New Bike Lock concept: The Miller Lock

Looks a bit flimsy to me, but possibly good for protecting the rat bike while you nip into a shop?

So it’s a cable lock, on a drum, probably more usefull than a normal cable lock, but i’d rather stick with my current stratergy of not letting nice bikes out of my sight.

I like the idea of a quick-to-use lock you always have with you, as that kind of approach is really needed for utilitarian cycling.

But I’m not convinced this one is the answer.

Oh dear

I rarely worry about how my lock looks…..

..and am more bothered by it being a beefy F-er that the local scrotes won’t chew through…..

DrP

They lost me at ‘must have’ which means to me I don’t want.

I prefer the miller-copter

I rarely worry about how my lock looks…..

Yeah that seemed an odd selling point given that it looks like someone has stuck a big fishing reel on your bike. 😕

GrahamS – Member
I rarely worry about how my lock looks…..
Yeah that seemed an odd selling point given that it looks like someone has stuck a big fishing reel on your bike.

i guess they had no other selling point. as its a weak design!

Ive just come up with a better idea than this!

just back from Copenhagen where there are more bikes than people, ok, its flat and they are all pretty simple, functional things rather than carbon uber bikes with dura ace but very few of them were locked with more than a simble lock that fits on the rear brake bosses amd goes through the wheel and spokes certainly few were locked to anything as they all had a stand. there were just so many bikes around that there was no market for stolen bikes so no need to lock them with much.

the big utility bikes/trikes had hefty abus locks on but the rest just had these simple locks. maybe the Govt should buy a few thousand and then plant them around towns and cities late one night though knowing the morons here, they would all end up in the nearest canal. maybe i’m being too simplistic, everyone has a right to own whatever they want and shouldnt have to cary three locks to secure their pride and joy.

i loved the place, British motorists would have a head fit if they went there…

This is the same idea, but a considerably neater design:

http://www.gizmag.com/water-bottle-bike-lock/20143/picture/144672/

Although it is utterly vile, this has an interesting locking concept;

The cable is in effect the downtube. So, locking the bike up renders it unrideable, as does cutting the lock.

OK, so not a perfect solution, but an interesting approach by using the idea of rendering a bike useless to thieves.

After losing 2 bikes last year my current bike stays firmly attached to my wrist at all times. It’s a shame but it seems anything with any value gets robbed if its left alone for 5 mins.

There is a lock on display at new designers at the moment which I thought was quite clever. It uses road type drop bars, but the two drops can be removed and then lock together into a loop. Only really works with drop bars and utilitarian bikes, but quite an interesting idea, and probably could be made quite secure.

my current bike stays firmly attached to my wrist at all times

you handcuff yourself to your bike, gonna be tricky at work that.

Whats wrong with a frame mounted d-lock? Might not look good but neither does the OP fishing reel.

Whats wrong with a frame mounted d-lock?

Trouble is that with a d-lock alone it is very difficult to secure the bike in any meaningful way that doesn’t end up with your wheels getting stolen, especially if they are quick release.

So you end up carrying a cable too. And it all becomes a bit of a faff.

It’s like dragons den pitch.

“so it looks great”
According to who? Stevie wonder?

Yep I agree with GrahamS, seems to me there’s isn’t a decent, lightweight way to secure a bike while your out and about.

remove front wheel, d-lock through F wheel, chain/seatstay, rear wheel and bike stand or post.

or d lock front wheel and downtube to post (rear more difficult and less likely to be pinched)

or have bolt-on wheels and d lock anywhere.

and if the bike is ever going to be out of your sight make sure it’s a fugly one.

remove front wheel, d-lock through F wheel, chain/seatstay, rear wheel and bike stand or post.

Yeah that just about works, provided your d-lock is pretty big and the stand/post isn’t too thick and is accessible.

But you have to admit it is a complete faff.

For proper utility cycling (e.g. nipping to the shops for a pint of milk) you need a way to lock quickly without fannying about with quick releases or getting muddy/greasy.

If someone can come up with a solution that does that but is “secure enough” then I think there is definitely a market.

It looks awfull.

