So the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese…
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Have you ever worked in an office on the first or second floor? You might not be watching the street, but you would be completely within range.
17 seconds. I used to have a high-end Kryptonite lock on my bicycle – cost more than the bike. The cylinder broke. Fortunately there was a locksmith nearby. He came out with some kind of portable power tool and cut the lock in 11 seconds. After that I used a 3’ length of chain and a $25 Master Lock. I take care to ride only old, rusty bikes; God help those with the $5000 kind. And, yes, no one will interfere with the cutting operation. Are you going to walk up and argue with a guy holding a tool like that? Call the cops? Will they be there in 17 seconds?
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Even Kryptonite’s flagship lock, the New York Fahgettaboudit 1415 Chain, made with 14mm thick hardened steel, can be broken with an angle grinder in ~2m30s. And with bystanders like the ones in the video above linked by @enso, even that might be enough time.
ETA: Seems Kryptonite has since upped their security game with the New York Legend chain. 15mm hardened steel and an even less breachable padlock.
(Ignore the linked reviewer’s claim that this isn’t a portable lock. Throw it in a rear pannier and the weight will practically disappear.)
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My reason for not doing this is that digging is a lot of work and landmines are expensive (or at least difficult to obtain here in Wisconsin.)
OK, actually, I wouldn’t do those things because the neighborhood dogs or other animals might get hurt, but I can generate a certain amount of sympathy for people that want to keep out the world, even if I don’t agree with their methods and think they might be going a tad overboard. I recall a long-ago client who was telling me that he had received a letter from the city telling him that the needed to alter the 6’ tall fence enclosing his yard, as the spikes along the top were too sharp and someone might get hurt if they climbed over it. We both agreed that the city seemed to be missing the whole point of a fence.
TLDR: Yeah, I do think this is a bad idea, but I can understand the reaction.
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I don’t know the packets’ safety characteristics, but this seems as though it would potentially be a much more legally and morally defensible product.
cities have paid parking lots with attendants, wouldn’t it be great if for a few bucks they’d watch bikes in a special secured area and have a valet style receipt, so you can check and retrieve your bike?
maybe this exists, but i’ve never seen it.
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That’s a great idea, which wouldn’t cost much to implement, I’d think.
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Now you’re onto something. 
I’ve seen fenced-in bike areas in garages and rarely in private lots. Commuter train stations have bike lockers. So does the hospital, come to think of it.
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Or some asshole slapping one on a bike he doesn’t own, for the lulz.
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The Skunklock is a $109 crowdfunded gadget that contains pressurized vomit-inducing gas the creators call “Formula D_1,”
I’m going to instead invest my $109 in Halliburton (HAL) stock and within a year I’ll be able to afford Formula D_2.
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The quumfing/snufty/snarfing/snifters/saddle sniffers are going to love that seat.
(bicycle seat sniffers…)
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“It’s got acid for blood!”
“Bike thieves mostly come at night. Mostly.”
So does this come in a “Hey, I’m not a signatory of the Ottowa Treaty…” version?
Based on the text in the legality section, it sounds to me like this “vomit-inducing gas” is largely just pepper spray.
Though I admit to amusement that that section is effectively “Yes it’s legal. (May not be legal in some states.)”
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Exactly.
