Bike thieves, don't even try it: Hexlox locked into bolt

Bike ownership is no longer thought to be a quirky pastime for big-city residents; thoughts on a cleaner environment has driven many adults to get around on bicycles.

Just as one secures a car, a bike-conscious team believes it should be safe to own a good bike and they have spent their time trying to make it happen.

"In the past, it has been difficult, inconvenient and in many cases impossible to properly protect your saddle, wheels or other components from theft," they said. Their solution, Hexlox, offers lock safety and personal key system.

This is not a new departure from a standard bolt, securing bike parts. This is Hexlox. Once you put it into the bolt, it secures it. It is virtually impossible, they said, for anyone with any tool wire or magnet to get it out.

Virtually impossible? "There is no lock in the world which is 100 percent safe," they said, but since 2011 the founders were on a mission.

They studied tools and techniques used by thieves and submitted the device to tests against needle nose pliers, gator/vise grip, hammer, liquid ice, hacksaw, and screw driver. For further confirmation against lock picking tools they went to the Berlin Lock Picking Society and the device passed. They also tested Hexlox against high-powered magnets, medical tweezers and toothpicks.

Ubergizmo's Tyler Lee simplifies the matter about the magic—no magic at all, actually. "This is basically a tiny magnet that is placed and locked over the hex bolt of your bike's parts," said Lee. The team said, "The Hexlox locks into the bolt with a magnet. But you can't use a magnet to get it out since its magnetically shielded."

You on the other hand have a unique key which you insert, twist half a turn and take it out. Every Hexlox set comes with a unique personal key and a 3 digit keycard. Standard bolts have now become security bolts because you have the key

Chris Mills said in Gizmodo: "The concept behind Hexlox is reasonably simple: it's a piece that uses a magnet to sit in the head of a hex-head bolt, which are used all over bikes to lock components in place."

They went live on Kickstarter earlier in the week. They want to raise $22,312 and they already have surpassed the goal with 26 days still left.

The device, made of stainless steel, will be produced in Germany. Hexlox are designed to work in any standard hex bolt with six sides. Each Hexlox weighs less than 2 Gram.

Kickstarter is offering, at the time of this writing, locks for the saddle ("Secure the two bolts that hold your saddle"), going at $23. You get 2 Hexlox, one key and one key code card, with estimated delivery in June. They also had $23 locks for the wheels at the time of this writing.

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