Locking In a Way to Trip Up Bike Thieves

What’s the only thing crazier than pedaling merrily alongside maniacal Los Angeles motorists? Locking your two-wheeler to a signpost and expecting more than metal shavings and a memory when you get back.

But that’s not right, is it? Why, that’s more than anyone should have to bear.

Which--more or less--is what Leamon White, a 40-year-old Marina del Rey bus driver, said when a bike thief lifted his 6-year-old nephew’s Huffy “and stole the boy’s happiness” with it.

White was so steamed, he invented the mother of all bike locks: the Bicycle Alarm Lock.

White’s prize looks like the ubiquitous U-lock but functions more like a LoJack. An internal trip wire sets off a nasty siren if Shady starts fussing with your ride. The tracking device is hidden somewhere inside the bike, so authorities can track down the bike if it gets pinched.

“It’s not likely they’ll get through the lock,” says White, who just treated himself to a $750 mountain bike. “But if they do, we’ll know where they took it.”

White, who is shopping his design to manufacturers, says it could hit the market as early as next year and should cost about $50.

Now that’s a smooth ride.

For more information, call (310) 671-3347.