Thieves are using small pocket sized EMP devices to defeat auto alarm systems. Bike locks will be child's play.

I definitely don't see this as being practical for usage in a European city.

Then, where else on earth would it be practical?
Europe is number one of the places on earth where most bikes are in use I guess...

Does this mean that we can get rid of our old stupid NY Fahgettaboudit U-Locks?

Haven't you ever seen stacked or bikes getting tipped over and all of the jostling that happens near the Metro stations.

If people are discussing a vibrational based lock then it's a joke.

If people are discussing a GPS system monitoring significant movement than it would have to be 4G, which is also a joke, because the thief could disable any antenna built into the bike.

It just over complicates something that doesn't need to be over complicated.

In Europe, people ride a beater for a reason.

We share the same thoughts on this point.
Just a simple alert when someone is making your bike vibrate does not convince me at all.
First of all, as you said: happens all the time at metro bike-parkings.
Second, as I said before aswel, even if they steal your bike and get an alert, you mostly won't be there on time ... certainly like in my situation, my bike is parked right now at 1 hour away from me...

Instead of that, I'd like to track my bike when he is stolen.
The thing is, where is the antenna built in? If it would be camouflaged inside your saddle or inside your frame for example. Then they don't know IF there is an antenna, and If yes: where.

There's been quite a bit of discussion here about GPS based tracking devices. There are a couple of problems. GPS requires good visibility to satellites - you can usually stuff your GPS receiver inside a bag, but that's about it. Hide the antenna inside the frame, and you just lost all reception. Same if thieves toss your bike into a van, or in a storage room.

GPS is not a transmitter. The unit receives information from the satellites and calculates its position based on that. To send the position data back to you, some sort of transmission is required. Cell phone network is widely available and WiFi could be an option in urban environment. Cell based transmission offers better coverage, but would likely be more power hungry. With GPS that would be a problem, because GPS alone requires quite a bit of power already. The real problem with hiding a GPS + transmitter on a bike is, where to put the rather hefty pack of batteries so that they're relatively easy to recharge, replace and still not obvious?

Skylock bypasses many of these problems by only sending you the alert something's going on where you parked the bike. Even so, they've incorporated the solar panels which to me indicates a need to conserve every bit of energy they have in the batteries.

The question about Skylock's reliability in winter has been raised in Finnish cycling discussion boards, and it's a good question. I suspect we'll only find out when someone actually buys a Skylock and uses it in winter conditions.

--J

Hmm, apparently I didn't know that.
I thought it would just work.

I thought, there must be a simple system to track your bike, wether it's GPS, or another system. I'm a technology n00b.

I probably see these things too simple, as in:
"They can track a robot on Mars, but they can't find a lost airplane in our oceans."

They can find you aswel if you carry a mobile phone along with you. Someone I know was arrested in a crime scene investigation, because his mobile phone was found a few meters away from it, while he obviously wasn't there.

yeah, way too pricey and probably not that effective a lot of the time

i think have a piece of junk is a cost-effective strategy

I applaud these guys for trying to build a better lock, but I have to agree with all who have suggested that it's just another short-term fix that will quickly be rendered obsolete by the bad guys.

My bike is completely covered in decals from places its wheels have touched down. Anyone who would have the patience to remove all these stickies to avoid identification of the bike deserves to have it.

No expensive bikes sold in Europe?

Commuted on ... not really. Weekend rides, yes!

Commuting on a nice bike seems to be some weird American phenomenon. Especially the use of road/race/rennrad bikes used for commuting duty.

95% of the bikes I see used in Denmark were less than 5000 DKK new (or roughly 400 USD bikes).

90% of the bikes I see used in England are less than £300 new (or about 300 USD in the US).

I don't think a £159 lock (1299 DKK) will go down well with those markets.

And those are the costs when the bikes are new, most commuting bikes I see are between 5 and 25 years old.

I don't think the numbers you quoted are much different in North America. Lots of inexpensive bikes sold by Walmart. Still there are lots of expensive bikes that people want to lock up occasionally even if they aren't commuting.

Europe is much more densely populated than North America so commute distances are naturally shorter which is part of the reason a beater is sufficient. I commute a couple of hours every day and prefer to ride a nicer bike which helps minimize my time on the bike. I lock my bike outdoors with a cheap cable lock.

I have a few nice bikes but never leave them anyplace where I would feel the need for a fancy lock. The typical coffee shops we stop at after a ride on the weekend are loaded with unlocked, bikes.

Total bike sales are similar.

People commuting to work in the US is not the same as total bike sales. In Europe, these numbers are much closer. Another way to say it is that bike owners are more likely to commute in Europe. Therefore, bike sales is an inaccurate reflection on the bike commuting populace in the US, whereas in Europe it is more accurate.

