My little brother stole my bike and gave it to one of his friends and I've never seen it since... Why didn't I think to lock it to a tree ;c(

@Cordfucious:
If only I had cut off the low hanging branches and used them to keep the fruit pickers at bay I might still have my golden delicious ;c / ... okay that analogy really isn't working for me.

Rabid Penguin

what crack-heads don't know how to climb. if there's a will there's a way... someone will steal it.

Dickey

So for someone like I who is 6'5" this would pose no threat to me. Besides every tree has low hanging branches with fruit that is ready to be picked

Cordfucious

Cordfucious

Given the fact that the design calls for fingerprint recognition, I am going to wager that they figured out how to actually lock the bike. Just a guess.

Monty

@Kaiser-Machead: That just came out so wrong.

Kaiser-Machead

@goods: My seat is damn near impossible to get off. Heck, it can't even be adjusted with all the crap I did to it.

Kaiser-Machead

@goods:
Same with Toronto, any thief with an allen key will take all that isn't tied down.

Margatron

If it don't lock the frame then it's effin lame.

Here in NYC if they want it, they're gonna get it, simple as that, you have to lock your saddles here, they'll steal anything that isn't literally locked down.

goods

@Kaiser-Machead: I will say that it does look nice, so that's a plus.

Kaiser-Machead

@bosskev: Seems to me that it's only the locking mechanism. The height, being user-friendly, does nothing.

Kaiser-Machead

Nice. I just wonder how it's going to look like with a bunch of this in the city.

@shorty63136: I'm guessing it works almost the same way as public lockers.

ripfire4

@bosskev: I bet you that system will be hacked by a kid with an eeePC shortly...

Hvedhrungr

OK, I was confused. How does simply raising the bike a few feet help prevent theft? The answer was over at the included link (emphasis added):

The control panel includes finger print recognition sensor with some controls for locking/unlocking the bicycle onto the stand. The panel branches out of the trunk at user friendly height.
For locking your bicycle
1. Place your bicycle in the vertical slots
2. Manually lock the rim
3. Press start
4. Finger print
5. OK/ CANCEL
For releasing bicycle follow the similar path.

bosskev

So if you can get it up there, what's to keep them from getting it down? Especially if the other owners don't know if its actually theirs (the thief's) or not?

Is it controlled by a specialized key that brings it down?

shorty63136

It would still need an adequate lock. If YOU can get it down somehow, so can the thieves.

Kaiser-Machead

This is almost as nice as the bicycle elevator in Trondheim, Norway...

Hvedhrungr

@Kaiser-Machead: The difference is - my method works better if you substitute bikes with "hot chick"

Though the "good grip" intrigued me...

OtioseScandal

eeehm, now I have to be the one to say this. I'm pretty sure you ran that story over a year ago already. So, I said it...

yogibimbi

@Kaiser-Machead:
Or you could just ride a skateboard with easily detachable trucks. The trucks could then later be thrown at muggers.

Rabid Penguin

@OtioseScandal: Or make your very expensive bike look rugged (read: shitty) with waterproof tape, which happens to make the frame a good grip when I have to carry it. =D

Kaiser-Machead

The best anti-theft mechanism is locking your bike beside a more expensive, poorly locked bike.

OtioseScandal

So for our primodal need to have trees nearby we'll just make them out of aluminum instead of trees.

Lupison

Well, at least someone stealing from the tree would be a little more conspicuous.

1roll20s

Speaking of cracked heads, will taller blind people constantly be bumping their noggins on the bike wheels?

bosskev

What i find to be amazing is the lack of ski/snowboard thefts at ski resorts... people just leave their shit laying around everywhere, and although i know it happens, i haven't personally heard of it.

My roommate from back in the day had his bike stolen off a 2nd floor balcony. Scurvy shyster bastards...

nutbastard

@nutbastard:
Yeah you're probably right. Now if the trucks doubled as flash-bangs then we'd have something... we could talk business. And as far as being easy to detach, I thought you had to unscrew them, which really isn't easy, quick or convenient when you're in a hurry... but admittedly I haven't owned a skateboard since the TMNT one I had when I was four.

And since my bike was stolen I've never really bothered buying a new one... I've let the criminals win... my brother can be a bastard sometimes.

Rabid Penguin

@Kaiser-Machead:

Yep. The main character in Neil Stephensons 'Zodiac' rides a really nice bike, but as soon as he got it he spray painted it and fucked it up as much as he could. That guy had all kinds of anti-theft advice, for example, every time you park your car just open the hood and yank the distributor cap off and carry it around with you.

