Asking for Feedback about my bike lock invention

[Bickeylikey]

Hey guys, my name's Liang I'm a college student and cyclist at USC. I've had three bikes stolen while at USC and it really pissed me off so now I'm doing something about it.

I've created a lock that specifically secures the wheels of a bike. It works by replacing the hex nuts or quick release skewers holding a bike in place. It's designed so none of the common theft tools (i.e. wrenches, vice grips, bolt cutters, flamethrowers, that laser gun from Goldeneye, etc.) can get through it or get any leverage on it.

The nut can only be tightened / loosened with the specific wrench that comes in each package. There are multiple variations of these nut:wrench combinations.

I'd love to get some feedback from you guys on the product, whether or not you'd use it, and any advice you have (from business/marketing ideas to product improvements).

Cheers,

-Liang

 

[Bickeylikey]

Well, I tried that. The hammer and the screwdriver do not work. They can only have it tightened.

 

[_aD]

Innovation in this area can only be a good thing. Having to lock both of one's wheels whilst securing a bike is a pain and if you don't want a lot of extra weight, can be very difficult. I would be surprised if there wasn't a market for this sort of device. Will your design lean toward having enough permutations to make it unlikely to get a matching key? I would be rather tempted if I saw this for sale...and I don't have a pricey set of wheels.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Looks good, nice and unobtrusive, the wrench is pretty and I would consider these at the right price.

Works as a way of them not just stealing the wheels but it wont stop them stealing the whole bike or if they feel mean just bending the rim.

What is their benefit or USP over existing locking skewers and pinhead type locking nuts that already exist & are established in the marketplace?


Do you just get the one wrench? More would be better.
You'd need to have it with you every ride for punctures, which greatly increases the chance of losing or misplacing or forgetting it somewhere so a spare at home and/or work would be good & for handing over to a mechanic if you don't service your own bike.

Also how tough metal are they? Spanners and wheel nuts with far greater contact surfaces than these get rounded off or worn and become less effective over many wheel removals or could those splines on the wrench get bent or broken?

these aren't negatives, just throwing the sort of questions out for you to consider before getting people to part with their cash.

 

[Ganymede]

that laser gun from Goldeneye, etc.

Made me laugh! - looks interesting, though I too would ask about sufficient variation. If a dedicated thief could essentially keep buying variants until he or she had the whole set, it would only protect against the casual scumbag. (Obs we need protecting against the casual scumbag.) If there were many different varieties and the person would have to be crouched by the bike trying version after version, it would be somewhat conspicuous! Is there a way of making it unclear from the outside which variant to use? So a thief would potentially have to randomly try 50 different spanners?

Good luck with it!

 

[summerdays]

I've got a different system for locking the wheels, one of the other locking skewers, but otherwise I wouldn't see a problem with that system. I think you would need to be able to get additional keys if you lost it. I've gone down the less secure but easier route so my LBS also has the same bit to unlock my wheels and I don't find it a faff to have to remember to carry the bit, it's permanently in my repair kit.

 

[Dogtrousers]

What is their benefit or USP over existing locking skewers and pinhead type locking nuts that already exist & are established in the marketplace?

My question too.

 

[summerdays]

Aren't variations good? The thief has to carry more things and has to think how he tackles it?

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I've got a different system for locking the wheels, one of the other locking skewers, but otherwise I wouldn't see a problem with that system. I think you would need to be able to get additional keys if you lost it. I've gone down the less secure but easier route so my LBS also has the same bit to unlock my wheels and I don't find it a faff to have to remember to carry the bit, it's permanently in my repair kit.

kind of the point I was making, something you need to carry specifically for a single purpose and permanently or you're potentially stuck with a broken bike and at least a very much more difficult fix.

which begs another question to @Bickeylikey : most of us on here don't restrict ourselves to the one bike: could we order several sets of nuts to the same head pattern or would you supply multi-packs of maybe 3 -5 pairs of nuts to the same fitting so we only have the one spanner to remember? the alternative is making a different repair kit for each bike or a single repair kit but there is a faff and a memory requirement pre-ride to be sure you pack the right spanner for todays bike, and for servicing you're still either handing over a crucial piece of your own equipment to someone else's safekeeping or e.g. summerdays LBS would need a dedicated labelled rack of spanners just for her

 

[dan_bo]

They look trick. Can I have a set for test?

 

[dan_bo]

In purple preferably.


Thank me later.

 

[I like Skol]

I took my PinHead skewers off and went back to traditional Shimano Q/Rs on my commuter. Too much faff and no matter how hard you try you can never get them as tight as the cam action from a good traditional Q/R.
In my opinion your 'invention' is just a copy of an existing idea and is no substitute for locking a bike properly (through frame and both wheels to something solid).

 

[KneesUp]

I took my PinHead skewers off and went back to traditional Shimano Q/Rs on my commuter. Too much faff and no matter how hard you try you can never get them as tight as the cam action from a good traditional Q/R.
In my opinion your 'invention' is just a copy of an existing idea and is no substitute for locking a bike properly (through frame and both wheels to something solid).

I kind of agree. I'm not sure the average person who gets their wheel pinched would think it a possibility it would be pinched. I'm sure we've all seen bikes securely locked by the frame and rear wheel, but with the front wheel missing - surely those people don't think "well I suppose someone could steal my front wheel in seconds, and I could lock it up in seconds, but I can't be bothered" - surely it just doesn't occur to them that a wheel will be stolen - in which case it will be a hard sell.

Looks nice though, but it will make things more inconvenient for me without making it as secure as locking the front wheel.

 

[Flying Dodo]

Sorry - I can't see how this will help stop a bike being stolen. A decent heavy duty chain should always be threaded through wheels and frame for maximum deterrent effect.

 

[summerdays]

The system I have means there aren't variations but the same one operates all the bikes in our household. I'm not so daft that I think it would stop my bike or specifically the wheel from getting nicked. Just that it might make them look at the next bike in the rack. I can't be bothered with carrying a cable which I think offers the same protection (deterrent value rather than completely prevent), and I would have to do it every time whereas these are on my bike always.

I lock my bike up all over Bristol on the street and so far it's still had the wheels there when I've returned, and that's after 8 years or so. (I'm sure it will happen one day, and I'm going to be really angry and upset for a bit, but I'm not going to let the potential problem put me off cycling)