So, it seems the inventors of this anti-theft device have an axe to grind with the thieves, probably they had lost their bikes as a kid and now they are back to extract terrible vengeance. The trust is that no matter how hard we make it for them, thieves always get a chance to take away our precious ride away. So, why not strap a detonator to the bike and make it blow if a thief tries to take it away? Well, that’s what Bike Mine aims to do in principle.
No, I am not kidding. The explosion itself is not strong enough to cause any damage but it would be a pretty damning experience to get your hands on a bike and hear this ear-deafening loud blast just like instant karma at work. Sweet! Inventor Yannick Read tried locking up his bike and twice the locks failed. So. it was time to go gangsta.
Now this invention may seem a joke or prank to many, it is quite serious to Read himself. He is a serial inventor and no stranger to thinking out of the box to fulfill the requirements. He has already invented Paravelo; a folding bicycle-based powered parachute and Camper; crowdfunded a drinking flask integrable into a bike handle. He has also set some crazy World records for longest bike horns, etc and for all purposes, he is the complete bike-guy. So, you probably have an idea what Bike Mine means to him. It is one of his diabolical crazy ideas that will probably work for a variety of purposes from pranking your best friend to actually preventing bike heists. He has put it on Kickstarter and you can pledge it there.
The make of a Bike Mine is extremely simple. It is a simple mechanical alarm that has a Titanium trip wire, spring action punch and a shotgun blank that are used in gun salutes. Basically, it generates the same amount of noise as a normal shotgun which is enough to snooze your eardrums for a bit but not deadly at all. It is housed in a rubber wrapped body of steel and attached to the bike via velcro straps. The titanium wire gets attached to to the wheel or a nearby structure and in the event that the bike moves, the blank goes off giving a loud 150 decibels of explosive noise. To put that into perspective, noise above 190 db can kill you.
It is a novel approach and many of you would be rubbing your hands together to get a crack at this, it might not be practical for the purpose it is meant to be. For once, your smart brother or friend could be in trouble once he decides to check out your bike and not knowing the monster it has underneath. Especially, if that person’s ears are near the blank, it can cause a lot of problems for the human ear. It’s not a joke and might not be approved at all. So, I guess apart from a prank purpose, Bike Mine is not a viable product.
There are two products currently on offer. Bike Mine is available at Kickstarter for a pledge of 49$ and a Bike Mine Perimeter at 99$. So, thieves won’t be able to get near before the blank would go off. Shipping will begin this December.