I doubt that you save much time between a beater bike and a nice road bike ... I encourage you to do the math with total time included (as a percentage) this includes showering/cleaning up after cycling, in both directions.

It sounds like you don't commute in a major metropolitan area if unlocked bike theft isn't an issue.

I'm sure I could commute on a less expensive bike but there's no point. I'm actually more interested in getting to work in a reasonable time without expending too much energy.

I live and work in the suburbs of Vancouver but I am able to ride steadily to work.

I Googled them and found their site. Video overview says that accessing/accepting TOS to various WiFi networks is done via their app on your phone.

Sorry, but I don't follow. This doesn't make any sense to me.

Commuting 4.5 km through downtown Amsterdam traffic on a crappy old bike is fine. Commuting 20 miles from one American town to another on country highways? You might want to put a little money into your bike. Unless you like walking.

By the way, Skylock (the new lock we are talking about) has a great Youtube video. Check out the bike thief with the Big Gulp at the 1 minute mark - hilarious!

#t=67
Part of the theft deterrent on Skylock is that there is a lock on each end of the U-lock that would have to be cut through. This U-lock does not swivel on a point, so the thief would have to do 2 cuts instead of one. The fact that it would be alerting the owner the entire time that it was being cut on (as long as it was on a wife network) means that the thief normally wouldn't have time to get through both cuts and get away. If you don't have wifi but your phone is close enough to the bike, you can use bluetooth instead of wifi to send you alerts.

Bicycle thief is a problem... in search of a solution? Or... maybe the solutions have been around for a long time. The problems with all the solutions to bike thief is the hassle. Which is the same reason such a small percentage of people commute by bicycle.

In reality... rolling the bicycle into your cubicle, or the heavy locks, or removing a wheel to take along with you when locking up a bicycle. There are lots of ways to protect a $300 bicycle (or cheaper)... and most work pretty well... most of the time.

The big deterrent to cycling isn't thief.... it's pedaling a fat butt through weather and traffic. Making the effort get from here to there under human power... is for most people the ultimate hassle. GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, apps, and cell phones.... don't fix lazy.

BUT. A small Java script enabled chip could be embedded in all new bicycles and/or bicycle parts like saddles and tires (or retrofitted in older bicycles). Such a chip when presented with the opportunity.... like an available WiFi and RFID station.... could identify itself to its manufacture. With the proper infrastructure and coordination setup.... police could access the travel patterns and locate a missing bicycle (or it's parts) in days or weeks (using software).

Right now... cyclist can create a barcoded label for bicycles that would allow it to be ID'ed with a [standard] phone app. Like this one:

Not sure which point you don't follow. That I don't care about the price of my bike or that I try and minimize my energy expenditure? My bike selection and riding position is driven by minimizing energy cost, not monetary cost. I don't mind spending a little extra to save 20W.

While I agree that it shouldn't be a piece of crap, I would guess that the average American cyclocommuter isn't going 40 miles RT?

Maybe, I'm wrong, does anyone have data to show the average distance of a bike commuter in the US?

Also, I'm making the distinction between a 400 USD road bike and a 1000 USD road bike. I don't think that there's a huge time/durability difference once one gets about 400 USD.

Maybe again I'm wrong.

You're argument that spending more money makes it's more efficient, which is does but only up to a certain point. I haven't looked at distinct prices in a while, but I find it hard to believe that you'd feel a difference between a 4-500 USD bike and a 1000USD bike on a daily commute. I doubt there'd be a savings in energy and then if you felt that difference in kJ expended, I'd find it quite humorous.

What bike do you ride? And why is it better than the lower models in the range?

Here is a $500 Kona Dew and a $1000 Kona Dr Dew -- it would be interesting to compare commuting on one vs the other. In my small world with a short 2 mile one-way commute, I imagine the more expensive bike would be slightly easier up the hills, more confidence-inspiring braking on the other side, and a bit lighter carrying it up to my flat. More efficient? Maybe. Faster? I imagine I would be the limiting factor there.

That's my guess. Not that I'm an expert on road bike component groups, but I can't imagine a lot is gained from 2300 through to 105, in terms of efficiency or time.

My commute is somewhat average for over here (12 miles RT) and flat (a lot of Europe is relatively flat) and I doubt that I'd see any real difference in time/efficiency between the single-speed that I ride every day (44/16) and a bike with 18-30 speeds. Even when I've ridden to work twice in a day (24 miles today), I wouldn't see any difference.

In addition, I think that going from a basement 27-speed road bike to a medium-priced bike wouldn't offer so much in terms of longevity, speed or effort-reduction.