Carrying A U-Lock
on the
Arclite Rack
March 21, 2006
There is a very simple, light weight, nearly free, and easy way to carry a U-lock on the Arclite rack on a Dahon folding bicycle. It looks a bit like this when my Dahon Helios P8 is folded for transport or storage.
Notice that the U-lock is carried on the right side of the rack, where it will not interfere with folding the bicycle. The top of the rack is still mostly clear, allowing most objects to be strapped to the top of the rack.
The first step is threading the bent end of the U-lock up through the front-most opening in the top of the Arclite rack. This ensures that the shorter post on the locking bar is on the top, where it will later be used to secure the U-lock.
To secure the U-lock, first cut a strip of bicycle inner tube to make a very stout rubber band. I cut a 1/4" wide strip from a 26" mountain biking tube. If you don't have a garbage tube lying around, your local bike shop has a ton of them. Cost: free. Weight: about a gram.
Unlike most rubber bands, an inner tube rubber band is very resistant to tearing and does not degrade very quickly from UV sunlight or ozone. It doesn't stretch as much as a normal rubber band, but it stretches enough for this application.
Tie the rubber band to the right rear of the Arclite rack using a girth hitch. The girth hitch is very easy to tie. You can probably figure it out from the following image, or you can look it up online. The rubber band can stay attached to the rack at all times, so you only need to tie the girth hitch once.
Then, loop the end of the rubber band around the locking post on the U-lock, as shown below.
Attaching or removing the U-lock only takes a couple of seconds, and it doesn't interfere with folding your Dahon bike. Despite the simplicity, the U-lock is very secure and doesn't rattle during normal city riding.
If the rubber band should ever break, there is no catastrophic failure. The U-lock stays attached to the rack, and would just tend to rattle and swing outward a bit.
A Kryptonite (TM) U-lock is shown in these pictures, but the technique will probably work well with other U-locks. Similarly, this trick will probably work with other brands of bike racks, and is not specific to Dahon folding bikes.
Little tricks like this allow the Dahon folding bike to be used as a very capable commuter bike.
Comments or suggestions? blayne at thinkingdevices dotcom