique design is an absolute thief-magnet that’s begging to be stolen.
- couchand 5y agoA friend clarified this strategy for me the other day... Apparently you walk a fine line between beater not worth the effort to take and assumed abandoned and so fair to strip.
- cush 5y agoIt’s easy to tell an abandoned bike from one that’s in use. Abandoned bikes become rusty, tires are deflated, they get kicked over, etc etc.
- Gigachad 5y agoMy favorite method was the guy who doesn't lock his bike at all and just sticks airtags on it and when it goes missing, calls the police who recover the bike and collect the thief https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-fn0yCdqHg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-fn0yCdqHg
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y agoAssumes police that gives a shit (and has the resources to give a shit).
- numlock86 5y agoBe careful with that. Depending on where you live this can be seen as "incitement for robbery" (or whatever the correct term is) which is a crime in itself at some places even.
- chrischen 5y agoBoo, this is victim blaming. Is this actually a real crime? Or are you referring to when police do it?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- fartcannon 5y agoThis is the kind of thing that gets your tires jumped on and slashed. We don't need better locks, we need better police response to theft.
- dylan604 5y ago
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- makeitdouble 5y agoI'm no proponent of broken window fallacies, but I think having an environment where petty theft is harder to pull off has second order/third order effects. Like people more willing to ride bikes in the first place, less mental burden in general, and I'd wagger it has an impact on street life and how long people would want to spend time outside instead of privately monitored malls and shopping facilities.
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- Gigachad 5y agoIt's much bigger than the value of the bike. Theft is probably the main thing holding back bike transport in general.
- dylan604 5y agoTheft is the main thing? How about a population of drivers that pay zero consideration that a bicycle is something to be concerned. Bike friendly places to ride the bikes are bigger holdback where I am.
- 5y ago
- nameforuser 5y agoThis is a cool design but I wouldent like readusting the seat height everytime I lock up. I have it dialed it just right to not bother my knees.
- mathieuh 5y agoWrap a ring of electrical tape at the point where the seat post enters the clamp. Not saying the bike in the article is a good idea but the electrical tape trick is useful to help you find your saddle height again easily.
- makeitdouble 5y agoI use a bd-1 and the seat moves everytime I fold is enterely. Putting a center spot at the right height helped to put it back at the exact same position everytime, just within a few seconds, so it's a fairly solvable issue. Now I'd hate to fiddle with the frame every time I park, but I guess people have different tastes.
- loeg 5y agoAlso the seattube interface should be greased, so I guess your hands get dirty every time you lock up?
- Matthias247 5y agoEither this, or mount it ungreased. I guess in both cases this bike will start to creak much earlier than a regular one. If you grease it and keep it outside of the seat tube, a lot of dirt will stick to it which then makes its way into the seat tube. When it rains more water then usual getting in the bottom bracket area will be another challenge.
- motoxpro 5y agoThis is actually a bad idea. No upside to greasing your seat. At best it just makes it slip. Source: Profession cyclist for the last 15 years.
- 5y ago
- egypturnash 5y ago$700 for a single-speed bike with this goofy gimmick frame-lock, $800 for a three-speed. Nah, I think I'll stick to the beat-up seven-speed I spent $300 on several years ago and a cheap chain.
- alanbernstein 5y agoIt's not single speed, it has an internal hub gear.
- egypturnash 5y agoI was going by the last sentence of the article: It comes in two flavors, either single- or three-gear, which cost $699 and $799 respectively. If you go to Yerka's site it does say that "The Yerka model with gears incorporates sealed gears inside the hub which means less service, more reliability and you will be able to shift without pedaling" so the three-speed might have an internal hub gear. But this also clearly implies a model "without gears". And finally at the store page - https://yerka.store/products/yerka-v3?variant=35584723255449 https://yerka.store/products/yerka-v3?variant=35584723255449 - it pretty distinctly gives you an option of "3 speed" and "single speed". And has photos of a bike with one big gear behind the cranks, doesn't even have a chain guard to help keep your pants out of it. No fancy internal gear there.
- ahoka 5y agoYeah, a 300USD single speed from Decathlon and 50USD U Lock is much better.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- loeg 5y agoA 30 lb fixie (typically closer to 15 lbs) and you have to take the seat tube out to lock it: awful. It’s impractical, it’s heavy, and a quality U-lock is just as effective for protecting a very low-end bike (such as this one). Gimmick.
- locallost 5y agoOne man's gimmick is another man's novel idea to solve a problem.
