Research for a university project. - Bike locks

If you are studying product design it is actually better you do not worry about a functioning end product, it is much more about exploration of ideas, even abstract ones.

That's partly true. We're marked equally on quality of research, design development, finished product, and a technical thesis supporting our product. The final product doesn't necessarily have to function, but it's always more impressive to potential investors/employers at the degree show if it works :)

the dye idea would be brilliant
it could work similarly to a air bag in a car

lock bike up, set dye cannister / bomb with movement detector
anyone trying to move bike gets a plethora of permanent blue dye all over them
add in rape alarm / siren plus a d lock and i can see thief's getting wary

I'm liking the way this is going. But rather than dye, how about paint? Stealing the bike's going to be pretty undesirable if you get covered in paint, and also need to get the bike resprayed before you can sell it.

Better still, add some skin irritants, and a strong smell of poo, into the mixture!

The main problem is producing a trigger that won't go off prematurely; spraying a passing pedestrian with a shit-smelling, permanently-staining nerve-agent might be considered anti-social.

did the survey. good luck dude

If you are studying product design it is actually better you do not worry about a functioning end product, it is much more about exploration of ideas, even abstract ones.

Really? Last time I checked "Functioning or near functioning concept model" was one of the primary objectives in a third year project.

Done the survey, only took a couple of minutes

I have an "official" survey here if anyone feels like it (it'll only take a minute):

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1418970/Bike-lock-survey-for-cyclists

Though I'll be using this thread as research too

Done. It doesn't take long!

Agree with the idea of making the bike not usable. Locking the cranks to the downtube as well as to a street post or something? like a figure of 8 lock. The siren is a good idea too. Or a loud voice announcement, "This bike has been stolen" that cannot be deactivated unless with the key to the lock.
Is your project specifically for a bike lock?
How about a full bike where a section of, say, the top tube can be removed, the whole bike then passed through and locked to the post etc?

How about a full bike where a section of, say, the top tube can be removed, the whole bike then passed through and locked to the post etc?

That's been done with wishbone seat stays, which hinge at their junction with the seat tube and form the "U" of a U-lock. Therefore if you break the lock, you're breaking the seat stays and so the bike becomes unrideable.

Agree with the idea of making the bike not usable. Locking the cranks to the downtube as well as to a street post or something? like a figure of 8 lock. The siren is a good idea too. Or a loud voice announcement, "This bike has been stolen" that cannot be deactivated unless with the key to the lock.
Is your project specifically for a bike lock?
How about a full bike where a section of, say, the top tube can be removed, the whole bike then passed through and locked to the post etc?

But then you're talking about the lock being specific to one bike frame which I don't want to do. I want to make a lock that's commercially available and suitable for anyone, and if I incorporate it into the frame, I'm basically doing this:

It had loads of media coverage, but did he sell a single one?

One of my first concept sketches had the top tube on a hinge, but I decided against it..

Fair point, better to help people protect bikes they already have I suppose

I reckon one way worth approaching this is from the angle of the act of theft.

Think about some of the ways that bikes have been stolen;

Hacksaws
Pen lids
Gas cannisters
Bottle jacks
Bolt croppers
Angle grinders
Cutting torches

Each of them have exposed certain vulnerabilities, some of them have been designed out. I get the sense that in the reactive nature of security, existing lock types have been redesigned to try and design out their inherent vulnerabilities. For instance, a D-Lock is always going to be of a certain maximum width and therefore still vulnerable to a pincer/cutting attack such as massive bolt croppers.

If I were in your position, I would start research with how the bikes have been stolen in the first place; bolt croppers, cutting torches, angle grinders, etc... Look at what features, design or materials, would remove the vulnerabilities that these attacks are exposing.

Rendering the bike useless is a no win to me. How you lock the bike still plays an important part in the security. If someone comes along and clears all the bikes in a set of racks, they probably won't even notice it doesn't work. The bike is still stolen and you don't get to ride it again. Pyrrhic victory isn't really the sort of outcome that should be a desired result. The only way to make this reliable would be to make the effect so patently obvious as to render the bike undesirable to a thief or thieves operating in volume.

Counter-attack locks might well appeal to a cyclists desire for justice, but do you really think it would be allowed to market? The area of liability on this sort of thing gets very complicated very quickly. Any corporate lawyer would rightly veto any involvement in the manufacture or sale of such an item without first gaining explicit approval and immunity from prosecution from the government across various departments representing trade, justice and the judiciary at the very least.