GPS tag for finding a stolen bike.

[Hensem]

Hi everyone. Recently, at our cycling club, a bike was stolen while sitting in a cafe in front of our noses And that prompted me to ask a question.. In a couple of weeks, my new expensive bike will be assembled and I want to prepare in advance to protect it. I don’t plan to take cables and locks on rides, but if it happens that God forbid the bike is stolen, I would like to have a hidden GPS tag to have a chance to find it in the first days. I use a Samsung smartphone and maybe someone has experience with which tag is best to buy for my purposes, so that it works autonomously for a long time? And what do you think, where is the best place to hide the tag? I even had thoughts about gluing it through the BB tube inside the down tube of the titanium frame with double-sided tape, I think there is less chance of finding it that way.

[ND4SPD]

Something hidden like this:

https://www.swisstrack.org/produkt/swis ... d-tracker/

[timo28]

Hi Hensem,
4iiii use the Apple Findmy on their power metres - I have these on both my bikes and they work flawlessly - better than an Apple Airtag. This is because: 1. they do not beep to alert you to the presence of an iTAG. 2. Good luck to someone who stole a random bike finding and removing the crank arm.
I know you said you had a Samsung, so this wont work for you - but I hope it helps others!
Tim

[ND4SPD]

Hi Hensem,
4iiii use the Apple Findmy on their power metres - I have these on both my bikes and they work flawlessly - better than an Apple Airtag. This is because: 1. they do not beep to alert you to the presence of an iTAG. 2. Good luck to someone who stole a random bike finding and removing the crank arm.
I know you said you had a Samsung, so this wont work for you - but I hope it helps others!
Tim

That's not GPS tracker, it's Bluetooth, there needs to be compatible Apple device in ~10 meters range.

[marcelflash]

I am happy with my Bikefinder.
Flexible mounting options for my TT bike.
bikefinder.com/en/buy/?v=0b3b97fa6688

[TobinHatesYou]

That's not GPS tracker, it's Bluetooth, there needs to be compatible Apple device in ~10 meters range.

It's more like 35 meters with LOS. The 4iiii's range is a claimed 60 meters. It's almost guaranteed that an Apple device will be in range unless it was dumped in a field or off the beaten path in the woods.

The Giant radar taillight also has Find My support and honestly any wireless fitness device including all the individual components of an AXS drivetrain could be firmware updateable to add the feature. There is some red tape though... the devices need Find My branding and also a unique ID.

The secondary issue is, okay you've located your bike...it's in a random house or storage unit. What are you going to do, tell the police to come an search a property without a warrant?

[AJS914]

Hi Hensem,
4iiii use the Apple Findmy on their power metres - I have these on both my bikes and they work flawlessly - better than an Apple Airtag. This is because: 1. they do not beep to alert you to the presence of an iTAG. 2.

They don't have the little speaker like an Airtag or they don't even alert a 3rd party that 'such and such airtag is travelling with you'??? It seems that if they followed Apple's protocol, the later would happen if the thief has an iPhone.

I threw an Airtag in the bottom of my seat pack. I was thinking of removing the speaker and putting it in a handlebar or inside the frame on my new bike. An Airtag isn't perfect but you might have at least a chance if the police are receptive.

[bremerradkurier]

Hi Hensem,
4iiii use the Apple Findmy on their power metres - I have these on both my bikes and they work flawlessly - better than an Apple Airtag. This is because: 1. they do not beep to alert you to the presence of an iTAG. 2.

They don't have the little speaker like an Airtag or they don't even alert a 3rd party that 'such and such airtag is travelling with you'??? It seems that if they followed Apple's protocol, the later would happen if the thief has an iPhone.

I threw an Airtag in the bottom of my seat pack. I was thinking of removing the speaker and putting it in a handlebar or inside the frame on my new bike. An Airtag isn't perfect but you might have at least a chance if the police are receptive.

