Greetings,

We are a group of master students at Copenhagen Business School, who are currently researching the topic of user driven innovation. Therefore we would appreciate any kind of feedback regarding the following topic:

At the moment bicycle theft is a huge problem in Denmark. People forget to lock their bicycles or decide not to lock them thoroughly, because it is too much of a hassle.
It is our impression, that most locks currently on the market are either:

- Quick and easy - hence easy to break
- Acceptable safe and secure – consequently time consuming, complex and expensive.

Therefore we would like to know if you have any ideas as to how to secure your bicycle, in a way that is easy to perform and remember without compromising the security? Any ideas – even the extraordinarily creative ones – are more than welcome.

My bike weighs enough (112 lbs.)so that most of the time I can just free lock it (U-lock through front wheel and frame). I also live in a fairly low crime area.
I have and carry three different locks. What gets used depends on my assessment of the area:
Low risk-- I generally free-lock the bike
Higher risk-- I use the cable and padlock around the frame and rear wheel & something solid as well as the U-lock through the front wheel and frame.
Higher risk-- I use the above methods and a square linked, hardened steel chain through both wheels,frame and something solid.
If I feel the area is sketchy enough I won't leave my bike alone there.

I have a good lock but there is only one way to keep a bike secure. Keep your hand or your butt on it. Even with a good lock- I am loath to leve my bike unattended- even in the designated bike parking lots.

But in one town that I go to there are security cameras around the Bike parking lots. Not certain if they all work- but IF someone does take a bike- they run the risk that they would be caught on camera and identified. It has stopped bike thefts in the designated areas in that town.

Occasionally I have to leave a bike to go into a shop. I take out the front wheel quick release and take it with me. As soon as you lift the bike- the wheel will fall out.

First of all, if bicycle theft was truly a huge problem, people would not forget to lock their bikes or be too lazy to do it. Because those who did that would only be able to do that once... after which they'll have no more bike.

I do not think so. I think the biggest problem is weight: in order for a lock to be secure, it has to be heavy. Cyclists don't like to transport heavy things. However, should be less of a problem in Denmark, where people ride generally heavy and often loaded bikes, and adding a few more pounds hardly makes a difference. And unfortunately even the most expensive locks do not eliminate the problem of vandalism or component theft.

I also think that increasing lock security is not the way to go if you want to solve bike theft problem. The way to do it is to start treating like a real crime. I don't know how the situation is in Denmark, but I suspect it is somewhat similar to Toronto. If you steal a bike here, the police won't even bother looking for you at all, and thus will never catch you. And even if you, by some miracle, do get caught, you'll probably end up with a slap on a wrist: maybe a fine or something, certainly no jail time. (There was one famous exception to this: a well-known Toronto bike thief finally nabbed and awaiting trial. It's great that the police actually did something about him, but he was truly infamous, had thousands and thousands of bikes in warehouses across town. And his trial isn't over yet; he may very well be dealt a slap on a wrist too, if not entirely acquitted.)

There should be a combination of:

- stiffer penalties for theft (perhaps even specifically bicycle theft)
- proactive enforcment of the law that makes bike theft a high-risk activity
- good locks and good locking places

Optional and affordable insurance against theft would be good, but I don't know how workable that idea is. An interesting idea is some kind of a satellite tracking device, but it would have to have minimum power consumption (so that a set of batteries can last a long time, like for a digital watch) and be accessible (so that batteries can be switched or other maintenance be performed). And then thieves will learn how to access it and disable it.

Have you been to Strasbourg to see what they've got for bicycles, and to find out how well they work?

https://www.machka.net/pbp2007/2007_Post-PBP_3.htm

I would very happily pay for a bicycle version of Lojack if I had a good bike.

It goes back to the "user" and not to the locking device. Behavior modification may very well be your user innovation here.

For a start don't prosecute me when I deal out some punishment to a bike thief.I have a right to redress through the system.Take away my right and you get what you get.

I use a mini U-lock with Pitlocks. My wheels, seat, and fork can't be removed from the frame without the proper key or power tools, and I can easily lock the frame to pretty much anything. The mini-U is smaller and lighter than many U-locks, and harder to lever open (as it is small), particularly if you make sure to put it through multiple tubes, or a wheel and a tube, or whatever.

IMO this combines good security with extreme ease. of course, if you come up against power tools, you're done for anyway.