anti-theft idea

Zippy the Pinhead wrote:
On 5 Mar 2004 21:45:29 -0800, (ken) wrote:


Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of getting your
bike stolen:
Place a big HUFFY sticker on your frame ,


I think a better option would be to place a spring-loaded, barbed
harpoon ("The Shaft [TM]")in the seat tube. The Shaft (TM) would be
tethered inside the bike by a thin, ten-foot Kevlar cable attached
inside the tube down near the bottom bracket. You'd place an
unobtrusive key into the seat tube to disable it when you were riding
it, and take the key out when you park it.

Any weight placed onto the saddle would begin the process of arming
The Shaft (TM). In the absence of the key, few turns of the crank-arm
would release The Shaft (TM) through the saddle and impale whatever
was riding it at the time.

An audio alarm would be optional, and would loudly announce in a
computer-generated voice: "The guy with The Shaft (TM) up his ass is a
THIEF!" at ten-second intervals until the 9V battery went dead.

Even in a built-up area, it shouldn't be too hard to find your stolen
bike; you'd just follow the trail of blood and diarrhea. It wouldn't
be too hard to cut the cable. You'd be out a new saddle, and since
The Shaft (TM) is inexpensive and disposable, you'd be able to replace
it cheaply and conveniently.



Hey! I proposed this years ago! I knew I should have patented it.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a
person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a
newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive there's something wrong with him."
Art Buchwald

In article Vzn2c.723726$ts4.597223@pd7tw3no,
"Dave Mayer" wrote:

"ken" wrote in message Place a big HUFFY sticker
on your frame , covering the TREK ,
CANNONDALE, etc.

Ken: around here, putting a Huffy (or Schwinn, Murray, Infinity, Dunlop,
Mongoose etc.) set of stickers on your bike will increase its chance of
getting stolen. Why? Most bike thefts are by drug addicts who sell them
for a few bucks. Small-time thieves and their cohorts in pawn shops only
know these brands.

Put two identical bikes out with Pinarello and Huffy stickers on it and the
Pinarello will be left alone. This situation played out here in which an
unlocked $4k Klein road bike was moved on a bike rack so they could work on
a locked $200 department-store mountain bike.

Are you for serious? Where did that one play out?

All my bikes have fancy-pants name brands (Kona, Pinarello, Bianchi) but
look like crap,
--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

This device should included with a Cutout Seat and suspension seat post,
with the impaling instrument inside the seat post and tube. Lock would
be a locking pin over the seat post. The seat would have the regular
male/female cutout with additional disguised by the padding. upon
activation, you only need to replace the mechanism and the seat cover.

"Lorenzo L. Love" wrote:

Zippy the Pinhead wrote:
On 5 Mar 2004 21:45:29 -0800, (ken) wrote:


Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of getting your
bike stolen:
Place a big HUFFY sticker on your frame ,


I think a better option would be to place a spring-loaded, barbed
harpoon ("The Shaft [TM]")in the seat tube. The Shaft (TM) would be
tethered inside the bike by a thin, ten-foot Kevlar cable attached
inside the tube down near the bottom bracket. You'd place an
unobtrusive key into the seat tube to disable it when you were riding
it, and take the key out when you park it.

Any weight placed onto the saddle would begin the process of arming
The Shaft (TM). In the absence of the key, few turns of the crank-arm
would release The Shaft (TM) through the saddle and impale whatever
was riding it at the time.

An audio alarm would be optional, and would loudly announce in a
computer-generated voice: "The guy with The Shaft (TM) up his ass is a
THIEF!" at ten-second intervals until the 9V battery went dead.

Even in a built-up area, it shouldn't be too hard to find your stolen
bike; you'd just follow the trail of blood and diarrhea. It wouldn't
be too hard to cut the cable. You'd be out a new saddle, and since
The Shaft (TM) is inexpensive and disposable, you'd be able to replace
it cheaply and conveniently.



Hey! I proposed this years ago! I knew I should have patented it.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a
person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a
newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive there's something wrong with him."
Art Buchwald

Springfield, IL took recovered bicycles not claimed, painted them
yellow, and put them out for anyone to use. They did not last very
long.

