By Robert Emslie
This pivoting saddle bike lock concept by designers Lee Sang Hwa, Kim Jin Ho, and Yeo Min Gu eliminates the need to carry an additional lock with you. It’s immensely clever but points to two problems: it doesn’t address the potential theft of the front wheel, and if a rider is in a hurry and forgets that they have locked their bike via the seat, it could result in an embarrassing discovery upon the quick mount.
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Jeff Glucker
Hmmm. Interesting, but a significant functional component is integral to the frame, so it's market is limited to those willing to buy the entire bike. It also seems to limit the height adjustment of the seat post.
design students feeling the need to introduce bad ideas seem to really enjoy reducing the usefulness of bicycles. this actually seems like a clever idea, though.
my own solution has been to use an unexpectedly comfortable $15 saddle and a small length of bike chain looped through the seat stay and the seat rail. thief-proof? no, but just the fact that he'd need more than a crescent wrench to steal my seat is probably good enough to deter any lowlife who wanted my cheapo saddle in the first place. i pop out the front wheel and lock it through the frame and rear wheel with my big fat U-lock, and the bike is very well-secured.
the most important thing i do, though, is to ride an old and not very fancy bike. i know people who have done a bad job locking crappy bikes, and people who have done a great job of locking fancy bikes, and both have resulted in stolen bikes or stolen parts. only the combination of kinda beat-up-looking bike and a locking strategy that protects anything worth stealing is safe to leave out at night, and even then only rarely.
Exactly. I use my 93 Rockhopper (with Kevlar slicks and a rack) for errands. I use two separate lengths of old chain inside a section of a previously flatted tube around the chains and then zipties to keep it all in place.
The first rule of security, be harder to steal from than the guy next to you. In twenty years (of riding) I have never had (just) my seat stolen. It works well.
As for my other (nicer) bikes, I don't go to such lengths, but I don't use them in ways that require me to lock them up in front of stores. They come into hotels with me, or stay in my shed, house or office. But there's something to be said about a cheap, durable, lockable bike that would stink to have stolen mostly for the inconvenience, but never the money. Haha.
Considering I've had 3 bikes stolen from me, you'd think I would find this important.
I had one more bike, in addition to the 3 stolen, that some jack-holes decided to mess with and just bend up for fun.
I do not want a seat stay that has the potential to start shifting around under my bum. It will eventually move and it might cause an accident. Not worth it.
It wouldn't deter someone from picking up the bike and walking away with it. So, not a great deal of additional security.
And I just noticed: The pivot of the seat stem required for the seat to come into plane with the tire and actuate the lock, means that you cannot have an adjustable seat tube length. That means that there have to be a large selection of seat stem length assemblies available, which greatly increases costs and inventory requirements for the manufacturer and merchant. It also makes me wonder about the security of that setem knuckle, as well as the connection of the seat to the stem. It's not unheard of for peoples' nice bike saddle to be stolen, because many are only secured by a quick release.
Couldn't you lock the seat to the tire AROUND the top bar of a traditional bike rack?
Presumably the front wheel would be locked along with the frame to something immobile. This is handy for "free-locking" where you're just off the bike for a second or commuting and want to prevent a grab-n-go.
As far as locking the front wheel and frame to a hard point, I learned an expensive lesson last month about U-locks and parking meters.
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rMCB2vC3LPw/VNq-anwQPxI/AAAAAAAAC6o/mrKB2SppYFs/s640/GEDC0008.JPG" width=450>
That was a custom made titanium Seven Cycles frame I built myself while working in the Seven factory (still cost me almost a grand out of pocket!) and have used for 12 years, sometimes making my living on that bike. I had just refurbed the thing with a gang of new parts. (Which I'll use on the next one!) Truth be told, that was after 12 years of parking it in front of bars, so I had a good enough run with that frame.
Now I know why some people prefer Kryptonite Chain to U-Lock! Also, I'm glad I had renter's insurance. Time for a new Ti bike!
Was that the result of an attempted theft or a careless driver? Or do you know?
Still not sure. I thought it was just a drunk that stumbled into it, and it still might have been. The bike wasn't moved very much, just leaned over a bit more than I left it. My tool kit and blinky lights were still on it. Because the kink was under my water bottle, it took two weeks before I even saw it! I only noticed when I went to true the front wheel, which also got bent.
That would have to be pretty heavy drunk to do all that!I'm surprised it wasn't bent as well as dented. Now that it's junked, it might be interesting to see how much force it takes to duplicate the damage. Was it on the street side of the meter or the sidewalk side?
Sidewalk side. Street side just seems negligent to me. You're just asking for damage.
What a shame! Experienced something similar with a bike I've had for decades, it has now traveled approximately 60k km. Just that everything but the frame was either bent, stolen or scraped after I carelessly left the bike at the train station over the weekend. It hurts! Is there any way to fix the frame?
When I worked in that factory we used to replace down tubes. We could replace anything but a seat tube. This bike is powder coated (so no one would know it was titanium) and that makes it more expensive; you have to cook the powder coat off, replace the tube, re-align the frame, then either finish the bare titanium or have it powder coated again. My insurance is paying for a new frame. (After which they'll bump up my yearly rate, and I'll end up paying for it anyway!)
Not that any nice bike can be protected but, as a veteran cyclist, I call bullshit. For a quick getaway ride the seat is the least important component.
The supernice Renault 16 auctioned off at BaT at no reserve that I linked to the other day is supposed to be sold today. Bid stands at only 3k $ still…which is a steal of dimensions, if you ask me. Just saying.
And…what happens when you keep driving with flat tire*? Something like that:
<img src="http://data.motor-talk.de/data/galleries/0/201/9372/68303294/207736801-w665-h499.jpg" width="600">
A nice start!
A terrible and uncomfortable seat becomes an inefficient lock. Looks pretty, functionality questionable.