Bendable bike to stop thieves pinching it.

[FourWheelDrift]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/11/bendable-bicycl...

Engadget said:

Parking your two-wheeler in a shady neighbourhood, but left your secondary lock at home? No problem -- to protect your wheels, just bend your bike around a nearby post and thread your U-lock through the whole kit at once. That's the idea behind UK designer Kevin Scott's folding bicycle, which is rigid enough to freely ride, but releases its flexible ratcheting mechanism when you push a lever on the side. The design won the 21-year-old student £500 at the New Designers exhibition in London this week. He's presently looking for partners to help commercialize the concept, which looks more practical than some, so we expect it'll be only a few years before you'll see his creation zipping down the street. One question, though -- why not go the whole nine yards and give it a built-in lock, too?

Different. Needs the lock as mentioned built in.

They can still nick the wheels though. Bendable wheels???

[grumbledoak]

Lift it. Up and off. Smug look all gone from owner's face.

[NDT]

what a stupid idea.

[dougc]

grumbledoak said:

Lift it. Up and off. Smug look all gone from owner's face.

Off a lampost? Good effort!

[P-Jay]

By "He's presently looking for partners to help commercialize the concept" does he mean work out a way to add brakes (to make it road legal) and to stop it bending as you ride along?

Personally I like a few gears too.

I don't really want to knock the chap, but I see so many of these sorts of things whereby they redsign a bike to solve a simple problem and end up causing loads more.

[FourWheelDrift]

P-Jay said:

and to stop it bending as you ride along?

It doesn't bend as he rides along.

[PeteG]

P-Jay said:

By "He's presently looking for partners to help commercialize the concept" does he mean work out a way to add brakes (to make it road legal) and to stop it bending as you ride along?

Personally I like a few gears too.

Seems to me, that it's a dummy frame to show the concept. Gears and brakes are generally operated by cables with flexibility anyway.

[pdV6]

Trouble is, the concept is ste. All he's trying to achieve (from what I've read) is to reduce the need for 2 locks down to 1. QR wheels achieve the same result without compromising the bike's frame / drivetrain / cable runs etc.

And has been mentioned already, if going down this route at all, why not build the lock into the design?

[surfymark]

Personally I think the two wheels should lock together with a key of combination lock.

You should then have those lock things like they have in Europe that are attached to the bike above the rear wheel - they have a lever that slides a metal piece through the wheel spokes and locks. If they had two of them - one for each wheel, it would work really well I think.

However I would never buy one as the flex while riding would make things very annoying!

M

[Gooby]

FourWheelDrift said:

Different. Needs the lock as mentioned built in.

:

... and brakes?
... or is it a fixie?

[FourWheelDrift]

Gooby said:

FourWheelDrift said:

Different. Needs the lock as mentioned built in.

:

... and brakes?
... or is it a fixie?

It's just a prototype to show the flexible frame, it isn't a production bike.