Originally Posted by
pumabicycle
FastJake it sounds like to me there's a equal juxtaposition to your argument: it could be said that the bike thief has beaten you by forcing you into thinking you have to ride a lesser bike. I'd rather track him down with GPS and exact justice, thereby discouraging the bike thief from trying it again.
I never said a lesser bike, I said one that doesn't scream "steal me." I love riding my commuter. It has a light wheelset I built myself. It has fenders and a rack for carrying stuff. It's the nicest bike I would ever want to use for commuting, even in a perfect world where theft didn't exist. But it's not covered in chrome or carbon fiber (I leave that for my race bikes.)
While putting a GPS tracker in a bike would make it very satisfying to track down a thief, I would rather my bike not get stolen in the first place.
*Edit: maybe some context is needed here. I ride my commuter year round and in Wisconsin the winters can be just as bad as a thief or vandal if you aren't careful. The salt attacks everything. So I'm not going to ride a $xxxx bike through that.