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.
"Entstanden im Rahmen unserer Aktion „3 Teams, 14 Tage, 150.000 Möglichkeiten" und entwickelt von Team A aus Hamburg."
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It was a contest - roughly translated 3 teams, 14 days 150.000 posibilities. The lock has been developed by Team A from Hamburg.
There's bike vandalism to watch out for, too. It's not very common, but few locks protect against it. Locks handle a much more common occurrence, that people want to steal a bike for material gain, not only for the detriment of the bike's owner.
Vandalism is just as common as theft in the Washington DC area. Usually if they can't break your lock, they break your bike instead.
DC has replaced some bike racks with bike lockers that totally enclose the bike. The downside is the lockers take up a lot of space so there are only a few of them at each metro station.
The thing is with that lock you have a stack, so the first bike on that pole can't get down until the others are gone. With regular locks problems happen only by mistake or by being an ass.
> 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.
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?"
> 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)
No, because you can do a double lock on a pole (each side) so long as no one puts their lock through your frame (usually they could pass it through your lock if they wanted).
But for this if someone has suspended their bike below yours you could never lower your bike.
I don't see the huge problem. Climb on the pole and take off your bike? Yeah it's inconvenient but somebody double locking your bike with a regular lock is far worse.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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]!"
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
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.
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.
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...
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).
I 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:
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.
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.
I don't think Conrad is developing this bike lock as an actual product.