What can one possibly say about Nesta? They really aren’t very effective.
This is exemplified by their well-meaning but ineptly handled competition Hands Off My Bike which aims to decrease bicycle theft. Today’s invention is the contribution I’d have made towards this worthy objective -if I could have ever regained access to my draft entry.
Parking lots are choked by enormous 4 wheel drive vehicles with huge ground clearance. Owners wanting to make some money could sign up to a scheme whereby they could register their planned parking time and location.
A cyclist in a carpark could determine if a given vehicle was in the scheme and if so, use the 4*4 as a horizontal, secure bike shed.
Imagine a cylindrical metal cake tin with closed ends. This would be clamped to one’s bike as shown. The upper end of the tin would have a circular aperture, through which a tough rubber bladder could protrude a little. This would be inflated by a small air pump in the tin, activated by a phonecall.
To park your bike, you would text the licence number to a central site and pay a little cash. Then you would turn the handlebars and lay the bike on the closed end of the tin. Push the bike under the vehicle and inflate the bladder.
This makes the bike and even the bike wheels potentially inaccessible -and largely invisible. Certainly there would be no way to bounce the vehicle hard enough to release the bike or to puncture the bladder, wedged in a recess beneath the floorpan.
Re HideRide,
You know in late 60’s and early 70’s when I was still a teenager in Japan, a friend, John Thornton, talked us all into purchasing a KATAKURA SIRUKU (Katakura Silk) bicycle. It weighed about the same as the French Horn I had been dragging around since 6th grade. But it could be broken down to the size of “free baggage” on trains, ferries and airplanes. A regular bicycle would cost 5% of a young person’s month’s wage.
so imagine quick release handlebars, front wheel, seat.. . turn fron fork inward, pack front wheel, handlebars, seat through frame, place in three way zipper bag with backpack straps. John and budies could break down in 45 sec, reassemble in 1.5 min. I took twice that time. Might be a low-tech answer. Nan
Thanks Nan,
It sounds like a great design. Certainly it’s a way to deal with the theft-by-angle-grinder problem. The Nesta competition offers big prize money based on the time taken to steal the bike. So KATAKURA SIRUKU might take infinite time if it’s never left anywhere! If there is any further information about this design online, I’d be grateful for a link.
Cheers,
Patrick