@Rabid Penguin:

All trucks are easily detachable... the problem with skateboards is if you start adding hardware to keep it all in one piece the weight of it would soon balloon out of control. NEVER leave your skateboard anywhere, I learned that one the hard way when i was in middle school... I did find it, though, underneath a nearby car, and my backpack across the street in a trashcan. Stupid fucks, they left breadcrumbs. So naturally I was totally justified in scrawling "FUCK YOU" on their (parents) white garage door with a sharpie before taking off with my shit.

nutbastard

@twoeightnine:
still, nothing prevents people from just showing up and snagging shit... I think what it is is that you never know if the target board belongs to the guy with shoulders up to his earlobes standing 5 feet away, or if the scrawny guy who left the board there isn't there with that guy.

Security through uncertainty, I guess.

nutbastard

What i find to be amazing is the lack of ski/snowboard thefts at ski resorts... people just leave their shit laying around everywhere, and although i know it happens, i haven't personally heard of it.

I would think that's partially due to the clientele and the fact that ski areas are at least semi private. You don't have just anybody walking down the slope or into the lodge looking to take whatever they can.

twoeightnine

@nutbastard: "What i find to be amazing is the lack of ski/snowboard thefts at ski resorts... people just leave their shit laying around everywhere, and although i know it happens, i haven't personally heard of it."

Seriously! Everytime I go by the rest area, people just leave their stuff against the wall while they go off to lunch. And everytime I go to the bathroom, I always get that sense of relief that I find my board exactly where I left it. Hmm. Maybe next time, I'll actually take my time to wash my hands... Maybe...

ripfire4

great idea. Ill cut down the tower and take all the bikes at once now:)

MONSTERGOC

@nutbastard: Yeah bikes on a second story balcony are definitely not safe. I had two nice ones stolen from my balcony - my bad for not locking them. So I went and bought cheap(er) ones, and this time, locked them to the balcony. Bastards brought industrial strength bolt cutters and took them too... but they left the bolt cutters at least. :/

Bueller

How exactly do you get it up there... :S

brillonjn

Why not move to a town which has NO bicycle thieves?

Ednonymous

@nutbastard: That's probably because the people who are most likely to steal shit will just have it sit there in their hovel, staring at these now useless snow shafts wondering "Why the fuck did I steal these?"

Besides, you never know when you can get clipped at a resort if some pissed off skier catches you on the slopes with their shit.

Kaiser-Machead

@Ednonymous:

you mean a town with no bicycles?

nutbastard

I lost my first pair of new skis at lunch on the first day.

Haven't lost any since, but the same day more than 40 pairs of skis were taken.

They never found mine but some local car dealers were caught leaving with trunks literally packed with skis and boards.

What amazes me is that all ski resorts don't keep all skis and parking lots under surveilance. One camera pointed at the racks and one at all the lots would make an easy trace.

im.thatoneguy

This is fine if your bike thief is a bear. Otherwise...?

AdmNaismith

How long before someone locks their bike to the pole by just throwing a cable around it because all of the spots are taken?

skeksis

This is way too frigging elaborate and expensive. Cities and schools aren't going to pay for it. Corporations might for offices located in an urban area if a lot of employees were bike commuters.

A manual mechanism for elevating the bikes like a cable and pulleys would be more cost-effective, but what everyone else said: BYO lock.

I had a brand new bike nicked recently and I'm not at a point in life where I can drop $400 twice in one week...or even in one year. Lesson learned: cable locks are frigging useless.

Xenobiologista

@nutbastard: @twoeightnine:

Apparently, crack heads hate the cold.

This reminds me of my stroll through Santa Cruz. I saw a semi-nice bike with SEVEN locks. It even had a small cable lock for the derailleur.

logikgr

Absolutely stupid idea. The first time the locking or lifting mechanism fails, or your wheel quick-release is too loose, your bike falls on you. It only secures the wheel, and the rest of the design really doesn't allow for anything more substantial (like a u-lock securing the frame to a thick metal bar) so the bike itself is still easily stealable. Lastly, as someone else pointed out - as soon as anyone cable-locks their bike to the bottom of the stand, you can't get your bike down!

treetrunk

@logikgr:

Yeah out in Santa Cruz (where im from) it's really, really stupid to leave your bike anywhere overnight. The homeless population is pretty savage out there, and meth is a problem in the valley, lots of bums sharded to the gills. They dont seem to mess with cars much, though.

nutbastard

similar articles have been ran on gizmodo for a couple of years...its amazing how long its taking for the idea to be implimented in the states.

the idea of them being hung in a tree like fashion is not for security but for space and convinience. in a spot that would normally be taken up but just a couple of bikes, you could have 20 bikes (or at least a whole lot more than just a couple...i have no idea what the actual numbers are)

my only problem is that they do in fact need a decent security system. not only has it been proven that finger print readers are easy to hack (i believe the process requires the use of gummy bears) but i dont like the idea of having to press my thumb against a spot where many other people (some of whom could possibly be sick) have done the same thing. its just an invitation to disease.

jrghoull