Skunked
November 22, 2016, 9:10 pm
Several months ago, our daughter ended a long work day at the big box bookstore she manages only to come out and discover her transportation home was missing. Her beloved orange bicycle had been stolen.
Bike and motorcycle thefts are rampant the world over in all kinds of neighborhoods. One and a half million are stolen every year, and only a tiny proportion are recovered.
Fortunately, some creative minds are tackling the problem. Billed as “the bike lock that fights back”, Skunklock has been invented by Daniel Idzkowski and Yves Perrnoud.
An entrepreneur and motorcyclist, Mr. Idzkowski lives in San Francisco. His partner, Yves Perrnoud, is a Swiss born engineer who got fed up with having his bicycle stolen about every sixteen months.
Skunklock is a brilliantly simple invention. When the would-be thief tries to saw through the bike lock, a noxious, pressurized, chemical deterrent is released which makes the thief throw up. Needless to say, a person vomiting and gagging over a bike lock will attract attention.
In addition, the chemicals will ruin whatever the thief is wearing. Since the street value of a stolen bike is only 1/10 the retail price, the thief may end up committing a crime that doesn’t even pay to replace his jacket or Nikes.
The Skunklock is ingeniously designed. A black and white stripe color scheme warns the thief of trouble. Furthermore, the lock uses no electronic parts as they can discharge or be disabled. And finally, the chemical deterrent will not harm bystanders.
The cofounders hope to have Skunklock ready to go by June 2017. They are currently working through liability and shipping issues. Good luck to them. Creating and engineering this product was not easy. The design team skunked themselves during the development process.
skunklock.com
4 Comments for this entry
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Greetings and welcome...
The Suitcase Lady Blog is now in its fifteenth year. I intend to keep following the advice from poet Mary Oliver, "Pay attention, be astonished and tell about it". Many thanks for being the people I tell it to.
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November 22nd, 2016 on 9:32 PM
What an ingenious idea! I hope it hits the market here!
November 22nd, 2016 on 10:31 PM
I love this idea!!! I just might need one…And just to clarify, my bike wasn’t stolen, but the tires were slashed. Still a lousy thing to have happen, but I still have my spiffy orange bike!
November 25th, 2016 on 11:48 AM
Katie lost her comfy bike seat to a thief, and Charlie lost a wheel in his gated community in London. The skunk may not protect those!
November 25th, 2016 on 11:49 AM
Katie lost her comfy bike seat to a thief, and Charlie lost a wheel in his gated community in London. Not sure the skunk would protect from that! Ugh.