Hi friends! i like to cycling a lot. this is my hobby But like all of us I'm worried about my bike, that somebody can steal it I'm also interested in of the Internet of things and technologies. I want to do/invent something what will help find a bike if it stolen. We are doing some device with my friend. Also a girl, like me, with the same hobbies. We want to do our own small gps tracker which will help to fine a bike operatively & independently of the phone. Device will transmit the coordinates of the bike, it will be hidden in a bicycle frame, so no-one except owner will not see it What yo think about this? any ideas how to do better? or is it bad idea?

Sounds great if you can make it without a battery.

The issue, as 52 telecaster points out, has always been battery life. If someone cannot find your bike within a few hours, the device will run down and be useless.

The trade-off is range versus lifespan. If the transmitter has city-wide range, it won't last long, but if ti doesn't .... not many people are going to steal a bike and park it on the next block while they hang with their friends.

The other issue is police involvement. particularly in Ukraine ... are police likely to spend a lot of time and energy tracking a stolen bicycle? I don't know. If you can pinpoint the location, it really doesn't matter unless a cop will accompany you.

Easiest way to keep your bike from getting stolen is to take the wheels with you .... but some people will still steal the frame. At least they won't ride off with it. professional thieves have the tools to defeat any lock, but a really good lock takes a lot longer to cut through, and if the bike isn't really valuable, the risk/reward ratio might be in your favor.

If you can make a small GPS transmitter with a couple days' battery life and a ten- or twenty-mile range, it would probably sell the world over.

If you could make a transmitter that recharges its battery with movements of the frame you would have something.

It also has to be cost effective - no one will pay for a $500 device to protect a $500 bike

I've made a prototype and even with boards from nearest store it costs 40$-50$ or even less. If order boards from China or even print a board the price could be i think 25-35$

Maybe something that recharged when the bike was ridden? Spinning the crank could recharge it and after all, eventually every stolen bike gets ridden by Someone ....

Yeah something that charges like the little LEDs that sit close to the rim. The eddy current deal. Only you would need the chain rings to do it. Maybe incorporated into the front derailleur.

There are bike trackers out there.

https://www.sherlock.bike/en/home/

https://boomerangbike.com/

They're too costly for my blood. $40-50 one time charge would be OK. Wouldn't want to pay a subscription. Although I wouldn't mind paying a fee for finding my bike when it was "lost".

We were thinking about this. but i have no idea now how realize it for now. I need to read more information about recharging battery while frame is moving. Google will help
But thanks, i have to move this way

Well, Yes. Battery is main problem but simple prototype works for about 5-6 h its without sleeping mode. I can make it sleep if its not moving. Than battery life will be much longer, maybe 10h. I will need some experiments

Our first prototype on arduino is very simple but how it works: Arduino is processor + GPS board finding satellites and getting location + GSM boar sending coordinates to server + SIM card. On a
site i have google map with pin on it of my device. it can work anywhere where mobile phone works.
Yep, police won't help a lot but if i or my friend will know location we could find a bike with or without police. I know a lot about steeling bikes from forums or friends in Ukraine, i think the same is everywhere: the thieves remove all the identification signs that the owner could not find his bike
if you hide the beacon to the frame, no one will not find it. also i think would be great to make an ID with beacon with Name, Phone and other information about owner.
I asked consultant in the bike store when was buying a bike lock. All the experts saying that even the most expensive lock can be broken for 5 minutes with good tools in the car. And better not to live your bike even with lock if you can't see it. One day somebody will have the tools

One of my friends lost his bike after Friday night ride, he left his bike and went to bonfire with other bikers (sometime in Kyiv we have 100-200 peoples on a Friday night ride) . i heard other same stories.

By the way, i know you have the same, so how is it in U.S. ?

Thanks for links, first one i know, it is startup from Italy. bus as i know that still now sell it. I have to check it.
Another one i will look now

40-50$ its once for device.

Second link is very interesting! thanks

Maybe use a Tile?

https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/

[QUOTE=TheNormanRider;19331470]Maybe use a Tile?



Nope because this device works with bluetooth. So it can't work for long distance, in the forest/ park or i think it doesn't work even if mobile is far from device. I need something independent and reliable

TrackR sounds cool and inexpensive.

https://www.thetrackr.com/bravo/?utm...eneralKeywords

Bike theft in the US comes in two forms.

