Bike lock opportunity
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=== Expert Interviews === | === Expert Interviews === | ||
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| + | ProBikes: | ||
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| + | Commonly sold bike was a Hybrid bike: a mix between a mountain and a road bike. Useful as a daily commuter and casual riding. Most popular accessory was lights by far. Most uncommon item or difficult to find item was a rear derailleur hanger. This is because there are many different types and styles. There is no standard so year, brand, and frame geometry all factor into what type of rear derailleur hanger you need.. Biggest complaint with bikes relates to shifting gears. Chains either are not lubricated, over lubricated, rusted, or they mis-shift. This generally falls on the user of the bike because they do not maintain their bike drivetrain properly. Maintenance issues were usually due to mileage, but the biggest mileage independant wear item was tires. Flat tires always happen and people come in asking for help with that. Maintenance items are tire levers, which help remove the tire from the hub, and inner tubes for tires. People are still afraid of using these by themselves though, so they have the shop do it for them. Generally stolen items are seatposts and lights. Usually people don’t seem to take tires anymore, mostly the whole bike. The guys at the shop said they wanted a lightweight and easy to carry lock that was still super secure. | ||
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| + | Locksmith (Locksmith was out on call, but someone else in the store helped me): | ||
| + | Most of their work comes from replacing keys in old (100+ year old) houses. At this point it seems some lock components wear out. Generally, the locksmith only gets about 3 calls a year about bike locks and usually just cuts them with bolt cutters, if possible. Picking a bike lock is rarely done, at least by this place. The most secure type of lock is made by a company called Mul-T lock. They are apparently undrillable, unpickable, and if you break a key in them, you must replace the whole door. There are smaller variants of this type of lock. The key is really weird looking and damn near impossible to machine easily and you have to call the company with a special number to verify that you are the owner of the lock if you need a replacement key. The store’s hint for environmental protection was to spritz some WD-40 (no joke) into your lock every once in a while. It’ll flush out dirt and grime and not leave a residue. Also helps prevent freezing. | ||
=== Stakeholder Interviews === | === Stakeholder Interviews === | ||
Revision as of 13:34, 22 February 2014
I am the Batman
Contents |
Executive Summary
Market Research
Survey Results
Observational Studies
We went around Carnegie Mellon's campus and into University of Pittsburgh's campus and studied how users locked up their bikes. We were able to notice many interesting things, listed below.
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The main takeaways of this study are:
- Users have come up with ways to deal with shortcomings of locks, such as combining lock types or attaching a milk crate.
- Bike transmissions are not very weatherproof and require a lot of maintenance that people do not typically do.
- Few people use the provided mounting bracket to store their lock on their bike. Some designs will not fit every bike.
- People will lock their bikes to anything available that is secure enough.
Expert Interviews
ProBikes:
Commonly sold bike was a Hybrid bike: a mix between a mountain and a road bike. Useful as a daily commuter and casual riding. Most popular accessory was lights by far. Most uncommon item or difficult to find item was a rear derailleur hanger. This is because there are many different types and styles. There is no standard so year, brand, and frame geometry all factor into what type of rear derailleur hanger you need.. Biggest complaint with bikes relates to shifting gears. Chains either are not lubricated, over lubricated, rusted, or they mis-shift. This generally falls on the user of the bike because they do not maintain their bike drivetrain properly. Maintenance issues were usually due to mileage, but the biggest mileage independant wear item was tires. Flat tires always happen and people come in asking for help with that. Maintenance items are tire levers, which help remove the tire from the hub, and inner tubes for tires. People are still afraid of using these by themselves though, so they have the shop do it for them. Generally stolen items are seatposts and lights. Usually people don’t seem to take tires anymore, mostly the whole bike. The guys at the shop said they wanted a lightweight and easy to carry lock that was still super secure.
Locksmith (Locksmith was out on call, but someone else in the store helped me):
Most of their work comes from replacing keys in old (100+ year old) houses. At this point it seems some lock components wear out. Generally, the locksmith only gets about 3 calls a year about bike locks and usually just cuts them with bolt cutters, if possible. Picking a bike lock is rarely done, at least by this place. The most secure type of lock is made by a company called Mul-T lock. They are apparently undrillable, unpickable, and if you break a key in them, you must replace the whole door. There are smaller variants of this type of lock. The key is really weird looking and damn near impossible to machine easily and you have to call the company with a special number to verify that you are the owner of the lock if you need a replacement key. The store’s hint for environmental protection was to spritz some WD-40 (no joke) into your lock every once in a while. It’ll flush out dirt and grime and not leave a residue. Also helps prevent freezing.
