Gear Review: LOCK 8 – the World’s first smart bike lock

Bike theft

A problem that cyclists have been trying to deal with since the invention of the bicycle.  

As touring cyclists, C and I often work in tandem to guard our trusty steel steeds.  One person watches the bikes and the other goes shopping, to the toilet or off to find something we need.  It’s a pain, but it works.  

As city cyclists we have felt the sting of a stolen bike.  The empty feeling of returning to a bike rack only to find an hole where a bike once stood.  That sucks.  

Imagine if there was a way to lock and monitor your bike, and even track it if it does get stolen.  That’s the idea of LOCK 8 – the World’s first smart bike lock.  

LOCK 8 – the World’s first smart bike lock

While we haven’t gotten our hands on one for a proper kicking of the tires, when the notice appeared in the inbox today we knew this was just the sort of thing that we would use.

The idea is simple in its genius.  Be able to lock and unlock your bike with a smartphone app, repel thieves with an alarm and track, monitor or share your bike using GPS tracking and push notifications. Beauty!

Here’s the lowdown:

 

Keyless locking/unlocking

LOCK 8 protects your bike using a smartphone app as an “e-key” and a “smart cable” to secure it..  Simply insert the smart cable into LOCK 8 then swipe the locking feature on the app and done.  There is even a proximity setting that will engage or disengage LOCK 8 as you walk way or approach the bike with the app enabled. 

Alarm

 So genius.  When a would be thief tries to move or disable the LOCK 8 an audible alarm sounds. Hopefully repelling the scoundrel. With 6 sensors the LOCK 8 alarm can detect vibration, motion, cutting of the lock and even sudden changes in temperature from burning or freezing. 

GPS Tracking

 This is the big one.  You always know where your bike is.  In the event that some low life makes off with your ride, you can track it down using GPS.  You can also share your e-key via Facebook to make sharing a bike among colleagues, housemates or friends even easier.  

Our Impressions

Like I said, we haven’t gotten our hands on a LOCK 8 system yet, as they just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund production, so this is just initial impressions for now.  The Kickstarter price is a good value for money, starting at $112 for one lock system and app service.  It looks like this will go up after full release.  Also the app relies on a paid subscription service, although you get 6 months free with some Kickstarter backer levels.  It would be nice to see the app service offered for free, even if the product price had to increase.  

We will be backing this product, so expect a full review once we get the product in hand. If it lives up to all the promises, LOCK 8 could be a real game changer for city cyclists and long distance tourists alike.  Imagine leaving your bike with out fear of theft. Loaning or renting out your bike to friends. Even finding your bike if were ever stolen.  Now that would be nice.