Introduction: MonkeyLectric Bike Light Anti-Theft Strap

By MonkeyLectric
About: Dan Goldwater is a co-founder of Instructables. Currently he operates MonkeyLectric where he develops revolutionary bike lighting products.

Here is a simple way to make your MonkeyLectric bike light very difficult to remove.

All Monkey Lights come with a steel anti-theft wire.  Just follow the instructions to install it!

Replace one of the plastic mounting straps with a steel wire. It is a lot more difficult for a thief to easily remove! You can't get it off with a knife like the plastic strap. It is possible to remove with wire cutters, but it will take a little while and most bike thieves don't carry wire cutters. Big bike lock cutters will be too big to clip this.

Besides your Monkey Light All you need is a thin steel wire (we used a large paperclip) and some pliers.

Note that this is not 100% theft proof, but its a lot more theft resistant than the standard setup with plastic straps.

Step 1: Find Some Steel Wire and a Pliers

You need at least 8" (200mm) of wire. If your wire is thin use a longer piece and make more wraps. I used a big paperclip for this, the paperclip was a bit thick which made it hard to work with. Next time i might look for something a little thinner.

First, bend your wire like shown

Step 2: Remove One of the Plastic Cable Ties

Step 3: Insert the Wire Around Spoke and Through Mounting Slots

Step 4: On the Other Side, Bend the Ends Around

Step 5: Push the Ends Back Through the Slots

Step 6: Pull the Wire Tight

Use the pliers to pull on the ends, and get that loop of wire to shrink down until it is mostly tight. If your wire is thick like mine, it will take some work with the pliers to do this.

Step 7: Bend the Ends Over Again, Push Through Slots Again

Step 8: Repeat With Pulling Tight, Now on the Other Side

Step 9: Continue Until You Have Several Loops

Keep looping the steel wire until you have at least 4 loops, 6 or 8 loops is better. Use the pliers to pull it tight. Mine is a bit messy looking, you can make it more clean with a little more work with the pliers.

Now its done! You can clip short or tuck the ends, it won't be very clear how to remove it by un-winding. Un-winding it takes too long for any thief.