And isn’t you bike actually ONLY secured by the two bottle mount bolts ! Remove them or the part of the lock reel attaching them, and hey preto!

The bottle lock s a much more polished design, IMO .

And isn’t you bike actually ONLY secured by the two bottle mount bolts !

No, unless you’re a complete donut, you still put the cable through the bike.

Likewise the bottle lock isn’t defeated by lifting the bottle out of the bottle cage 😀

And isn’t you bike actually ONLY secured by the two bottle mount bolts ! Remove them or the part of the lock reel attaching them, and hey preto!

doh!
Give them some credit, you are supposed to wrap the chain around the frame and then the imovable object not just rely on the cage bolts 😯

Vamoof 5 FTW!

That doesn’t need a lock – no one is going to steal it!

Far more interesting- the kickstarter funded TiGr[/url]

Was that designed by Cotic or Charge? ^^

So it’s a cable lock that’s conveiniently attached to the frame. My problems with it, the cake would need to be long enough to secure the wheels, it’s in a set location on the bike minimising the amount of objects you can chain up to. I wanted to like it as a new approach to a problem I have but I was ‘out’ when the looks of the lock seemed to be a strong selling point. As soon as a weak point is identified in the lock Chavvy will spot a Miller Lock easily due to it’s stand out looks.

As said above don’t let a nice bike out if your sight and get a rat bike for leaving out shops.

Hi guys, I am one of the four brothers thats making this lock. Wish I could have responded earlier but I only just found this thread.

Couple of things – yes its like a dragons den pitch, thats because this video was created for a dragons den-ish competition in which we could have won £10,000 funding. We won.

Because of that we had to use what we had at the time, which were mainly design drawings, we did have proof of concept prototypes, but with a short deadline and time limit we opted for the animated style you see above. So this is not a demo reveal of the product by any means, that is coming.

I can see how you could assume its a wire, its not. Its a chain in a sheath.

I can’t give any specific details on price, chain strength etc as I don’t have them nailed down just yet, as soon as we do, we’ll have all the info on millerlock.com or facebook.com/millerlock it’ll likely be a hardened steel chain.

We’re currently testing what is likely to be our final prototype so look for videos on it soon that demonstrate the lock more clearly.

I’m aware that its not for everyone, its not meant to be, having tested the product in London we’ve been stopped by a large number of cyclists who, having seen it demonstrated are really interested in it.

ps

yeah, the ‘must have fashion accessory’ line is cheesy. But for the style of competition we were entering, it was appropriate.

If you’ve got any questions or anything feel free to sling me an email – themillerlock at geeeeeemail dot com

millerlock – good on you.

Just to advise / caution you: if you chirp in on here then it will probably become a challenge to pick (sic) holes in it.

There are probably more engineers, bodgers and thieves on this forum than you could possibly withstand the onslaught from.

Still : if we can help in a positive way I’m sure someone will.

#Edit – and just to be clear: I do not equate engineers with bodgers. Or thieves.

+1 to the above. Apart from the engineer bit- Alec Issingonis??

Yeah I realise that, if people can wait a bit until we actually unveil what it looks like and demonstrating it working then thats fair game. I just wanted to point out that that video was made on a tight timescale with restrictions and tailored to the competition we were entering, its really not meant to be a product demonstration by any means, which is why I can understand misconceptions such as assuming it is a wire we’re using (it looks like it in the video).

I do not equate engineers with bodgers. Or thieves.

I’m certainly not a thief. But engineers by definition are glorified bodgers, simply finding a solution to a problem. 🙂

I’m certainly not a thief. But engineers by definition are glorified bodgers, simply finding a solution problem to a problem solution.

FTFY

Hiplok anyone?

http://www.hiplok.com/how/

Hi guys, I am one of the four brothers thats making this lock. Wish I could have responded earlier but I only just found this thread.

Nice one! Thanks for showing up and giving your side.

Apologies if it all sounds a bit negative – we’re a right bunch of miserable moaning barstewards on here sometimes 😀

Good luck with your project.

Always good to hear things from the horse’s mouth. We should applaud alternative solutions – ‘he who dares, wins, Rodney’.

I especially like that TiGr effort.