The other day, I had my bike stolen. Returning to the spot where you left your bike and realising that it is no longer there, is definitely more painful than finding no milk in your fridge. What makes it worse is that the police can't really do much about it, because it is extremely difficult to track a lone bike down.
On the tragic bus journey home, I thought about fitting the gadgetry and electronics of a video camera into the bike frame, and having a discreet lens poking through the front of the frame, just above the front reflector. The camera would be powered by batteries, which could perhaps be inserted into a compartment in the upper tube of the frame.
To activate the camera, you would simply flick a discreet switch underneath the saddle. Do this whenever you leave your bike unattended, so that if a thief were to steal your bike and ride off with it, the camera would film his journey in its entirety. The bike would send the footage to a remote device in the same manner that a cell phone would.-- spiritualized, Aug 09 2004 That's a pretty neat idea, (and link for that matter) I'd like to install a Lo-Jack system on my bike, except have it activate the front brake once the bike goes over 30km/h. Then I just remove the corpse from my bike and go.-- swimr, Aug 09 2004 What makes this particular theft all the more annoying is that as my bus was pulling out of the depot, I saw some burberry cap wearing teenager riding my bike around near the canal I locked it up near. He was showing his friends my bike, and he had the most gormless smile. I'd love to think that he would have aided his own capture with Contract's poetic justice extension-- spiritualized, Aug 09 2004 I, too, had a bike stolen. But I wish I had a video of the thief's first journey, because this bike had what is called a fixed wheel. That means the pedals must continue to rotate (no freewheel). Taking a corner too fast meant that the inside pedal would hit the ground during it's rotation and lift the back wheel off the ground, with obvious consequences.-- Ling, Aug 09 2004 What if the thief gets rid of the bike lock but doesn't pedal away (perhaps just loads the unfortunate thing straight into a van). Under [contract's] revision, nothing would be recorded. Maybe something like a tilt sensor instead, so that if the bike is moved through more than a certain angle in relation to the ground, the device activates.
Also, if this thing's going to operate like a cell phone it will need 3G-like transmission rates and a (slightly) protruding aerial - enclosed tubular steel/aluminium does the funniest things to phone signals...-- DocBrown, Aug 10 2004 random, halfbakery