Bendy Bike Wraps Around Poles for Safe Keeping
A British designer has developed a bendy bike that helps prevent theft.
Having your bike stolen is really lame, and finding a lock that is effective but doesn't weigh more than you and the bicycle put together is difficult. Even if you do manage to find one, all it takes is one trip to a dodgy neighborhood and you've lost a wheel or a saddle. Perhaps it's time we tried a different approach to bicycle security.
Using a ratchet system, British designer Kevin Scott has developed a new breed of bike that can be wrapped around a lamppost, allowing the rider to lock both wheels and the frame before they set off on foot. When you're ready to go, you simply unlock your bike and tighten up the ratchet system.
The Daily Mail reports that Kevin's aim when creating the bike was securing all the bike's components within the lock. The 21-year-old's project also allows for more compact storage of a bike.
(via the Daily Mail)
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This is going to be fail. That fame is using tension via a rope through the black portion to hold it all together. That will not be enough to hold a direct hit on the frame and keep its line. Cool idea, but poor thinking it through
Cool, but I'll keep my old fashioned bike chain. k thx.
It has no brakes!!!
At least the bike will survive perpendicular car accidents better than the actual cyclist will.
1 gear model shown in the pics. Now if they can make an 18 or 21 speed shimano version.....yes!
Until people just lift the bike over the post.
This is going to be fail. That fame is using tension via a rope through the black portion to hold it all together. That will not be enough to hold a direct hit on the frame and keep its line. Cool idea, but poor thinking it through
How are you so sure about that? You haven't even seen it in person. It's probably a nice gauge steel cable with a ratchet. Something tells me he thought this through. Why would he chance his own safety?
People will just steal the seat and cut the tension line and steal everything. You'll amazed how many things people steal in NYC.
What a douche, Kevin is in desperate need of a girlfriend.
If that bike was left around London people would just destroy it, let alone steal bits of it.
So this achieves the same thing that carrying two small u-locks to lock each tire to the frame would do AND it takes up the space that two bikes could occupy otherwise? An entertaining design but not a practical.
Plus I don't know that I would trust the tension cable. If I was looking for space saving I'd probably go with a locking hinged foldable design. And with the foldable design you could run a lock chain through both wheels and the frame on one side of the pole leaving the other side of the pole open for a second bike or even possibly leaving enough space for 3 folded bikes to be locked up to the pole without locking up each other's bikes.
If you make it light(...) enough(ie carbon fiber) you can just carry it on you back.
Soooooo... if I crash into something will it fold in on it's self?
Yup, all you nay sayers, lets see what you have all come up with! go on get your ideas up here on Toms.. uh thought so, you dont have any..
At least its better than all the bloody design over function tripe with gravitational cars and epic fail suitcases! He has a clever idea and a working prototype! Eat that funky monkey design houses..Britain is a powerhouse of ideas right now!
Yup, all you nay sayers, lets see what you have all come up with! go on get your ideas up here on Toms.. uh thought so, you dont have any..At least its better than all the bloody design over function tripe with gravitational cars and epic fail suitcases! He has a clever idea and a working prototype! Eat that funky monkey design houses..Britain is a powerhouse of ideas right now!
You give Britons a bad name with that attitude.
that bike is perfect for that guy on The Fantastic 4 ...hehehe
I would hate to see what happen if the bolt came loose while riding it.
How are you so sure about that? You haven't even seen it in person. It's probably a nice gauge steel cable with a ratchet. Something tells me he thought this through. Why would he chance his own safety?
Look at it. It isnt hard to tell how it works. The fram looks like one of those old jump ropes with the plastic dongels over the whole thing. Just pull the rope in the middle and tighten it, and bam all the plastic things will line up. But the problem is rigidity. If you look under his seat, he has a lever that he uses to tighten the line inside of the fram, or losen it. This allows it to bend around the pole when he releases the tension. I dont understand why I got knocked down for posting an obvious flaw in the bike.
How are you so sure about that? You haven't even seen it in person. It's probably a nice gauge steel cable with a ratchet. Something tells me he thought this through. Why would he chance his own safety?
This is the internet. Everyone is an expert on everything.
I like the idea. in my city it could be used. I wonder how much it will cost...
you can buy locking skewers and seat clamps that cost less than an entirely new frame. A frame which will not be structurally as strong as a traditional bicycle frame. not to mention the extra moving parts prove to wear or failure. a novel idea, but cheaper solutions already exist.
Is it legal to wrap a bike around a lamppost? In my country you can only leave bikes in the respective parking in city areas.
Has anyone noticed, that there are no brakes on that thing ?
Too many people on the net armchair engineer when they haven't invented ANYTHING. Myself, I think that even if this thing sucked, the guy has still done more than most of the people picking it apart.
People will just steal the seat and cut the tension line and steal everything. You'll amazed how many things people steal in NYC.
Same in my small town. I've seen bikes secured to thick trees by a heavy duty cable fastened to the frame of the bike. Only problem - that frame was the only thing remaining of the bike...
This is so cool. But how will we ensure that there are always some poles standing nearby?
Look at it. It isnt hard to tell how it works. The fram looks like one of those old jump ropes with the plastic dongels over the whole thing. Just pull the rope in the middle and tighten it, and bam all the plastic things will line up. But the problem is rigidity. If you look under his seat, he has a lever that he uses to tighten the line inside of the fram, or losen it. This allows it to bend around the pole when he releases the tension. I dont understand why I got knocked down for posting an obvious flaw in the bike.
I didn't knock you down but to me, coming to a conclusion on something like that is just a little premature. I am sure it isn't plastic. That would just be stupid.
cable lock? 2 cable locks? makes more sense than this baloney.
I'd probably be thinkin i run it over all the time when i saw one. Still very cool though!
I like the idea I'm just worried about how long that joint/rubber thingy is going to last as an important part of a bike... you know keeping your face out of the asphalt... if it doesn't last too long you'd have to buy a new bike sooner than you'd need to buy, say a bike chain.
I like the idea... I'm not worried about the cable like some. I don't think I'd buy it just for locking purposes. If you ride a bike like that you're not going to be worried about carrying an extra 10lbs.
Non-the-less... an interested folding bike.
P.S. You can't lock your bike to poles or signs in MANY U.S. cities.
Is it legal to wrap a bike around a lamppost? In my country you can only leave bikes in the respective parking in city areas.
and how would the police take your bike, if i may ask?
Lamp post is bad choice, thief will just saw through it. That's how mine got stolen.