Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

TECH NEWS

Work of Genius: anti-theft rust and scratch stickers

London designer Dominic Wilcox resorts to subterfuge and in his case it's working so far

Sticker sets of authentic scratches and rust called Anti-Theft Bike Car Device are for sale, designed according to their creator Dominic Wilcox "to make your beautiful bike look rusted and scratched and therefore not worth stealing."

This morning's post on bike security by road.cc blogger Flo K contained the advice to camouflage your pride and joy by hiding all the expensive looking logos and so on. He could hardly have guessed that a Londoner was already well ahead, having photographed the real article around Hackney and gone on to create slightly post-modern sticker sets with the specific aim of making your bike look as worthless as possible.

"These rust and scratch stickers are designed to make your beautiful bike/car look rusted and scratched so that passing thieves assume it's not worth stealing due to its apparent shabbyness," says the designer on his personal shop.

Although quickly adding the proviso, "This anti-theft device is not guaranteed to work in any way. However I have stuck them to my shiny new red bike and can confirm it hasn't been stolen yet. 13 days of not being stolen in London probably equates to 7 years of non-stealing in the friendly countryside."

Price per set is £3.99. Good work, that man.

Details: variationsonnormal.com

Thanks to the folks at Green Oil for the tipoff.

Add new comment

10 comments

Avatar
peasantpigfarmer | 12 years ago
0 likes

ppf LOL! Many years ago,I painted a car with pretend rust and damage on the wheel arches,door,bonnet and boot bottom edges etc for fun,It resulted in me getting stopped by the police many times because they thought it was an unroadworthy vehicle! It never got stolen,but still got "keyed" a few times (A fiat uno!) Still,the decals are a great idea!

Avatar
nick_rearden replied to DaveP | 12 years ago
0 likes
DaveP wrote:

Or if you have a little more cash

I am quite literally speechless. Hope you don't mind I dropped the picture in there, brilliant.

Avatar
DaveP replied to nick_rearden | 12 years ago
0 likes

Nick,

Not a problem... I did try, but failed.  2

Avatar
leonrushworth | 12 years ago
0 likes

I had bullet hole stickers on the back of my MG metro in the 90;s that still got robbed,

Avatar
OldRidgeback | 12 years ago
0 likes

Geat idea, but I'm not so impressed by his spelling.

Avatar
PhilRuss replied to OldRidgeback | 12 years ago
0 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:

Geat idea, but I'm not so impressed by his spelling.

[[[[[ Yep...it's positively shabbi.
PR

Avatar
wild man | 12 years ago
0 likes

Reminds me of the 'battle scar' stickers for my Star Wars X wing fighter when I was a kid.

However I have had some worthless wrecks pinched from outside country pubs- the countryside is far from 'friendly'; it just has a lower density of tea leaves.

Avatar
ade | 12 years ago
0 likes

For ironic effect, apply to a bike with a carbon monocoque frame.

Avatar
nick_rearden replied to ade | 12 years ago
0 likes
ade wrote:

For ironic effect, apply to a bike with a carbon monocoque frame.

Yes, in theory some nice furry, delaminating cracks would be even more discouraging for carbon frames and how about that lovely powdery white bubbling corrosion that marks the near demise of aluminium? But, as you say, it would rather spoil the joke.

Latest Comments