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]

Thats the cool thing about this! It doesn't work all works universally. There are many different variations so a thief wouldn't know which tool opens which lock.

[kiraimmorris]

Can we get a picture of it as it would be installed on a bike?

[Bickeylikey]

It pretty much goes where the hexnut would go.

[kiraimmorris]

are there pressurized clips inside the lock?

[Bickeylikey]

No, it's just a nut. For the quick release replacements, there would be a spring provided.

[kiraimmorris]

And that's what's holding it together?

[pendean]

That's sounds a lot of trouble to the owner to change a tire in a hurry: good luck with it, sadly I won't be a customer.

[Bickeylikey]

For a solid-axle bike (the one that uses hex-nuts to hold the wheel in), it replaces these hex-nuts. It stays in place by screwing onto the threading.

For a quick-release bike, we would provide a full replacement skewer, and the nut would screw onto the skewer's axle.

[Bickeylikey]

We designed the wrench to fit on your keychain. It's all you need to change a tire, and is about the size of your car key. Plus, you can use it to pop yourself a cold one (I said I was a college student now didn't I).

After testing multiple times, we were able to change a quick release tire with the Nutlock system in under 40 seconds, all with having the added security + not needing to carry multiple locks to secure your entire bike.

[kiraimmorris]

Hmm, well it's a nice replacement and a great detour for minor inconveniences,troublesome but not impossible. It take me a second to calibrate the right tools but ones that was done it'd be like I had the key. If I had made that I would've taken the extra step of adding a cap to cover the nut and have a pressurized clip on both. But even with that there's still the same method of getting it apart, but it would take to much time with a pressure clip installed. Also you said you were a college student, so I take there are art majors there, and with that there are students that have modeling and molding classes and kit. I could make a key modeled specifically after any nut you have, although this would take a lot of time and calculating, but it could be done with in a semester, and tha would give me plenty of time to learn your semester schedule. <this is the kind of mentality one needs to have to deal with thieves. I hope you reflected on your daily habits when you made this device, and I hope it serves you well.

[pendean]

Like I wrote earlier: what's easy for the bike owner to decipher is just as easy for a the if with your tool on their keychain to use as well.

I look forward to your invention presentation on Shark Tank (assuming you don't have VC or angel investors already lined up for manufacturing and distribution).

[Bickeylikey]

We plan on launching our Kickstarter soon... (and hopefully Shark Tank shortly after that :)) - we're creating our tribe from the ground up, and always remember the people who support us from the start, so if anybody here is interested in supporting us we would love a Thunderclap or support on FB/Twitter:

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/13131-nutlock-outsmart-bike-thieves?locale=en

https://www.facebook.com/lockyournuts

https://twitter.com/LockYourNuts

Let me know if you have any questions... You guys have had some awesome feedback and we're already incorporating it. We're making a few videos about the product and it'll be up soon - I'll post it ASAP. 

[sam_m]

I just thought - how does this work with a solid axle mountain bike?  My front axle screws directly into the fork's leg, so there isn't a nut on the outside.

[jggerth1]

First off, I won't be a customer.  There are just way too many negatives wrapped around this idea, and frankly seems like a pretty gimmicky approach.  And, after enough experience in the world at large, I've realized that gimmicks, especailly neat sounding ones, just do not last. 

You're proposing a matching nut and wrench combo, such that the nuts can only be unscrewed by your special wrenches.  

Special nuts/srews that require a special tool have been around for decades - not exactly a new idea.  While I suspect that bike wheel theft is a crime of opportunity rather than premeditation, any esperienced thief dealing with special fasteners undoubtly has a) a collection of his own, and b) experience in removing them.

and you propose making a number of different, incompatible versions.   Four years from sale -- how does a customer obtain a replacement/matching nut or wrench?    things get lost, misplaced, left behind.  having to carry your biker off the trail because of a flat tire and a missing specialty tool is not going to endear your customers to you.

Will a bicycle repair shop be able to readily have a complete set on hand, or will they just grindd the dang things off to get the job done?  (You don't really expect the customer to remember to leave his spiffy bottle opener with them, do you?)

With a lugnut wrench sized to fit on a key chain, the amount of mechanical advantage provided by the short length is pretty minimal.  You're young, obviously, but will someone with arthritic hands be able to deal with your tools?  And arthritis is more prevalent in grandparent, they are also the ones who fix bikes for their grandkids.  Wrench really needs to be A) longer and B) with an offset head.  If I've got to grip a hemisperical nut and keep the wrench from slipping off the dome, I'd really want the offset to keep my knuckles out of the spokes. 

Durability and longevity?  pretty open ended -- if you're machining everything out of stainless steel billets, that will be pricey.  If not, neither the wrench not the nuts are likely to last all that well.  Adn the shear forces on the nuts -- how much can they take before rounding off and becoming un-removable?  the picture shows a very small area of contact for the wrench to grip.

It's a neat looking gimmck, but a chain works better to secure the bike and wheel to a tree.

[dgorsman]

I've seen a few frames missing both wheels.  Typically it just gets left for somebody else to deal with at that point.  If the intent is to only make off with the wheels (due to the frame being locked up properly, lack of time, whatever) then the weak point becomes the bike frame itself.  I wouldn't be suprised to see that happening to get around the hardier locks - hack the frame, wrap with duct tape, sell online as "slightly damaged".  Not much different in technique than getting around a bar-style steering wheel lock.

[dgorsman]

Thats close to my thinking.  There's an overlap between being small enough to keep with you and small enough to lose which requires a means of replacement.  Coupled with multiple unique configurations that makesillegitimate acquisition easier than legitimate replacement difficult. 

"I have a couple of these things but somebody walked off with my bag, including all of the wrenches.  Could I get some replacements sent to me please?  I don't have model numbers or anything written down but here's a bunch of photos of the bikes I need to work with."

[scot-65]

I say Go For It!

One situation I can think of that was not mentioned is after
the thief has the bike hidden, borrow a die grinder and cut
in flat spots on this nut so a pair of vice grips can be used
(I've had to cut nuts off rusted bolts using a Dremmel tool).

When I purchased my current bike, the first item I had the
shop do was replace the quick release nut for the seat and
replace with a regular nut. I was not charged as I let him have
the quick release. Never had the seat taken.

The next item was purchasing a coiled cable lock so both
wheels can be secured. I never liked the U-locks. The coil
replaced a heavy chain of the same length slipped inside
an old bike tire inner tube.

And Yes, I have seen U-lock secured bikes with one or both
wheels missing and have seen one where the bike was laid
at an angle and the mischievous (probably drunk) person
bent the rim into a hyperbolic shape simply by stepping on
the rim.

Good Luck!

🙂

[pendean]

Shark Tank