- saiya-jin 5y agoSolving a problem... partially, maybe. Tires or seat still get stolen, these look expensive to replace. You pay tons of extra money just to have something different. No way the construction rigidity doesn't suffer with extra moving parts. Over few years, its probably creaking, loose, and who knows how it behaves during an accident. This adds mechanical complexity to a tool which is best served with as much simplicity as possible. How much does this cost over good U-lock which also holds 1 wheel?
- Wojtkie 5y agoThe tires have a unique bolt similar to anti-theft lug nuts on cars and the Seat is part of the locking mechanism. You can't steal either of them without the key or unique lug nut socket.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ahahahahah 5y agoAre you just making up nonsense? Here's a typical fixie: https://www.citygrounds.com/collections/fixed-gear-single-speed-fixie-bikes/products/10tr-fn1005 https://www.citygrounds.com/collections/fixed-gear-single-sp... and a typical u-lock https://www.amazon.com/Kryptonite-Kryptolok-Mini-7-Bicycle-Kryptoflex/dp/B06XC66Z42?tag=thbebilo-20&geniuslink=true https://www.amazon.com/Kryptonite-Kryptolok-Mini-7-Bicycle-K.... The total weight of those two is 27-28 pounds. The yerka v3 is just over 28 pounds (https://yerka.world/products/yerka-v3 https://yerka.world/products/yerka-v3). I'm not commenting on its value or quality, just on yours.
- gnicholas 5y ago> You also won’t have to worry about your tires being stolen. That’s because they feature unique nuts that can only be undone with a special adaptor which comes with the bike. So do you have to carry the special adaptor when you go riding, in case you get a flat and need to put on a new tube? Not a huge deal, but kind of annoying.
- alleycat5000 5y agoBrompton's (folding bikes) are a really great option, just take it with you. brompton.com
- Lio 5y agoI was going to say the same. I actually find it’s a good idea not to take a lock with me so that I’m not tempted to leave mine outside anywhere. A Brompton will fit nicely under a desk or table. I’ve had people object to seeing a bike indoors but if you put it in a bag before you go in they magically stop noticing it. Bromptons are expensive but mine paid for itself in less than a year in parking fees. That was 10 years ago.
- todotask 5y agoDespite bikes has been the same many century, it's only portable on the path and inconvenience to other passerby. A real solution should be made foldable, won't taking up public space, lightweight to carry as your bag. Using frame as a lock is an over-engineering idea.
- tromp 5y agoMaybe you consider this folding bike over-engineered too?! https://www.helix.ca/ https://www.helix.ca/
- hnbad 5y ago> [Bicycles are] only portable on the path and inconvenience to other passerby. A real solution should be made foldable, won't taking up public space, lightweight to carry as your bag. If you think bicycles are inconvencing pedestrians by taking up too much space, just wait until you find out about this thing we call "car".
- Pelam 5y agoWhy not microchip controlled locking bolts inside the frame that prevent pedals and or steering from turning? Without the right key fob to unlock the bike is useless and resale value zero. (Because the lock is inside the frame tubes and built to not come out in locked mode) This is what car anti theft devices do AFAIK… why not bikes?
- numlock86 5y ago> This is what car anti theft devices do AFAIK… why not bikes? Well, with a car you can easily secure the mechanism because ... well, it's a car. Cars are huge compared to bikes and have enclosures protected from the outside world. Try that with a bike without increasing the weight while making it still hard to just break apart. Oh, and you probably need some energy to make it all work, too. Also there's costs and chip shortage. But yeah, main point is to make it actually secure within the given space and dimensions.
- casion 5y agoStill worth scrap and parts. $50 is worth the thief's time if it's zero effort. Chucking bikes into the back of a truck is a super common thing.
- hughrr 5y agoI’d come back and find the frame attached to the post and everything else stripped off it. Not only that I bet the frame creaks and all sorts. Plus it’s going to be a lot weaker. It’s a stupid invention.
- usrusr 5y agoThe trick is that this bike might be so bad that thieves would prefer stealing all the other bikes in view. The only realistic measure against bike theft is guarded parking or fixed installations of mini-garages (that would force a would-be breaker to blindly guess which box contains something valuable). I guess you could fit about ten of those in the space required for one car worth of parking?
- beeforpork 5y ago(1) Doesn't that severely weaken the frame? It looks flimsy, and even if the lock part is attached back, it does not look like as strong as a welded joint. (2) The levers introduced by the long straight tubes seem to open up a physical way in. Imagine twisting the bike off the post. (3) Once LPL shows how to open that lock, one might want to swap it for a better one. Is that possible?
- bjornorn 5y agoThe downtube is mostly subjected to stretching forces. But maybe it does lose some stiffness compared to a normal bike.
