Bringing a separate bike lock along on a ride is apparently quite the hassle. It must be, as we've recently seen locks that double as a seatpost, saddle, handlebar and water bottle cage, along with a couple of bikes where the lock is part of the frame itself. What about the pedals, though? Yep, those have now been covered too, with the Pedal Lock.
The system consists of two water-resistant pedals of equal size and weight, one of which contains a retractable galvanized steel cable, a combination lock, an accelerometer and a 120-decibel alarm.
When you park the bike, you pull out the cable, wrap it around the bike's frame and an adjacent object such as a sign post, then lock the end of it back into a receptacle on the pedal. Doing so activates the accelerometer, which will trigger the alarm if anyone tries moving your bike while it's parked. To unlock and disarm the alarm, you just key in the combination.
Given that the cable isn't all that thick and thus could be snipped, the Pedal Lock is being marketed more as a casual-locking system for situations where users will be near the bike (such as at a sidewalk cafe), or as an added deterrent to be used alongside a higher-security lock.
And while it is possible that a sufficiently-motivated thief could remove the pedal from the bike, doing so would still leave the bike locked up.
It's hoped that once the final consumer version of the Pedal Lock is in production, the alarm's battery will powered by the user's pedalling action. In the meantime, its creators are raising funds on Kickstarter. A pledge of US$40 will currently get you a set, if all goes according to plans.
The prototype can be seen in use, in the video below. For another take on a pedal-based locking concept, check out the ... well, the other Pedal Lock.
Source: Kickstarter