Industrial designer Michael Lambourn has an idea that might help reduce bicycle theft: integrate a dye pack, like the kinds built into some fire alarm pulls and clothing tags, that that explodes and covers the bicycle and thief in loud purple dye.
Michael writes:
This bike lock deters the opportunist thief by making the abuser's experience as unpleasant as possible without having a detrimental effect on the user.
SmartLock is a cable lock that has cores of compressed air and liquid running through its body. If cut, the liquids spray out over the perpetrator, his tools, the bike and the scene of the crime. A bike that has been stolen will be covered in coloured dye (the dye renders the bike undesirable and therefore unsellable )