You may have locked your bike securely, but what about your seat?
As the team from Fortified Bicycle, creators of Seatylock, found out first-hand, thieves know prying off your bike seat can make them a decent profit - and it costs mere seconds of their time.
After helping a friend track down the thief who had stolen and attempted to sell his expensive bike saddle, Fortified co-founders Slava Menn and Tivan Amour set out to provide urban cyclists with a practical and affordable means of protecting their seats.
Menn and Amour observed that cyclists were having to settle for very imperfect technology in the fight against bike seat theft. Improvised cable ties can easily be cut, and most existing products were only designed to protect the seat post, leaving the seat itself vulnerable.
The Payback system revolves around an anti-theft tool secured with an innovative custom security bolt. Customers can opt for the post bolt only, or purchase a full set to lock down both saddle and post.
A major advantage of Payback is that it fits a variety of bike types, including older models. It is also designed to be affordable and easy to install; it can be set up in less than two minutes.
Payback comes with a Lifetime Anti-Theft Guarantee.
Based in New York, the Fortified team members combine backgrounds in engineering, product design, manufacturing and entrepreneurship.
They have been working to deliver innovative bicycle security solutions since 2012. To date, their products have been stolen in fewer than one per cent of cases.
The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign for Payback that will run until June 1, 2015. It has already far exceeded its pledge goal.
Backers can make pledges in exchange for the full or partial Payback system and fully-compatible Afterburner and Aviator bike lights.