GPS cycle security

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
mercalia
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by mercalia »

where your stolen cycle may end up and the effort one cycle manufacturer will go to get it back

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/bike-brand-tracks-one-customers-stolen-bike-ends-exposing-international-368537
Psamathe
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by Psamathe »

One getting my bike (new) several years ago security concerned me, but after reflecting on it and considering GPS trackers I wondered about things were my bike stolen: would I rather have the "new for old" money from the insurer (to get a new one) or be able to trace down and get my stolen bike back and then wonder if the frame was twisted when breaking it free or if the spokes had been damaged when cutting the lock off or those new scratches from it being flung in the back of a van, etc. ...

Ian
tommydog
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Joined: 11 Feb 2017, 6:48pm

Re: GPS cycle security

Post by tommydog »

Psamathe wrote:One getting my bike (new) several years ago security concerned me, but after reflecting on it and considering GPS trackers I wondered about things were my bike stolen: would I rather have the "new for old" money from the insurer (to get a new one) or be able to trace down and get my stolen bike back and then wonder if the frame was twisted when breaking it free or if the spokes had been damaged when cutting the lock off or those new scratches from it being flung in the back of a van, etc. ...

Ian



I would rather have the bike back. Just claiming insurance money is defeatist. It's about time people started to fight back against these scumbags.
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[XAP]Bob
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Insurance money, then geet the bike back and let the insurers sell it
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
Postboxer
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by Postboxer »

Built in taser?
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mjr
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by mjr »

Colin Stanley wrote:So, if a cable lock can be cut in a few seconds with an angle grinder or bolt cropper, and the GPS constellation can be masked by putting the bike in a steel van, I had better sit with the bike at the coffee stop/lunch?

Always better but not usually necessary. Some people even leave their bike unlocked at lunch stops but try saying that on a forum like this :roll:
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
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unnamed
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by unnamed »

[XAP]Bob wrote:IT crowd sources the BT data though - so people who have BT on, and the app installed, will report items locations as they pass... Then your phone (which was paired with the device) will tell you where it is....

In theory

I've had few of these. Just out of interest, once I reported my bike "stolen" via the app and continued using the bike in busy central London locations over a course of about 5 days. Nobody picked up the Bluetooth signal of my bike!!!!!!
Psamathe
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by Psamathe »

unnamed wrote:
[XAP]Bob wrote:IT crowd sources the BT data though - so people who have BT on, and the app installed, will report items locations as they pass... Then your phone (which was paired with the device) will tell you where it is....

In theory

I've had few of these. Just out of interest, once I reported my bike "stolen" via the app and continued using the bike in busy central London locations over a course of about 5 days. Nobody picked up the Bluetooth signal of my bike!!!!!!

I'd expect that to be effective you'd need a massive uptake/installed user base. Would cycling past another cyclist give the BT enough time to link and report it's stolen position? At best I'd guess it would only stand any hope if the stolen bike was left in a city and parked in busy cycle racks (where there might be the chance of another user with the app installed also leaving their bike). And that is assuming that whoever steals or buys the bike does not give it the "once over" and remove the GPS tracker!

In reality I think such an installed user base would be beyond the wildest dreams of the entrepreneurs. If such a "detect by passing users with the app" is ever to work there would need to be some sort of consortium defining interoperability so any of these installed "tracker" apps would be able to receive reports from trackers from other manufacturers (e.g. company <x> GPS tracker could report it's position through competitor company <y>'s smartphone app.

Ian
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andrew_s
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Location: Gloucestershire

Re: GPS cycle security

Post by andrew_s »

mjr wrote:Always better but not usually necessary. Some people even leave their bike unlocked at lunch stops but try saying that on a forum like this :roll:

My record for an unlocked bike & unattended bike that I've come across at lunch stop was a Moulton NS Speed (£12,000 for the basic model, and this had SON & Rohloff hubs, Gates belt drive and colour-coordinated red alloy parts on top), propped up against a tree outside my "local", with its owner inside.
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andrew_s
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by andrew_s »

Psamathe wrote:In reality I think such an installed user base would be beyond the wildest dreams of the entrepreneurs. If such a "detect by passing users with the app" is ever to work there would need to be some sort of consortium defining interoperability ...

I think the other way that might work, for the first company at least, would be to have the tracker device & app free, or nearly so, and charge for the search/recovery stage. It would require a fair sized kitty to keep going long enough to get the user base.
Psamathe
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Re: GPS cycle security

Post by Psamathe »

andrew_s wrote:
Psamathe wrote:In reality I think such an installed user base would be beyond the wildest dreams of the entrepreneurs. If such a "detect by passing users with the app" is ever to work there would need to be some sort of consortium defining interoperability ...

I think the other way that might work, for the first company at least, would be to have the tracker device & app free, or nearly so, and charge for the search/recovery stage. It would require a fair sized kitty to keep going long enough to get the user base.

I can see alternative models would be viable but I thought these "system" didn't do search & recovery but told you where your bike was (so you could act yourself or inform the Police ...) - through their smartphone app.

Ian
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