Now that the statute of limitations is long past, back in my messenger days a coworker's bike with several very unique parts was stolen. We happened to see the bike locked up on the street, put one of our own u-locks on it, and liberated the bike with the use of a VW Polo car jack to remove the thief's u-lock.

Sometimes there's justice, sometimes there's just us.

[ND4SPD]

It's more like 35 meters with LOS. The 4iiii's range is a claimed 60 meters.

Bluetooth 6 has a theoretical range of 300m, in practice, that's ~10m.

LPWA (Low-Power Wide-Area) network like Sigfox would be much better, but coverage depends where you are.

It's almost guaranteed that an Apple device will be in range...

It's not, Android has over 70% market share worldwide, not to mention that everyone with iPhone would need to be in proximity, and have Bloetooth and Find My turned on.

The secondary issue is, okay you've located your bike...it's in a random house or storage unit. What are you going to do, tell the police to come an search a property without a warrant?

Even if you know that your stolen property is inside you don't have the legal right to break into someone's house. Call the police, they will determine valid reason and probable cause which is the legal standard by which police authorities in most countries have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected criminal and for a court's issuing of a search warrant.

[kervelo]

It's almost guaranteed that an Apple device will be in range...

It's not, Android has over 70% market share worldwide, not to mention that everyone with iPhone would need to be in proximity, and have Bloetooth and Find My turned on.

The Find My functionality does not require that an Apple device is constantly near the Air Tag. It is enough that a device has been near the AT and after that the latest known location can be shown in Find My.

[ND4SPD]

The Find My functionality does not require that an Apple device is constantly near the Air Tag. It is enough that a device has been near the AT and after that the latest known location can be shown in Find My.

I have not written that an Apple device needs to constantly be near the AirTag.

For any functionality, fundamentals remains the same, you need:

1. iPhone in proximity (or if you want, that has been in proximity)

2. Bluetooth turned on

3. Find My turned on

[DeeDoubleYou]

Hi Hensem,
4iiii use the Apple Findmy on their power metres - I have these on both my bikes and they work flawlessly - better than an Apple Airtag. This is because: 1. they do not beep to alert you to the presence of an iTAG. 2.

They don't have the little speaker like an Airtag or they don't even alert a 3rd party that 'such and such airtag is travelling with you'??? It seems that if they followed Apple's protocol, the later would happen if the thief has an iPhone.

I threw an Airtag in the bottom of my seat pack. I was thinking of removing the speaker and putting it in a handlebar or inside the frame on my new bike. An Airtag isn't perfect but you might have at least a chance if the police are receptive.

I wouldn't bother putting it inside the frame, it probably won't work. I have one inside a stem on one of my bikes and it is pretty much uselsss now. I'm not even sure it picks it up if I wave my phone under the stem where the only little hole is.

[DeeDoubleYou]

Hi Hensem,
4iiii use the Apple Findmy on their power metres - I have these on both my bikes and they work flawlessly - better than an Apple Airtag. This is because: 1. they do not beep to alert you to the presence of an iTAG. 2.

They don't have the little speaker like an Airtag or they don't even alert a 3rd party that 'such and such airtag is travelling with you'??? It seems that if they followed Apple's protocol, the later would happen if the thief has an iPhone.

I threw an Airtag in the bottom of my seat pack. I was thinking of removing the speaker and putting it in a handlebar or inside the frame on my new bike. An Airtag isn't perfect but you might have at least a chance if the police are receptive.

I wouldn't conceal one inside your frame... I have one inside a stem and it doesn't get a signal!

[toxin]

You have it inside a metal stem?

[bobones]

I wouldn't conceal one inside your frame... I have one inside a stem and it doesn't get a signal!

I put one in the chain stay of my TCR via the BB shell, and it has been working fine. I now need to change the battery, which is a slight PITA! I'll probably do the same with my new SL8 as detection though the carbon frame was much better than I'd hoped. Perhaps inside the seatpost will work and be slightly more accessible, but you want it to be somewhat hard to find and remove too.