- pletnes 5y agoUsing a wire, at least, makes it less stiff in torsion since a regular «metal tube» will have bending and shear stiffness. But then, it’s a tradeoff which could be worth it for some casual bikers!
- em-bee 5y ago(1) was my first thought, especially on that part of the frame. i think if it was the horizontal upper bar, it would be less of a concern, because the upper bar gets different stresses. also, this lock is way to bulky for many locking situations. i can't even think of a bike-rack where this would work. it seems to be suitable for locking to sign-posts only. (and see the comment below on that)
- locallost 5y agoRitchey sells breakaway frames for easier transport, and their frames are definitely not weak, so I would say no.
- newaccount74 5y agoI've never had a breakaway bike, but judging from photos the Ritchey couplings look a lot sturdier than these hinges. It's probably still ridable because the top tube is rigid, and for a bike that's mainly geared at convenience stiffness isn't a priority anyway.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago> Its tires also come equipped with thick reflective strips so that others see your bike at night. This is a standard feature on most bike tires, at least around here - see e.g. https://trek.scene7.com/is/image/TrekBicycleProducts/BontragerH5HardCaseUltimateReflective_09390_J_Alt3 https://trek.scene7.com/is/image/TrekBicycleProducts/Bontrag.... I mean it's a thin strip but it's very visible if hit by car lights. If.
- mqus 5y agoIn fact, its illegal in some countries(eg Germany) to drive in public without reflective wheels (this or clipped-on reflectors)
- JulianMorrison 5y agoThis will end up without wheels and with its frame kicked bent.
- tweetle_beetle 5y agoThere are 5 jump cuts in the sequence to demonstrate the lock feature in the promotional video and it is only demonstrated once. If even the marketing material is glossing over a USP, then it's a bad sign. The thought of sliding the seatpost in and out twice (4 times?) every time you end a journey is not good. I had a folding bike with a very long seatpost that moved as part of the fold. Admittedly it was 80% exposed while riding, but it got dirty and gritty very and it isn't realistic to carry a rag and assembly grease with you so it got scratched, required more force over time and became unpleasant to use. Also, this is a very solvable problem, but no seatpost means that the frame can fill with water in the rain.
- MarkerDave 5y agoThey say this bike is supposed to be a city bike, then why is the seat and handlebars positionend like a race bike... it's not the most comfortable position for a bike. and I also don't see any way to carry any luggage on the bike it self.
- kstenerud 5y agoSeems great until someone kicks the bike for shits and giggles and bends the weakened frame.
- jlg23 5y agoHow does this lock to actual bike stands found in a lot of cities (at least in Europe)? Most provide a frame for a tire but no central metal bar this bike could be locked to. Examples: * http://c.tutti.ch/big/4724274679.jpg http://c.tutti.ch/big/4724274679.jpg * https://res.cloudinary.com/bohmeyer-schuster-gmbh/image/upload/w_500/v1574940270/products/images/fahrradstaender-1000-18218.jpg https://res.cloudinary.com/bohmeyer-schuster-gmbh/image/uplo...
- cameronh90 5y agoIs there any secure way to lock to those?
- ksala_ 5y agoSure, you ignore them and lock on a nearby pole. Those bike racks are useful if you're sitting outside drinking a coffee and just don't want to keep your bike upright, but completely useless if you need to leave your bike unattended. Luckily cities (at least where I live) are coming to their senses and very slowly starting to provide decent infrastructure.
- tokai 5y agoOnly if you have a long lock. You'll sometimes see a lone front wheel locked to the stand, where someone ran with the frame. Most people don't lock their bike to the stand, they just use a frame lock.
- merightnow 5y agoI usually carry a big lock to be able to get all the way to the frame. But this design is definitely my least favourite one.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- jlg23 5y agoRear wheel in, lock through wheel and frame.
- 5y ago
- ramboldio 5y agoThe problem with this design is that it makes it a lot easier to have a big lever (eg. using a bolt cutter) on the frame. That's why folding locks are effective: Not because of their raw strength but because of their awkwardness that makes finding a lever harder. The real solution would be a police that takes bike theft seriously.
- carlospwk 5y agoSo what do you do when the lock breaks and you can't cut it open? Look, I could list a dozen reasons why this is a bad design but I won't. Besides the U-lock, there has never been a widely adopted tech solution to combat bike theft. Locks which release OC gas when sawed, GPS tracking, bike registers, camera surveillance etc., none of it works as well as a solid U-lock through the frame and rear wheel attached to a solid object. Only frame-based solution I'd like to see is some universal mount standard for U-locks. The problem with reducing bike theft is that you can't do it just by inventing new locks. You need to do all of the following: reduce the need to steal bikes (eg. sane substance & welfare policy), actively police and punish bike theft, teach proper locking techniques and make online marketplaces responsible for selling stolen goods. Out of those, teaching proper locking techniques would be the easiest to implement. People seem to have no issue leaving a 1000$ bike locked with a 20$ cable lock unattended while they go shopping but would probably never do the same with a 4k flat screen TV. Put a $40 U-lock on it properly and you just increased the difficulty of stealing by a lot: instead of using pocket fitting cable cutters, the thief now needs to make two cuts with a noisy angle grinder. Chuck in another lock and the thief will probably just find something easier to steal.
