How to enable theft recovery
 

I'm looking for a GPS device I can hide very well so I can locate my bicycle if stolen. To me hiding it well would be essential. I can imagine something in the stem that has a very inconspicuous receptical for charging the battery. And an iPhone app for tracking the bicycle. A google search for bicycle gps theft recovery turns up some products.

Anybody have experience with such a thing?

It's unlikely that any device would be particularly effective.

What you're describing is something that can hide on the bike unseen by a thief, and track its own location with GPS which is relatively light on battery. But then it has to broadcast its location so you'll effectively need it to be a very compact cellphone (complete with SIM card etc) in order to be able to actually know where it is at any given point.

If it's taken indoors (or put in the back of a box van or similar) you could lose GPS coverage, in which case it won't know where it is. If someone jumps on the bike and rides off with it you might be able to track them for a while but if they do something as simple as putting it in the back of a van or wheeling it indoors you'll almost certainly lose its location.

Unless you're talking about a particularly expensive bike my thoughts are that it would be easier to just buy a decent lock to discourage people from stealing it. And if the bike is particularly expensive it's probably a better option to save it for rides when you won't be leaving it, and buy a cheap bike for when you will.

There was one called Bike Spike, but I don't know if it ever actually made it to production.

Aaron :)

How about mounting the sensor portion of one of these under your seat?

Interesting. Sort of like the SPOT tracker, but with longer battery life? Not a word at the site about subscription cost.

Here is link to SPOT site showing it in action with a fellow pedaling a developing trail in NE Texas.

This review: http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2013/02/tagg-review/ suggests $7.95/month. Looks like there are other competitors as well.

.. charged battery dependent, on working at all , right?

Locating it so that it is undetected by the thief but still gets a good signal can be tricky. This company disguises the device as parts of the bike (light, seatpost, or stem):
http://www.integratedtrackers.com/GPSTrack/
Note that you also need an activated SIM so it can send its location as data over the cellular network.

It shouldn't be too hard to make a dynamo inside the bottom bracket. the big question is how well radios inside a (metal) seat tube would work.

Makes good sense - thanks :-(

This looks like a promising device. http://www.gizmag.com/spybike-gps-tracker/22999/

Just read the web page, that's all I know. If the bike is hidden in a van/other, true you can't get a track on it. But presumably the thief won't leave it out of gps coverage permanently. Once they get out the street again, you've got the ability to track it.

The device notifies via SMS when it detects vibrations.

I wonder how proven this is. I'll look for testimonials...

Forgot to mention that http://www.gizmag.com/spybike-gps-tracker/22999/ has no subscription cost. But you do pay for cell usage of the SMS. That would only happen if the bicycle was actually stolen though (or if you left it activated and forgot!)

Good idea!

Wait! Holy crap, I do know of a device like this!

http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/20/tile/

I think it is unlikely that you will find a device that can hide with the bike and works well; however, if as a touring cyclist you are concerned about the complete set-up consider a disposable phone that offers gps tracking from its service provider. It would at least provide a window of opportunity to track a thief by just leaving it buried within the panniers. Provide the smallest cost for a useful level of effectiveness, and also serve as a backup to your primary phone should something happen to it (multi-tasking is a wonderful thing on bike tours)...

Interesting idea, but blue tooth has a limited range (~100 feet) and doesn't automatically pair with other devices, so the reported 'last known location' is likely to be where you left your bike and took your smart phone with you.

If a large enough network of these devices existed (and the users allowed their smartphones to forward data from the devices) they could serve the marketing purpose; however, large enough means encountering them regularly (likely need millions of them if not billions)... to cover a country and even an urban area would require enormous numbers of folks to not only purchase the device but also agree to data sharing for such a system to work. A minimum of 175 per square mile to give complete coverage that would provide a geographic location within a hundred feet... And a hundred feet in an urban area isn't particularly useful...

Another interesting thing about SpyBike (http://www.integratedtrackers.com/GPSTrack/Spybike.jsp)

"GSM fallbackShould your bicycle be inside a building it may not be able to obtain a GPS lock. In this case it will fall back to GSM positioning. This is less accurate but will give you an indication of where your bicycle is until it can obtain a better lock"

So even if the bicycle is locked in a van you can know within about 200m where it is. A lot better than nothing.

I'd be concerned that a thief might go thru the panniers (maybe a couple hours after stealing the bike) and find the cell phone and toss it. I'm favoring the SpyBike right now, assuming its a device that actually works as advertised.

Thieves aren't known for being particularly smart. If they find the phone (which I think they will fairly quickly) they will most likely keep it or try to sell it, particularly if you put a label or write on it "Emergency Phone"...

Smart thieves, will be looking for SpyBike like devices as soon as they are used to actually catch someone...

If it were me, given the odds of a touring bike being stolen (very low) and the likelihood that such thieves would keep such a phone (high considering stolen phones are routinely resold) I would choose the cheaper option, a disposable phone. However, if you do go with the SpyBike, check to make sure the cell service it needs is either included in purchase price or is a reasonable monthly (or yearly) cost... AND that the cell service type (GSM, CDMA, etc..) are compatible with the geographic areas you normally ride...

BTW, I got this idea from a news report of a women getting her purse back after the police used the cell tracing information she provided...

I consider that an oxymoron...

All bicycle thieves I have come up against were not particular smart, in most cases they were opportunists looking for a quick buck.

Aaron :)

There are reports of bicycle theft networks that steal bikes and then transport them to big cities and sell them on Craigslist. If they exist, I would expect such folks to be a bit brighter than those who steal something to just get a fix...

I don't have any empirical data to reference but I'd have to guess "professional" bike thieves like that are rare. Used bicycles just don't bring enough money.

I don't want to guard my bicycle because it is worth so much money. It's really my investment in time, building a bicycle with all the components just like I want them. I don't want to repeat that process. Some people love to tinker like that. I just want a low maintenance setup that's dialed in to perfection and then enjoy riding it.

I agree, which is one reason I suggested the cheaper alternative to that device. Either way, I hope your (or anyone else's) bike never gets stolen!

They exist in big cities. NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, SF, Portland, Seattle.

I doubt it's all that difficult to average a couple hundred a day if you know which bikes to target. Unfortunately police departments barely have the resources to care much about car theft, let alone bicycle theft.