Booby trap your bicycle for less than £20

boobytrap your bicycle, smoke grenade

As the theft of bicycles, scooters and motorbikes in urban areas edges towards epidemic proportions, so continues our quest to thwart thieves. Last week we brought you the Biskiple, a fake skip that acts like an urban cloaking device for bicycles, but this idea is altogether smaller and cheaper. Although no less effective.

Bike theft countermeasures: Booby trap your water bottle

Using little more than a standard water bottle, a retractable lanyard and a smoke grenade of the sort used in military reenactments it is possible to build a simple and effective booby trap to dissuade bicycle thieves. The EG18 smoke grenades cost about £5 each and produce a 30-second burst of thick acrid smoke. Watch our short video on how to assemble your own anti-theft smoke grenade booby trap.

Gangs of thieves in London and other cities are capitalising on the police’s refusal to chase scooters as a way to rob with impunity. Since thieves have getaway vehicles they know will not be chased by police, their modus operandi becomes evermore brazen. Reports of thieves using loud angle grinders to cut through locks in the dead of night are now commonplace. A good insurance policy provides a vital safety net for riders now unable to rely on the police , but this can be complemented with imaginative bike theft countermeasures.

Win a smoke grenade boobytrap for your bicycle

Protect your shed – We have a smoke grenade boobytrap to give away. Simple leave us a comment below and we will pick a winner next week.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.

 

Comments

  1. Dan welch

    Reply

    And a Go pro camera to film the culprits being covered in smoke!

  2. Ian Harvey

    Reply

    Perfect my added security to my bikes stored in shed

  3. Angie Dodds

    Reply

    Boom! Gotcha!

  4. John Haywood

    Reply

    I’ve just got a new bike and am constantly nervous of leaving it outside my place of work so I’m definitely interested in this!

  5. Owain

    Reply

    Great idea!

  6. Vivien Kitteringham

    Reply

    Almost entirely satisfies my need for bike-thief revenge!

  7. Natalie

    Reply

    Any deterrent to dastardly, disrespectful, opportunist and disruptive thefts is worth gambling on. I hope I win!

  8. Peter Chisnall

    Reply

    Blinding!

  9. Jim Clark

    Reply

    Once again the police show they are there to protect thieves. You do know that if the thief hurts himself you will be arrested. I know this because I caught two in my garden They threatened me and my wife the police took no action, they complained about me and I was asked to attend a police interview four times under caution and taped, when I asked if I refuse they said they would take me. When I asked why no action was going to be taken against the two known thieves, they said it was a civil matter.
    Example 2. Where I worked in a remote area we has a store where we kept tools and equipment we thought it was secure with weldmesh under the roof and inside the windows, metal shutters on the outside, a metal door with a locked steel bar across the middle and a heavy duty padlock and hasp at top and bottom. Of course it got broken in to. What did the police say about our security measures. “This tells me there’s something in here worth stealing”. I was not very polite to him and asked whether we should have secured the door with a piece of pink ribbon done up with a bow and added people around here will steal an empty box just on the off chance it contains something.

  10. Bob Longhurst

    Reply

    HA…..Smokey And The Bandit. Love it

  11. John doe

    Reply

    Awesome – I love it!

  12. Lynne Harris

    Reply

    What a simple idea. And at last something that gives you the last laugh on those bike thieves. They won’t be thinking of stealing another bike in hurry!

  13. Joel

    Reply

    Good idea but as this only works in a confined space why not just wedge the smoke bomb in the shed and attach the lanyard to the bike? Saves messy around with the water bottle and easier for you to clip and unclip.

  14. Peter Clark

    Reply

    Holy smoke!

  15. Matt R

    Reply

    Smokin’

  16. Mike Reddaway

    Reply

    My bike is hidden within and locked to bushes in the front garden! The best I can do so a smoke bomb would be an added surprise if they come for the bike having taken the recycling bins a fortnight ago.

  17. Mark B

    Reply

    Love this!

  18. Chris Johnson

    Reply

    Gasping for one!

  19. Plevyadophy

    Reply

    As long as it’s not all smoke and mirrors?! 😄

  20. Dawn Matter

    Reply

    I just hope that if I win it I don’t forget it is there!

  21. Gabriel Maryan-Letch

    Reply

    A great idea, love it!!

  22. Nick

    Reply

    Geni-us in a bottle, let’s hope that the 40 thieves encounter smoke which is a little more herbal in nature and stay at home playing their x-boxes, then they can be A Lad In.

  23. Brian D

    Reply

    We’re smokin!

  24. Mark Kuramoto-Headey

    Reply

    Nice idea but…

    1) If it’s in your shed, why not just attach the smoke bomb to the shed, then all you have is a descrete trigger wire?

    2) Outside, on the street, while the smoke would draw attention, I would suspect that the open air and wind would lessen and deterent effect of the acrid smoke.

  25. Ben Pendery

    Reply

    What I brill idea. Would love to use.

  26. Helen Taylor-Carter

    Reply

    Thieves always look good in red. we’d spot them a mile away

  27. Christopher

    Reply

    Pooof! And the thief is gone.

  28. zue acker

    Reply

    I live in San Francisco where we have about 75,000 cyclists. There has been a 70%increase in theft since 2006. That means you are unlikely to meet a cyclist who has not had a bike stolen. Everything has to be locked down- seats/ wheels/ bells etc. Thieves actually cut through Kryptonite locks. So, my answer is to have a bike that doesn’t look too nice, but works fine. I like this idea – it’s cheap and looks like it would attract enough attention to scare them away. What happens if it’s in a public place? Does everyone have to deal with that acrid smoke?

  29. James Russell

    Reply

    Smoke me a bicycle for breakfast..

  30. David Beacham

    Reply

    no chance of forgetting that clip yourself huh? 🙂

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