Bike mine - A literal mine on your bike

[Hypernova]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/673350631/bike-mine-the-ultimate-alarm-to-protect-your-preci

Imagine strapping this to your scope 

And how can he claim it's safe? It would really sting if your face was in the thing's firing direction when it went off. Reminds me of a famous inscription: "Face towards enemy."

[edy]

One problem with this is, you have to be able to disarm it. If you can disarm it, so can a thief. Sure most thieves would not bother to look for booby-traps.... but those who are familiar with the device would look for it, and may simply remove it. There is a good chance the bike owner will set it off more often than any potential thief. It takes time to rig up the trap, and you have to keep buying explosive caps.

I think a better and safer solution is to have an extremely loud piezo-buzzer type alarm (like fire alarms) and a battery pack that you bolt to your frame, with a motion detector. Any bit of movement would set it off, it would ring for 5 minutes and maybe stop if left alone. You could arm/disarm it using a small remote control you carry with you. This could also be integrated with a cable lock that acts as a continuity detector. If the cable is cut, it would also trigger the alarm.

A combination of this piezo alarm/cable lock with remote, along with a separate U-lock to tie up the wheels to the frame and whatever post/tree/bike stand you're attaching it to, may also help.

Either that or just get a shitty bike, or a good one and spray paint it or put stickers all over it so it looks old and crusty. Or just don't leave it unattended somewhere. Honestly it is almost impossible to stop these guys, unless you create a "honey pot" scenario and wait and be prepared to confront them and beat them up. Then you'll be the one to get arrested for attacking someone. The police don't seem to care and it is on the bottom of their priority list, which is why it is such a big problem.

[MK14]

I'm NOT convinced that it is either legal or a good idea.

It is against the law (in the UK), to setup man-traps. I would guess that, it would fall into that category.

What if a toddler or young child, runs up and knocks the bike, then gets deafened/blinded/hurt by that small "explosive" thing going off.

When the chap (in the video) says it is "legal". That is probably ONLY for its intended use.

If e.g. You put it into a tube, along with a large ball bearing and a trigger activated firing mechanism. It would be classed as a gun, obviously.

tl;dr
Once you start "messing" with things, they can become illegal. E.g. 50 KV step-up circuit + battery + switch/trigger + pair prods = stun gun = illegal (in the UK).

Calling something a "mine" and it having a small explosive charge, is just asking for trouble (legal wise).

[helius]

Are powder-actuated nail drivers legal in the UK?
The problem as it seems to me is the difficulty that always exists using technology to detect crime. There are legitimate reasons to touch or move someone's bike that have nothing to do with stealing it (it could be blocking an entrance or a fire lane, or laying on top of your own bike). Whatever trigger logic is used will have a hard time distinguishing these cases, so if it takes an action that could injure someone it creates a liability problem.

[Corporate666]

This is no better than any alarm.

When thieves steal motorcycles or bicycles, they don't even bother trying to disarm any sort of alarm system.  The method here is to pull up in a van, have a couple of big guys lift the bike up and put it in the van, shut the door and drive off.  Even if they set the alarm off, a few seconds later it's in the van and they're driving down the road. 

No passer-by is going to start tackling a person moving a bike because they heard this noise anymore than they would from hearing an alarm.  The only person who is going to know that something is up is the owner, but a bang is not going to be more effective than a traditional alarm in letting them know theft is underway.  And unless you happen to be dressed and standing behind the door when it goes off, by the time you are awoken by the noise, jump out of bed and run out the door to the driveway, the van with your bike in it is already down the road and around the corner.


A traditional alarm would be better, because at least it would be going off while inside the van (although they just smash the siren and remove the rest of it after the fact).

[heima]

Draping your pet snake over the bike would be an excellent deterrent. Keeping the snake there is the problem.

[Kalidor]

This is no better than any alarm.

To make it really safe you need the upgrade kit "Bike hand grenade", it will effectively dis-arm the thief, the thief's apprentice, the truck driver and it will flatten the tires of the truck. It will also devalue your bike so that any other thief will loose interest in stealing your (no longer armed) bike.
And don't ask if it's legal, it's a commercial product, it has to be some sort of legal.
 

[AndyC_772]

This device could be *really* effective at preventing a bike from being stolen.

Just install it inside the fuel tank.

[roffvald]

Atleast here in Norway the use of blank rounds falls under firearm regulations. Only allowed to fire blanks either at a shooting range or during sporting events as a starting pistol.
This would most definately be illegal here.