Part of the frame of the bike can come open and then be locked in place again around a bar or a lamp post, whatever. This prevents thieves hacking off the lock, cos, um, they'd be hacking the bike apart. Also you don't have to worry about how to transport your lock. And it'd look a lot cooler.-- mac cartel, Dec 02 2000 damn! http://www.ihpva.org/com/CyclicSystems/obviously not quite as original as I thought. [mac cartel, Dec 02 2000] Frame Lock I also posted a bunch of links there that apply equally here [notexactly, Nov 07 2018] Don't give up too soon. the link picture doesn't show any security for wheels and saddles. A long toughened cable threaded through and around everything pinchable may be far from cool, but judging by its popularity built-in locks are not selling widely yet.-- rayfo, Dec 02 2000 It's a neat idea. Problems: It would probably raise the cost of the bike by more than the cost of a separate lock, a scheme like the linked one is less versatile than an ordinary U- or cable-lock, and no higher-end frame-maker would consider it because it would increase complexity while sacrificing strength and lightness. (A design like the one in the link also wouldn't be possible with most better frame materials).
But it would probably work for cheap, steel bikes intended for short trips in high-crime areas (or, especially, for rentals or for the bikes they use in those borrow-a-bike schemes in European cities). The linked version might also be improved in other ways -- an ordinary U lock will let you lock your bike up in more places and more ways than this can. (Then again, it looks like it might not be too difficult to break the telescoping bit of the top tube, or just the locking mechanism, ride the bike off, and then replace that bit).-- Monkfish, Dec 02 2000 That animated gif looks mildly pornographic, as well...<grin> I had the idea a while back for a built in double-U lock that would attach to the frame and lock the wheels in, then you lock it with a normal U lock. <I always preferred the cable locks myself, the U's were never large enough to get around what I had to lock to...>Would make it heavier, I guess, but I didn't think the weight would matter to most people who would ride a bike somewhere and lock it.
One of the local malls here near the university has full covered bike parking spaces. Put the bike in the rack, pull down the clamshell cover, put your padlock on it and it protects it from weather and from thieves...sponsored by the people who put their ads on the covers.-- StarChaser, Dec 02 2000 ...sounds like a pain in the ass to me zippyanna :)-- IBBen, Dec 03 2000 ...and fun to some.-- beefcake brain, Dec 07 2000 That bike actually won a big award at an inventor's (read:halfbaker's) convention a couple of years ago.-- raisin, Dec 07 2000 The locking part of the frame obviously bears no weight so even if broken/stolen the bike would still be perfectly rideable. You could even saw off and file down the remaining bar pieces, making it look like a normal girlie bike. Also if you lock this bike to a pole it's eventually going to wind up flat on the ground where it can be trampled or run over.
I like the bike locker idea, (in Boulder, CO. they have small bike garages in the bus station, cheap too.) That way you don't need to carry a heavy lock.
Plus it encourages alt. transportation, etc...-- computerface2, Dec 08 2000 The locking part of the frame in the linked version is the top tube, which is actually a fairly important bit. All the frame tubes are important bits and are under stress, so you would never do well to hack through them and then ride off as though nothing had happened. And there are very few locks you couldn't beat by sawing through the bike's frame -- thieves just don't do it because it's not easy and it wrecks the bike (regardless of sturdiness, think resale value). The frame-locking bike has some problems, but that probably can't fairly be counted among them.-- Monkfish, Dec 20 2000 There are devices you can fit to enable you to break a frame in half for transport (of touring bikes and tandems), but they have to be machined and installed to a high precision to maintain the structural integrity of the frame. The top tube is a structural member. Ther are lots of "lock-plus-something else" devices, but none of them are more practical than a hardened steel lock. Perhaps a bike with a single large frame tube could have a cable coilled up inside.-- MichaelW, Feb 04 2002 Get this thread started up again. I looked at the link and saw that picture. They claim that a person would have to break the frame to steal the bike. Then explain to me the extra piece of tubing. They took a girls bike and put another piece of metal on it. You could cut the top and ride away with the bike. You would however be riding a girls bike.-- Antegrity, Jan 29 2008 random, halfbakery