In grade nine, Linda Young’s bike would change everything for her. She came out of class eager to ride home, to find her bikes front wheel was missing. After a brief wave of anger or frustration many people would simply accept their fate and walk home. This is exactly what Linda did, although she never did stop thinking about her stolen wheel. Linda’s story is not entirely unique. Bike theft is incredibly common for two reasons: it’s a very low risk crime, and -alongside cash, drugs, and sex- bikes are one of the four street currencies. In fact, according to the National Bike Registry and FBI a baffling $350,000,000.00 in bikes are stolen every year, the majority of this theft not even being the entire bicycle. Often, wheels like Linda’s are nabbed with a simple flip of a quick release switch to vanish into the black hole known as internet sales to feed a meth heads addiction. Sadly, once a bike or part of it has been stolen there is little to do about it. In fact, even the commonly preached ‘effective’ preventative measures are hardly feasible.
The most popular method is to put a cable lock around your frame and wheels, and is easily defeated with bolt cutters (or even scissors depending on the cable quality). In a similar vein, people often carry multiple U-locks that they use to secure each wheel and the frame individually. While this can work, it still leaves the handlebars and seat post vulnerable. Furthermore, high quality U-locks are often robust and weigh in excess of five kilograms, making this method clunky and inconvenient. This combined with many U-locks being vulnerable to a plethora of techniques ranging from the infamous ‘Brennan’ pen method to shady imported car jacks leads to many people losing their entire bike. Fortunately, Linda’s wheel was stolen, and because of that she invented the convenient and effective solution: Pinhead locks.
Pinhead locks are innovative, simple, and so clever that they aren’t complex. Where normally you would have quick release switches to release your wheels, or simple bolts that could be removed by anyone with thirty seconds and an Allen key, instead you could have a lock nut. Using patented convex disc technology that replaces the archaic pin and tumbler lock mechanism, Pinhead locks are each given a unique key, the only way to remove the locks. The locks completely replace the original parts, last a lifetime, and are often slightly lighter! With component locks specific to the saddle, seat post, wheels, and handlebar you confidently leave your bike parts protected. All of your products can even be coded to match a single key code, including a matching frame lock for a comprehensive and effective one key lock up.
The Pinhead frame lock, the bubble lock has a gold rating by Sold Secure, and weighs a meagre 1.2 kilograms, making it a light but effective solution. The lock has a circular shackle, giving it an odd bubble shape in a market dominated by U- locks. This creative shackle shape prevents the use of car jacks and crow bars to force it open. On top of that, the bubble lock employs an obscured mechanism, making seeing, using the Brennan, or even picking the lock impossible. After all, you can’t pick what you can’t see. The Pinhead difference is easy to spot. It’s the difference between a bike frame hanging sadly without a handlebar, wheels, or even seat, and a bike that can still get you home on time. With bike theft running rampant, Pinhead is the solution. Lock it, don’t lose it.
