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Urban Design Observations: What's Up With This Bike Lock?
Why hack it this way?
On Elizabeth Street I passed these two bicycles and one moped shackled to a bike rack.
Enter a caption (optional)The silver bike has had its seat stolen. The rust on the chain suggests the owner subsequently declined to retrieve his or her bike.
Enter a caption (optional)The silver bike's lock drew my eye.
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Enter a caption (optional)Why would someone do such a thing? My only guess is they want to keep the keyhole from rusting when the bike is left in the rain. I never use a bike lock so can't imagine what other advantage this might offer. Bike lock users among you, what's your explanation?
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I think everyone is overthinking this. I think it's so the lock can be carried in the water-bottle holder.
LOL, that's a really great idea but I don't see a water bottle holder
My first reaction called my experiences riding my bike in the winter in Boston. I'm guessing they want to keep water out of the key hole to prevent it from freezing on cold days. Can't unlock your bike when ice is in there. Happened to me more than once and had to pour coffee on it to thaw.
I think it's for protection of/from the lock body. First, it protects the lock body if dropped. Second, it protects stuff in your backpack. One good tap of that lock against an iPad...
The bottle is just there for protection, guess keep the rain out. The bottle must be easily to remove to facilitate locking/unlocking and opening the lock.
Picture is not good enough to see how the owner fits the lock into the bottle.
The seat is not necessarily stolen. I used to take mine (along with the front wheel) into the office with me. I would lock the the bike to the rack through the rear wheel and frame.
My guess regarding the purpose of the bottle is as you suggested, to keep it dry.
Interesting. I can't see what the bottom of that bottle looks like, but my guess is the lock might have fit in a water bottle cage for handy transport. That bike doesn't have a cage, but it could have been snagged by accessory thieves. I always hated riding around with my heavy U-lock on my handlebar when I was traveling light without a backpack. Just a thought...
My theory is someone had a really bad experience with bird crap, chewing gum etc. and didn't want it to happen again...
Just waterproofing I guess. I'm more impressed its still got its rear wheel despite being a quick release. The dents on the downtube look pretty substantial, might be compromised.
More likely a clever life-hack to combat the freeze-hammer method that thieves have adopted to defeat u-locks.
https://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2012-08/gray-matter-how-science-helps-bike-thieves#page-2
That's a neat link. Busting locks is more fascinating to me than picking them. But any aspiring bike thief could pretty quickly open that bottle and spray into it, and now dumping canned air onto the lock is much more efficient. Or simply run any sort of pocket knife along the bottle side to split it open and fall out of the way. If you're in for a pound carrying around a can of air and a hammer having literally any blade on you was probably the penny.
Yeah. I agree about the knife. I do wonder if the bottom is completely split, or if having it locked keeps the lock in place.
yes, this will certainly foil any bike thief. they can break through locks but can't break though the force field that is plastic
Amunta, thank you for establishing yourself as unable to produce productive commentary in a brainstorming environment. I will make note to not give credence to any comment you make hereforth.
Whether or not my thought was correct —
To freeze the lock enough to break it with a hammer, you need to freeze it more than just in one localized spot. And the PET bottle both makes it awkward to strike with a hammer, and adds yet another layer that absorbs some impact.
It won't let me reply to your last message so I'll reply here.