Hi guys!

I bought new cannondale and afraid to leave it on the rope.
I heard that somebody use GPS beacon for bicycles.

Has anyone use it? How useful thing?

So far there isn't anything on the market that's a slam dunk. I saw something recently on Kickstarter that looked promising. Problem is GPS uses a lot of power and needs a view of the sky; hiding it inside the bike doesn't help with those things. Plus GPS is a read only thing, like a radio, it has to be near a phone running the right app to tell you where it is.

There are some GPS alarms on the market. Think long and hard before you buy one, there's such a thing as a false sense of security. It sucks to have a nice bike stolen.

Most people just don't let nice bikes out of their sight unless it's at home.

That's one of the biggest selling points behind Vanmoof. It's powered by a dynamo so when the thief rides it, it beacons to a cell network. Vanmoof actually has a (claims to, anyway) theft recovery team to retreive your bike.

Vanmoofs have awsome style. I want one for the styling alone...but the theft protection feature is pretty appealing.

A lot of your GPS trackers require a continuous subscription service. Personally I buy a beater bike for commutes and trips where I have to leave it out of sight for extended times and just use my pride and joy bike for when I'm going to be with it most all the time.

A GPS tracker is not an anti-theft device.

It might help with recovery after a theft but it does nothing to prevent it from being stolen.


-Tim-

Here in POrtland, your bike might be parted out in short order by a meth addict who isn't likely to do anything slowly.