- dan-robertson 5y agoHow does this compare to the Dutch-bike system where there’s an integrated lock to immobilise the back wheel (terrible tubular lock though, iirc) and one would then just use a U-lock (or slightly better, a thick but annoyingly heavy chain) to attach the bike to something stationary? Reduces some of the pain of trying to find something the right size to get the U-lock through the frame and wheel. I don’t have a great sense for the prevalence of bike theft in the Netherlands compared to European or American cities however.
- jccalhoun 5y agoI first saw bikes with this when I visited Japan back in the early 2000s and thought it was a pretty neat idea. It certainly doesn't replace locking it to something but it seems like an easy extra to have.
- bipson 5y agoKudos for the inventive solution, but it is not significantly better than a good lock. Nothing is. And even that isn't really good. An acquaintance of mine had his new and shiny bike stolen in front of his flat on a busy street over night. Well secured with awesome locks to the communal bike rack. The thief simply cut through the rack pipe, and took bike and lock as is. Battery-powered heavy duty tools that are now easy to come by will get you anything left on the street - no matter how well secured...
- colechristensen 5y agoWhen the bike is the lock and you don’t have the key it really puts a damper on why or how you steal it. If you cut up the infrastructure that you lock to, you still have a bike in a weird position and need a key you won’t have. Most bike lock thieves focus on destroying the lock which you can’t do if the lock is the bike. Making the structure of the bike the structure of the lock is a great idea because of this.
- bipson 5y agoEvery (keyed) lock is easily picked with enough time and the right tools. Being able to carry it home, will give you our your conspirators more than enough time.
- colechristensen 5y agoEasily? No. Decent locks take skill, skill which takes a long time to develop. And also if you buy a bike which has a primary feature of it being a lock, your buyer is probably going to wonder where the key is. Paying a locksmith who may or may not be able to make a new key for your lock really cuts into the motivation for stealing a bike.
- diebeforei485 5y agoSomething I've wondered about - why doesn't the back wheel or drivetrain have its own lock, so the bike can't easily be moved unless it's carried?
- phor 5y agoSuch a back wheel lock is quite common in The Netherlands
- Erwin 5y ago"1 bike stolen every 4 minutes" is an understatement; for Denmark alone 2020 had 40,000 reported thefts which is one every 13 minutes, down from a staggering 115,000 in 1995 (one every 4.5 minutes).
- hansworst 5y agoThe video says it's 4 seconds, which is sadly a more realistic number I think.
- phor 5y agoThis seems wildly impractical to me and I doubt this solution is good for the structural integrity of the bike. It will take long, especially if you have to readjust the ride height every time you want to use your bike. You will also only be able to park your bike at pole, not in a bike parking spot or storage facility.
- brian_cunnie 5y agoThis is a great idea! I want to temper the enthusiasm of potential buyers, though: although this might prevent your bike from getting stolen, it won't help against vandalism, and I've spent hundreds of dollars on vandalism. The last time my bike was vandalized was two months ago, and it cost $200 to fix (they twisted the handlebars around until the cables snapped). I wrote a blog piece about how to keep your bike locked up overnight, outside in San Francisco for years, [0] and the take-away is this: it averages $80 - $100 / month in repair costs, and you're much better off getting a bike rental membership (e.g. Citibike, Bay Wheels) for $15 / month. BTW, good locks are really important. [0] https://briancunnie.medium.com/how-to-lock-your-bike-overnight-in-san-francisco-c2b7da2260ba https://briancunnie.medium.com/how-to-lock-your-bike-overnig...
- hajile 5y agoThe real problem is the penalty. In most areas I know of, stealing stealing a $500 car would get you felony while a $500 bike would be a misdemeanor. Simply changing this law and conducting a couple sting operations would probably result in a dramatic reduction in bike thefts. The current state of affairs is just another anti-bike pressure (intentional or not).
- exabrial 5y agoSide note: Clincher brakes = eeek. Once you have disc brakes you'll never go back.
- xgbi 5y agohttps://imgur.com/a/snP071C https://imgur.com/a/snP071C So much ads on this website …