Consilience

Welcome to the second installment of:

BIKE LOCK FAIL BLOG

For those of you just tuning in, see the first intallment: Seat Post.

Example 2: locking up your bike via your…

HANDLE BARS

Picture:

The Problem:

Cable simply passes around the handlebars and then through the bike stand.

How To Free the Bike

This picture includes my tri-tool already inserted into the bolt that secures the handle bars on the bike frame.  This tool is simply three different sized allen wrenches.  I carry this around with me at all times in case I need to tighten/fix anything on my bike.  Many people also carry (and should carry) a multi-tool with them at all times.

With 10 seconds of loosening, 5 seconds to remove cable, and another 10 seconds of tightening (25 seconds total) I could have a free bike!

In fact, I don’t even know if my tool is needed.  The cable is fairly long and even though the handlebars are themselve pretty long I think I could just pull the cable out around the ends of the bars and be done with it that way.  No tools required!

Lesson Learned

Don’t lock up your bike via your handle bars, nor your seat post.

Why I should have moved it

On this day, as you can tell from these next pictures, it was raining.  The spot this bike is in is my “usual spot” on campus, next to one of the Libraries.  This specific spot is right underneath an overhang thus during non-windy rain storms it protects the area from getting wet.  I don’t know about you, but I dislike a wet butt from a wet bike seat.

See how nicely their bike seat is protected?  Now look at what I had to do to try and keep my seat protected:

Good thing it stopped raining well before I wanted to head home and my seat had dried.  And no, I wouldn’t have moved it anyways, that would just be mean.

Till next time.

All Images CC:BY-SA Greg Grossmeier