海角大神

If you've ever had your bike stolen you know that stomach-dropping feeling of returning to the place you left your bike securely locked (or so you thought) 鈥� only to find that it鈥檚 gone.

But have no fear, the 鈥淵erka鈥� is here.

A Yerka is an 鈥渦nstealable鈥� bike designed by three young Chilean engineering students, first 聽in 2014. The theft of two bikes from one of the inventors inspired the students to tackle bike-lock engineering as part of a project for a college class. showcasing the prototype received several million views, prompting聽the team to drop out of their engineering program and dedicate themselves to the , reports .

The concept is pretty simple. The bike鈥檚 lower frame splits in two to allow the seat tube to form a steadfast lock around any tree, pole or bike rack. To steal it, a would-be thief needs to saw through the frame 鈥� making the bike useless. The tires are attached by a locked bolt, so they are safe, too. The icing on the cake: It takes only 10 seconds to lock it, claim the聽.

Last week the Yerka team put in their first order to produce 300 of the bikes, , marking the beginning of what they hope will be a successful business. As of Wednesday, the entrepreneurs had sold 197 bikes through , a crowdfunding website. About half of the orders were placed by customers in the US, a third went to Europe, and a small handful were snapped up by Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. Only 15 percent of the bikes were sold in Chile, the founders鈥� home country.

Crist贸bal Cabello, the start-up鈥檚 CEO, , "I think it鈥檚 the culture. In Chile we haven鈥檛 got the culture of riding a bike as a commuter and the infrastructure and bike lanes aren鈥檛 good. But that is changing."

And this change 鈥� a shift that is also happening in the US 鈥� could spur the Yerka鈥檚 success. A recent聽聽found that the number of Americans who bike to work increased from about 488,000 in 2000 to about 786,000 in 2008-2012, a larger percentage increase than that of any other commuting mode. Only 0.6 percent of workers commute via bicycle, but the percentage was higher in Western cities like Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, Calif.

So will the Yerka's sales take off? Some may be put off by the price tag. 聽reports that聽the first 100 bikes sold for $400, and then the price was increased to $500.

But Mr. Cabello isn鈥檛 worried.

"In the next four years, our goal is to sell a container of almost 300 units each month worldwide,"聽he told CNN. "But the most important goal is that our customers say, 'This bike is great. We love the bike you sold us and we will spread the word!'"聽