Chemical-Releasing Bike Lock Causes Vomiting To Deter Thieves (bbc.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BBC: The "Skunklock" is a U-shaped steel bicycle lock with a pressurized, stinking gas inside. The gas escapes in a cloud if someone attempts to cut the lock. The company claims its "noxious chemical" is so disgusting it "induces vomit in the majority of cases." Even better, it claims, the gas causes "shortness of breathing" and impaired eyesight. The idea, which tries to make stealing a bike as unpleasant as possible, is raising money for production on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. "Our formula irreversibly ruins the clothes worn by the thief or any of the protection they may be wearing," the company claims on its crowdfunding page. Since stolen bikes sell for a fraction of their true cost, replacing clothing or equipment could make the theft more trouble than it's worth. Skunklock says it has tested its foul gas, and it even penetrates high-end gas masks -- though most thieves are unlikely to go to such lengths. But the company said that the compressed gas is perfectly safe -- and can only be released "by trying to cut through it with an angle grinder." If the chemical countermeasure is released, it is a one-time only use, and the lock, which costs over $100, will have to be replaced. But the hope is that the unpleasant experience will cause them to abandon the attempted theft, leaving the bicycle behind.

Comments

Legal?

[guruevi]

Is it even legal to use this in any developed country? Any sort of problem (a delay in the mechanism, failure or bystanders) and you got a terrorism charge.

Re:Legal?

[rtb61]

To explain why it should be illegal. Hey dude, what are you doing with that bike. Crook cuts lock just as the person attempting to stop them gets close. Now that person trying to uphold the law and protect someone's bike, gets the dose, retching and disorientated stumbles back onto the road and gets run over by a bus. Congratulations the crook that actually cut the lock, took off and received a minimal dose and you just killed someone.

If that is not bad enough for you, kids will be kids and the temptation to wear away at the lock so that it will fail just as you the owner try to unlock it, will be irresistible quite a few naughty children. Speaking of wear and tear, why is it, that you think it would be suitable to sell someone and wear and tear time bomb (you could imagine, bringing your bike in, greeting your family and accidentally dropping an old lock hard enough that the seal breaks and wow, will you family not be happy to see you).

Want to ride your bike to places and not have it stolen, start demanding bike lockers in addition to car parks. So open locker, hook up front wheel to raise the bike in a more compact vertical position, shut locker and insert $1 coin, set combination, timer starts, get back in time or locker opens and advertises bike for sale ;). You could squeeze quite a few lockers in two carparks. Counting numbers of customers, 2 inconvenienced to provide for 30 customers and not that expensive, say $250 a locker, last pretty much a life time, apart from the lock :(. What to accelerate installations, demand legislation to require bike lockers at all retail locations (number of bike lockers required per number of car parks, for planning requirements those lockers spaces should still count as car parks, car parks are really expensive to put in, far and away more expensive than most people think). The do really need to be vertical though, so push front wheel onto hook and rotate large counter weighted lever, to raise and rotate bike into vertical position.

Re:Legal?

[TheCarp]

Your not wrong per se, but that is about the dumbest contrived example of why I can imagine. Now.... lets stop stroking the marketing pricks ego and admit the real scenario.

Nobody is angle grinding your fucking bike lock. There will almost always be an easier bike to steal and the majority of bike thieves are not walking around with power tools. Look right at the statements of the company: "and can only be released "by trying to cut through it with an angle grinder.

Its "completely safe" because....that is almost never going to happen.

More realistic... you lock up your bike somewhere its not supposed to be, and go inside some place. You get drunk and end up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning....now the city comes by to cut your lock and guess who gets gassed?

what?

[geoskd]

Our formula irreversibly ruins the clothes worn by the thief or any of the protection they may be wearing

What about the bike? Doesn't this ruin the bike?

Re:what?

[waynemcdougall]

Our formula irreversibly ruins the clothes worn by the thief or any of the protection they may be wearing

What about the bike? Doesn't this ruin the bike?

We had to destroy the bike in order to save it.

I love the smell of Skunklock in the morning. It's the smell of.....victory.

I bet

[93 Escort Wagon]

I can defeat this with a roll of duct tape.

Gas Chamber ruins integrity of lock

[Nyder]

By putting in a chamber to hold the gas, you then ruin the integrity of the lock by make the metal weaker and easier to cut thru.

If I am stealing bikes, like I did when I was a junkie, puking isn't going to stop me from finishing the job and grabbing the bike. By putting in the gas, you made it easier to cut thru the lock, so I'm guessing it won't stop as many people as you think.

Re:Ruined bike?

[sexconker]

No, because it's a crowd funding project. It won't ever see the light of day in any working form.

Sounds familiar

[ClickOnThis]

Perhaps this invention will win the IgNobel prize for Peace, like the flame-throwing car alarm did in 1999.

How long...

[xlsior]

...Until someone decides to be "funny" and uses such a lock to chain up someone else's bike/door/whatever? Good luck regaining access to your own property without getting maced in the process...