Isn’t bike theft an absolute bitch these days? God knows that if you live in London, or any major city for that matter, there’s always some bastard out there who thinks it’s a great idea to rob you of your bike. We’ll spend a fortune on buying the most expensive locks to protect our pride and joy and it’ll be snapped off within a few seconds leaving a shadow of what we once owned. For some people, it’s more annoying than can be put into words and for one man, Andrew Leinonen – a Toronto-based industrial designer and cyclist, one theft just took the piss a little bit too much. His girlfriend’s bike was stolen from their own alleyway so he sought to find the best way to sort this out. He went and created a new type of bike lock.

So what he’s created here is a bike lock that uses the bike frame as the integral part of the lock itself. The StayLocked lock uses the top few inches of the seat pole as the lock, attaching them with a universal joint that lets you swivel them around a post. If a thief decides to steal the bike after cutting the lock it will just collapse under the weight of the assailant. Clever huh?

Well… kind of.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a smart idea. The thief won’t be able to ride your bike as it’ll be reduced to a pile of twisted metal if they sit on it. Along with that though if the thief does sit on it, crushes it and leaves it, you’ve got your bike but it’s completely unrideable. And what’s the point in that? You’ll at least have a slim chance of getting it back if it’s nicked after using a regular lock. And who’s to say that the thief is smart enough to notice this kind of lock before attempting to ride the bike? Also, will you be able to get insurance for this? If you do it’ll cost you a fortune as you could claim that anyone had done it even though you were probably drunk and did it yourself.

It’s a great idea but not sure if it will catch on…

Read the full story with more pictures here.