My issue of the week has been my lock.  I have a $10 Bell lock that is less than a year old but is already a huge pain in the ass.  A while back I posted about how I couldn’t avoid getting grease and dirt all over myself and I have figured out why, my lock!

I’ve come to realize why all those bike messengers always seem to value their locks so very much.  It’s one of those details that you never think about when it comes to daily bike use.  My lock is already on its last leg, I have to use the key to get it to close which really annoying but manageable.  The biggest and messiest problem is that it is always tangled so I have to really get into the process of stringing it through the frame, wheel and helmet when I lock it.  This is where all the grease and dirt I find all over my self throughout the day comes from.

As I get more and more comfortable living CarFree, I’ve been cutting my schedule closer and closer.  Which basically means the novelty of this whole thing has worn off and I’m getting lazy, so I need a lock that I locks up really fast!

I’m hugely skeptical of wearing my lock due to the dirt/grease factor but until I can get one of the really cool permanently attached locks I saw all over Denmark and Sweden, this may be my best option.

Hiplok: A Wearable Bike Lock Thats Not Just For Tattooed Hipsters : TreeHugger.