

Clever bike lock scales light posts - yread
http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog/a_clever_bike_lock

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unwind
Conrad 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
"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.

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djhworld
What 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

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homonculus
> 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.

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dugmartin
I think the bigger issue would be how would your bike descend with another
bike under it?

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corin_
Same 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?"

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ErrantX
> 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)

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fauigerzigerk
It'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
My 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
Your 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.

~~~
daten
That's still my second concern and also has to be satisfied before I would buy
it. But if I can get around town on a $100 bike and the anti-theft device
costs $300, I'll stick with a more affordable lock and buy a new bike
occasionally.

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hugh3
I'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.

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lwhi
.. and what happens if it falls on a passer-by?

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jrockway
What happens if a meteor from space hits a pedestrian? Clearly the government
must intervene to build a space shield to protect us all!

~~~
hugh3
Y'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]!"

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krakensden
As someone who is an award-winning keychain loser, I am concerned about
recovery in case you lose the damn remote.

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seabee
That's no different to a sufficiently secure bike lock, though.

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woadwarrior01
I can't vouch for its security, but I've seen lots of people use combination
locks on bikes.

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daten
Two 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

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LordLandon
What happens when the batteries die (in either remote or lock)?

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da5e
I 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.

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pak
Well, 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.

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burgerbrain
Maybe 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.

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csouth
The 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.

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eru
I guess there's a reason this wasn't invented in the US.

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brianbreslin
We have these things in Miami
[http://miamibikescene.blogspot.com/2010/09/secure-bicycle-
pa...](http://miamibikescene.blogspot.com/2010/09/secure-bicycle-parking-
university.html)

~~~
onewland
Cycling 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).

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tjarratt
I'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.

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onewland
It'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.

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iloveyouocean
It 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.

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jrockway
I just bring my bike into the store with me.

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netcan
Some people like going up a lamp pole with their bicycle. Each to his own.

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metageek
And then it gets stuck halfway up because the user didn't notice that there
was a traffic sign attached to the post.

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JoeAltmaier
That thing weighs more than my bike!

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a-priori
I 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.

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tdok
Strippers can climb that pole and take that bike.