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

In article Vzn2c.723726$ts4.597223@pd7tw3no,
"Dave Mayer" wrote:

"ken" wrote in message Place a big HUFFY sticker
on your frame , covering the TREK ,
CANNONDALE, etc.

Ken: around here, putting a Huffy (or Schwinn, Murray, Infinity, Dunlop,
Mongoose etc.) set of stickers on your bike will increase its chance of
getting stolen. Why? Most bike thefts are by drug addicts who sell them
for a few bucks. Small-time thieves and their cohorts in pawn shops only
know these brands.

Put two identical bikes out with Pinarello and Huffy stickers on it and the
Pinarello will be left alone. This situation played out here in which an
unlocked $4k Klein road bike was moved on a bike rack so they could work on
a locked $200 department-store mountain bike.

Are you for serious? Where did that one play out?

All my bikes have fancy-pants name brands (Kona, Pinarello, Bianchi) but
look like crap,
--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

In article ,
Mike Schwab wrote:

Springfield, IL took recovered bicycles not claimed, painted them
yellow, and put them out for anyone to use. They did not last very
long.

That's a classic "yellow-bike" program. They seem to work better some
places than others.

One idea that does seem to work better is where the yellow bikes have a
lock with a common key. You join the bike collective, and get a copy of
the key.

This can be quite reasonable on college campuses; I believe UBC in town
has a working program:

http://www.ams.ubc.ca/clubs/bikecoop/p&y.htm



--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

in article l, Tom Keats at
wrote on 3/6/04 1:36 AM:

In article ,
(ken) writes:
Here's an idea I came up with to lower your chances of getting your
bike stolen:
Place a big HUFFY sticker on your frame , covering the TREK ,
CANNONDALE, etc.
I'm not sure if these are sold in bike shops, but I suppose you can
make one up on the computer

THe downside of this is that you look like a dork, to some people who
think you ride a HUFFY.
I haven't tried this myself, as it is just an idea.
What do you think?

I've heard many people express their belief that it is
the ease with which a bike may be stolen, rather than
its intrinsic worth or appeal, that is usually the
deciding factor in whether or not it actually does get
stolen. I agree with them. Even Huffys get stolen.

I think it's better to make a bike hard to steal, than
undesirable to steal.

My local police claim that the main bike thefts occur in my area for
- ease of theft
- a quick ride to get someplace

They claim that less than 10% are thefts that involve extensive efforts to
get the bike and/or to re-sell a quality bike.

This is a little off topic but in the same anti-theft vein.

I read that a guy that had his laptop stolen many times countered the
theft by changing his laptop bag.

Instead of the usual black ballistic nylon shoulder strappy bag, he now
puts his laptop in a used nappy (US read Daiper) bag.

He claimes that he can leave the bag unattended for hours and no one
will come near it let alone attempt to steal it.

Can some bright spark come up with a similar cloaking devise for a bike.



--

On Sat, 13 Mar 2004 05:47:38 GMT, Dominic Sansom
wrote:
Instead of the usual black ballistic nylon shoulder strappy bag, he now
puts his laptop in a used nappy (US read Daiper) bag.

Can some bright spark come up with a similar cloaking devise for a bike.

Hang dirty diapers on the bike, especially on the saddle and
handlebar.
--
Rick Onanian

Dominic Sansom wrote:

This is a little off topic but in the same anti-theft vein.

I read that a guy that had his laptop stolen many times countered the
theft by changing his laptop bag.

Instead of the usual black ballistic nylon shoulder strappy bag, he now
puts his laptop in a used nappy (US read Daiper) bag.

He claimes that he can leave the bag unattended for hours and no one
will come near it let alone attempt to steal it.

Can some bright spark come up with a similar cloaking devise for a bike.



--

What worked for me all through college was taking off the handlebar tape,
and covering the frame with duct tape. I didn't have the fanciest
components, but if yours are expensive, I'd try covering the labels.
Anyway, I used the flimsiest chain for years and it was never touched.
Very ugly, though.

Mike

Bicycle are not stolen for their "cool factor" In fact. the frames are
usually scrapped, unless the serial number can be succesfully altered.

It's much the same as with auto chop shops. The bike is stripped of it's
components, which are untraceable, lacking SN's of their own. They are
what's then resold.

"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner