Because of the large amount of time and money
I have invested in my car there's little doubt that I want to protect my
investment. I do have a good alarm system, but as we all know those can only do
so much to prevent theft. To add an extra amount of security for those times
when I'm parking in areas that don't exactly give you that warm and cuddly
feeling, I finally picked up a detachable steering hub. The idea is to remove
the steering wheel and take it with you after parking, substantially lowering
the risk of the car being stolen since it would be incredibly difficult to steer
the car without the wheel.
This isn't just any ordinary detachable hub,
however. A couple years ago when I first did some research about these nifty
little units, I noticed how there are a few common designs out there. Some are
meant for racing purposes only as they are extremely basic in design, while
others that are more common use a spring-loaded collar with ball bearings.
Although I admittedly like the ball-bearing design, what scares me is how many
times the design has been copied and reproduced. I've seen similar units go for
as little as $50 US on Ebay, which really makes me wonder about the safety in
using such a cheap device to control my moving vehicle...not that buying from a
no-name manufacturer isn't scary enough.
Finally, I found one particular product that really
caught my eye. A detachable steering wheel that not only uses a unique design,
but that is locked in place with a key, and is TUV approved which is a stringent
German testing standard which is not easily obtained. To top it all off, the
unit is made in Italy, land of legendary steering wheels manufacturers such as
MOMO and Nardi. What I'm getting at here is peace of mind. More than any other
product I found on the net, the Tekniq hub promised to not only meet my needs,
but give me the peace of mind I'd expect from a quality product.
An added benefit to using the Tekniq hub is that it
requires the use of an additional adapter plate to use with a MOMO wheel, so
when it's all said and done, my steering wheel sits about 3" closer to me!
For more info about the Tekniq Snap-Off system,
please visit the Tekniq Autosport homepage:
http://www.tekniqauto.com/
-Migs
