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Design vs. bicycle parts harvesters

By Rain Noe - February 6, 2009

in Object Culture

[top photo by Flickr user Patrick John Quinn. Bottom photos by Broken Bike Blog]

Something you see a lot of in the city are parts of a bicycle, shackled forever to handrails and signposts. (Broken Bike Blog is dedicated to photos of this phenomenon in NYC alone.) After thieves have taken what they can, the dispirited original owners often abandon what's left. Still, companies continue to make conventional bike locks, even though they are clearly no solution to bicycle part theft.

So we like that Glaswegian designer Grant Howarth is thinking about the whole problem with his bicycle security system, designed for entry in the RSA Design Directions competition.

Howarth's description:

Bike security that protects all quick release components. Modularity was the cornerstone of this project. Once the arms lock into place the bike cannot be moved in any direction protecting the seat, wheels and other quick release components as well as protecting the entire bike from theft.

The bike is rolled up the curved surface untill its back wheel falls into a groove which prevents the bike rolling back. The "gutter", which serves to protect the wheels, also prevents the bike from moving in any direction. Once in place the arm can be moved downwards.

The whole locking process takes less than a minute. Furthermore the product promotes safety in numbers, as the more bikes stored the greater the protection of the "pack".

The product also [recoups] costs within 3 years through the ability to use it for advertising purposes (assuming advertising space costs in Glasgow, Scotland).

While the design seems a bit bulky to us--we can't see this being incorporated in space-tight Manhattan, for example--at least Howarth is trying to design something that will actually solve the problem, and hopefully his important first step will be followed by future versions or built upon by others.

via the design blog

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dddf

14 years ago

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robocop returns !
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Grant Howarth

15 years ago

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Hi Rick,

Glad you like my design, if you are interested in my design please contact me on the following email address:

Email: grant_howarth@hotmail.com
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Rick

15 years ago

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we love this concept! this would work great in Texas. we may try it at http:/www.directbicycleparts.com
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Grant Howarth

15 years ago

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Hi, I'm the designer. Mike is spot on, the design is intended to replace car parking spaces helping councils to prove their commitment to the redesign of the transport infrastructure towards sustainability.
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Mike Jones

15 years ago

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"the design seems a bit bulky to us--we can't see this being incorporated in space-tight Manhattan"

Since when were bikes bulky (compared to other vehicles) and as for space. All cities have spaces they're called roads/parking spaces. Cities are about substituting or even reducing trips, not adding. 10 bikes in one parking space is 10 less car trips needed and one eliminated.
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