Boston start-up Fortified Bicycle have launched a Kickstarter campaign for Payback, a lightweight bike-seat security clamp that they claim guarantees a bike seat will never be stolen.

Cofounders and self-proclaimed bike geeks Slava Menn and Tivan Amour came up with the concept after their friend Max found his stolen $180 Brooks Bike Saddle for sale on Craigslist. The friends took matters into their own hands, arranging for Max to meet the thief under the guise of an unsuspecting customer - the encounter was caught on camera, and you can find out how the story unfolded on the site.

After Max's incident, the Fortified team interviewed city cyclists and concluded that seat-post and saddle theft was a frequent frustration that lacked a simple, inexpensive solution.

"The current solutions to seat-post and saddle theft are severely lacking," notes Menn. "Some city cyclists protect their saddle by threading a thin cable or chain between the saddle and the bicycle frame, but that's cumbersome, ugly and easy to cut. Other cyclists splurge for expensive security seat post clamps and while those are great for protecting the seat post from being removed, they don't secure the seat itself. The bottom line is that city cyclists are left choosing the 'least-worst' solution among a number of underwhelming options."

To save cyclists their seats and their money, Fortified designed Payback, a simple, inexpensive solution that uses an innovative custom security bolt to ensure cyclists' seat posts and saddles stay put. "Our goal was to provide cyclists the best of both worlds: the safety of a high-end solution at a low cost. I'm proud to say we've achieved our goal with Payback."

Payback costs $15 and takes less than 2 minutes to install. For $25, cyclists can buy the complete Payback Policy, which includes an additional saddle security bolt and an anti-theft guarantee that promises cyclists a replacement for the seat post or saddle if either is ever stolen.

It sounds like a great idea to us. To find out more and back the campaign, visit the Payback page on Kickstarter.com.

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