Casual theft, where someone doesn't really have a lot of tools but maybe a pair of diagonal pliers,, sees a bike not locked or insufficiently locked, or locked in a remote area day after day, and cuts the chain or cable. These thieves can generally be defeated by using a serious lock and chain and only locking up in high-traffic areas and for short times (I just got back from the grocery store where I left my bike locked to a rail right outside the main entrance. never had a problem there. I would never lock up anywhere away from the main entrance.)

A casual thief might just want to joyride, or might sell the bike (probably to buy drugs.)

In the first case the bike probably won't be more than five miles away. In the second case, probably also not much more than a few miles. The buyer could sell it to anyone, who could take it anywhere. Still these are generally local networks, neighborhood networks, so the bike isn't likely to go that far.

These sorts of thieves generally work one bike at a time.

The other type is the professional thief. These folks frequent big cities and college campuses, places where there are a lot of bikes, and generally target higher-end bikes. The usually have a truck or a van, and have big bolt cutters and/or angle grinders---the kind which can cut through any lock or chain in two to five minutes.

These guys will generally load up their vehicles with stolen bikes and take them somewhere probably farther away to sell wholesale. These are the guys who might not bother with a cheap, ratty bike--not enough return for the risk---but will stop at a bike rack night or day and cut loose and cart away a bunch of high-end bikes.

Rule of thumb---never leave a bike unattended if you aren’t willing to lose it. Always lock securely with a serious lock to a solid object if you need to lock up. Know the risks and accept the risks. Pay attention to the neighborhood—if it is low income/high crime, or if the store in question has a lot of work trucks and beat-up cars (lots of laborers will have tools in their vehicles) the risk is higher.

I have two bikes which I would risk locking up in a public place for a short time. I would hate to lose either of them, but they are both kind of low-end and beat up, and my lock is sturdy enough to keep a casual thief busy for the amount of time I would leave them. I have a nicer bike, and I would Never leave it locked anywhere ... and it isn’t that nice, but just good enough that someone might want it for the parts if nothing else.

Your product has a Huge market. Particularly in college towns and bike-friendly cities, people would definitely pay for a real chance to get their stolen bikes back.

The real issues are battery life and range. If a person locks up his/her bike for a couple hours while in college classes, and half the battery life is already gone by the time s/he find the bike is gone ... and if the range is only a few miles, but the bike has been taken to a poor neighborhood or an industrial area across the city ...

The person who lost the bike has to first call the cops, then call a friend (or several) who have cars and have the time to help ... if his/her friends are at work or in class, s/he has to wait for them ... and chasing after a stolen bike in some neighborhoods is just asking to get beat up and robbed. Confronting a ring of professional criminals is also potentially dangerous.

For this to work, there would need to be some kind of registry or database which was made available to local police, so a customer could call the police and say, “My bike, registry number XXXXX, was just stolen and I have the address where it is now located. I want to file an official report.”

If this was all set up in advance, police would be more willing to chase after the stolen bike—and there would be the risk of bad publicity if they didn’t.

Add some kind of registry which is shared with local police and I think that would increase the customer base.

Thank you for a detailed description of the problem, it is very important information. I will take into account

Find a board that is akin to one's used in some watches, they charge their battery by your wrist's/arm's movement, a kinetic charging system that is self contained. The bicycle's motion and movements will charge the board, or device, for when the bike is stationary.

Marry that to a small GPS transponder like the types used in military aviation life safety bail out systems. Cost will still be your biggest headache.

Bill

[QUOTE=Kateryna;19331483]Ah, right, my bad! It only shows last known location of the item it's with. Sorry for that.

Thank you all, I will keep up to date with what is done, you really helped. I have two questions more, i need your advice.
Now my device - tracker, for me, is simple: a Google map with a pin.
For other people, and I think to make internet service (I'm a web developer, so sites and for me it is not a problem), but my friends say that it is necessary to mobile app.
Questions:
1. What should be in the user's admin panel(user account)?
2. Do i need a mobile app?

OK, now you are getting into questions best answered at an app programming forum. Please, find one and go there.

this questions is not for programers, so i don't need their answers. this question is for bikes like me. I'm doing tracker not for programers.