n'lock is a stem which takes a novel approach to bike security: it uncouples the front wheel from the handlebars and thereby makes the bike unrideable. The casual, rideaway thief has no further interest in the bike. n'lock has a version with a plug for a cable so that the bike can be locked to something as well; the cable unlocks with the same key that restores the bike to rideability. n'lock is a wordplay on unlock. Accessories to n'lock build into an impressive security kit. I bought a complete kit for an experiment.
This is an interim description, since there are people currently interested in bike security in a thread that I won't hijack in case someone wants to take it in a different direction. Note that I haven't fitted my kit yet, as I have special requirements; the kit as received would go straight onto your average Thorn or any other bike with either an Ahead or a quill headset.
n'lock
http://shop.nlock.ch/ is a product of the Swiss Brain People, manufacturing engineering consultants, reputable people according to my protege Dakota Franklin's husband, an inventor himself. Distribution is via a German company so you escape the high tariff and exchange rate levied on a Swiss product. The design is Swiss, and so is the manufacturing supervision. n'lock tells one that their first attempt at manufacture in China was a failure and that they moved production to Taiwan for better quality control.
I have experience designing very expensive hi-fi components for British, German and Japanese boutique makers. On the whole, because I don't recognise "good enough" as acceptable quality, I prefer the Japanese precisely because they are obsessives. The Swiss aren't far behind.
CHOICE
There are two n'lock stems, adjustable and fixed, each in versions with or without a cable plug. n'lock makes accessories for their stem, a handlebar with a 600mm cable in it which locks to the "Plus" version of the stem, and a 1.5m free cable with a loop at one end and at the other a plug for their stems.
Currently n'lock sells complete kits, assembled by use (city, trekking, MTB -- all that differs is the handlebars), for 99 Euro per kit. Each kit includes an n'lock Plus Adjustable stem, a handlebar with a cable locked into it to suit the stem, and a quill shaft adaptor for the stem, a very useful item as I will explain below. The saving is somewhere between 40 and 70 Euro on buying the parts separately.
I ordered the city kit because even on my country bikes I use North Road handlebars, which have the most ergonomic shape and angles, though the amount of bar given to curves really robs the gadget space; swings and roundabouts; Thorn sells a gadget bar to solve exactly this problem. The n'lock city handlebar is in fact the AL-092 Kalloyuno I already have on several of my bikes. But the n'lock version has the built-in cable that slides back into the handlebar after use.
DELIVERY ADVENTURES
I asked that my kit NOT be delivered from Switzerland or Taiwan, for fear of customs, tariffs and additional VAT, and, most of all, swingeing courier charges for fill in customs forms that can kill the pleasure of the finest components. n'lock is familiar with this request and offered to have my kit delivered from their German distributor.
The kit arrived within two or three days, breathtakingly fast.
I expected a black kit, and the box in which the stem came was labelled black, but the stem was white. Clearly a packing error in Taiwan. When I told n'lock designer Franklin Niedrich of this, he offered me a black stem. Only problem was, they were out of adjustable black stems in Germany. I could have an adjustable black stem from Switzerland or a fixed one from Germany. n'lock would pay for both the delivery to me and the return of the wrong stem. The embarrassment was tangible.
By this time I'd already measured the white adjustable stem. My bikes are very carefully fitted to me, to within millimetres. The adjustable stem was too long by 22mm. (It is approximately 120mm centre to centre.) That's a very long stem even on a big bike for those of us who sit upright.
The fixed stem is 100mm eye to eye. So I chose to have the fixed black stem sent from Germany, and it arrived within the same week. (By comparison, a fortnight later I'm still waiting for a chainring ordered before the n'lock from a British dealer. The British Post Office can't spell service.)
THE QUILL ADAPTER
The quill adapter is supplied by n'lock for bikes with quills, in both the 22 and 25mm sizes. I shall use it differently, to give a bike which already has a threadless stem further upwards adjustment.
The fixed n'lock stem is essentially a horizontal 100mm stem, give or take only a couple of degrees. The stem currently on my everyday bike, a Utopia Kranich, is 100mm angled at about 30 degrees. The n'lock stem will therefore place the handlebar on the same arc, but too low by something around 20mm. This is where the quill adapter comes in.
***
UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, LET YOUR DEALER DO THIS FOR YOU. DONE BADLY IT WILL BE EXPENSIVE IN WRECKED HEADSETS OR EVEN FRAMES, AND COULD BE DANGEROUS, A FACEPLANT OR WORSE
Once a common Aheadset stem is locked onto the steerer tube of a bike, it holds the fork in place by pressure against the headset, and the star washer can be removed. If you then replace the stem with a locking collar (a seat post collar might do duty, though most have a stopper ridge that must be either planned for or removed), you can use this assembly with a quill inside the steerer, the quill locking itself on by its wedge or expander, NOT by the locking collar. Let me say this again. The locking collar holds the threadless steer tube in place against the aheadset top bearing. The quill holds itself in place inside the steer tube but contributes nothing to the preload on the headset bearings. Confusion of these functions could lead to a nasty accident. In addition, the quill must not be pushed into the steerer far enough for the wedge or expander to coincide with the tube butting at the bottom.
The quill to ahead adapter supplied by n'lock has a ridge around it which I expect can be used with judicious cutting to length of the steer tube, or judicious choice of spacers, to obviate the need for the locking outside collar, with the quill and its wedge or expander then replacing the functions of the locking collar. (BBB sells a quill to Ahead adapter that when used as an Ahead to Ahead lengthening device works in this manner, according to a dealer of my acquaintance.) I'm a belt and braces man, so I'm not about to try it. In any case, this would work only for a fixed handlebar height determined by the extent of the quill above the ridge, because the ridge MUST in this scenario fall on top of the steerer tube to pretension the headset bearings.
In my locking collar and quill plan, the quill can be at any height, but not lower than defined by the butting inside the steerer or the ring around the n-lock quill, whichever touches first.
I still need to decide on a collar before I can fit my n'lock kit. I shall report further when I do.
In the photographs below, the captive cable is shown extended a little from the handlebar but fits in all the way, and the 1.5m freestanding cable is extra to the kit.
![](http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/nlock72dpi/nlock__city_handlebar__quill_adapt_1.5m_cablejpg.jpg)
n'lock kit of stem, handlebar with captive cable and quill adapter, 1.5m free cable extra
![](http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/nlock72dpi/nlock_plughole_cable.jpg)
The hole in the middle is where the cable plugs in.
![](http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/nlock72dpi/nlock_top_switch.jpg)
Two hands are required to decouple the handlebars from the steering but locking it up again requires only one hand on the key.
![](http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/nlock72dpi/brain_people.jpg)
Brain People, Switzerland, a solid metal tag, not a stickon. These are people who take pride in their work.
Andre Jute
http://coolmainpress.com/BICYCLING.html