New Bicycle Lock Climbs Poles With Your Bike In Tow [Meant As A Theft Deterrent, New Bike Lock Climbs Poles, Lifting Your Bike Out Of Reach]

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King Kong ain’t got nothing on…this new bike lock, folks. And movie references aside, it’s an item that melds together green technology and light robotics in one of the grandest possible ways.

See, we all know that bicycle theft is a real problem, especially in areas of high bicycle density, like in downtown areas or near schools. But this particular lock, a homebrew invention as yet which will hopefully be snapped up by a major bicycle manufacturer, manages to make your bike absolutely secure to anything short of a fifteen foot ladder or cherry-picker device from your local telephone company.

It’s built out of old skateboard wheels and an electric motor, and what it basically does is attach to your bike like any normal lock, and then attach to a pole, also about like normal. But the difference here is that you carry a remote control for the lock (which could probably be converted to an iPhone app in no time), and pressing one button causes the lock to use its skateboard wheels to climb the pole and then lock into position with the press of another button. Retrieving your bike later is all a matter of reversing the process.

Of course, there are problems with this idea. One, it was built for a German television channel’s advertising, so we likely won’t see it very soon. Plus, the lock is…well..substantial, not to put too fine a point on it, very heavy, difficult to carry around and its use will probably be determined to be illegal in a lot of places. Lastly, if you had friends given to practical jokes, they could use their own pole-climbing lock to put their bike directly underneath yours, making it impossible to get yours back. Or worse, if they had one and you didn’t, you might well find your bike hoisted several feet in the air following a night of drinking, and that would freak most people out like no tomorrow.

Still though, combining robotics and green tech is always worth a look–and hopefully, we’ll be able to get our hands on these at some point.

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