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Comment by laserDinosaur | Hacker News Reader

I've always wanted to buy a cheap bike and create a quick release bolt on the rear wheel that unspools as the wheel turns. I figure the culprit could get 3 or 4 revolutions before the back wheel falls off. Or maybe attach a length of wire to the front brake cable that wraps around the rear axel. Suddenly the wire snaps tight and yanks the front brakes. I figure it would make a good youtube series. My main fear is being stabbed to death by an angry bike thief...

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This brings to mind Alan Turing's bicycle in Cryptonomicon:

  "So Turing can leave his bicycle anywhere and be confident that, if stolen, it won’t go more than a fifth of a kilometer before the chain falls off."

The whole passage (it relates eventually to Enigma and Cipher Text) is a good read: http://www.euskalnet.net/larraorma/crypto/slide18.html

Of course, the whole book is a good read, so skip the link and head to a bookstore.

Any pics of this mechanism?

No mechanism, just a damaged bicycle.

My guess is that the pros are throwing them into a van or pick-up rather than riding away on the bike.

Being stabbed to death would be a less painful and drawn-out alternative to being sued for the thief's medical bills.

European here. I thought the thief would now(after obamacare) have insurance?

Insurance companies will generally be quite happy to sue anyone they might be able to unload a bill on. If you get someone deliberately or negligently hurt in Europe, their insurance won't just roll over and pay their medical bills, either.

>in Europe, their insurance won't just roll over and pay their medical bills, either.

Sorry for being that European guy yet another time. But it is different in different countries. The Union's laws have higher priority than the countries laws. In this case though, the countries have their individual laws that go about giving everyone health care. So iirc correctly, here in communist Sweden no insurance companiy would be involved in the medical bills at all.

Booby traps are usually illegal.

Would that really be a booby trap though? Both sound more like (funny) anti-theft devices, since neither are intended to maim.

It depends on where the brakes locked up. This could easily toss someone tumbling into traffic.

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