Bike alarms - thoughts, experiences

[wiggydiggy]

It's bluetooth. So as well as being a really bad idea, it's also not very effective. If you have superglued your Garmin to the handlebars and are just nipping in to a shop for no more than a few seconds, it may be OK.

I'm not really an expert on this because I have never tried it. I just read about it in the instructions and thought "stupid idea".

I entirely agree! That sounds like something a marketing exec would think up to tack on a selling point!

 

[steveindenmark]

I would not invest in an expensive alarm. I would use the money on a decent D lock. I have a door alarm on my allotment shed from Temu. Its cheap, loud and the batteries seem to last forever.

Your average opportunist thief wants as little hassle as possible. If its an average bike and is obviously locked. They will usually pass it by and find one that isn't locked.

Adding an alarm and a tracker will do no harm.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I take the René Magritte approach. I hang a sign on my bike that reads "This is not a bike".

This discourages opportunist thieves who want to steal something that is a bike.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I entirely agree! That sounds like something a marketing exec would think up to tack on a selling point!

You can't blame them for trying. They're thinking: Right we've sold these bits of hardware that have these sensors, this data and this connectivity. What else can we do with them, using just software. Can we dream up a killer app? Sometimes it's actually useful (live track) sometimes it's iffy (incident detection, hazard reporting) and sometimes it's just stupid (bike alarm)

 

[Happy_Days]

I banged up villains for near on 30 years, so I know where of I speak.

An opportunist will be put off by the padlock in the first place. Theyre after insecure bikes left in public - opportunists do not take locked bikes - and will stroll up and push it away is if they were entitled and nothing was amiss. An alarm would make zero difference to that scenario as the lack of padlock is their only concern.

A run of the mill thief wont give a sheet about anything except the lock. Not cctv, not alarms, not property marking. There is even evidence (there was a study where many thieves were interviewed) that the presence or the police wont deter them provided the bobby isnt actually right next to the bike. All theyll care about is whether theyre able to defeat the lock in smart time so they can be on their way before people get suspicious. An alarm makes zero odds if they can crack the lock and be on their way in 10 or 15 seconds max before people really twig whats going on, and will happily ride the bike (or indeed motorbike) away with the alarm still audibly wailing.

And then theres the small but significant class of thieves prepared to use disproportionate levels of violence against anyone who interferes in order to achieve their goal. Theyll be tooled up, mob handed, and will often use battery grinders and the like because they have sufficient muscle on their side they don't care about stealth. An alarm to them is as much deterrent as a feather duster.

Those are the 3 main groups, and none will care about any alarm.

Many thanks—that’s super helpful insight. Would you say similar applies to house and garage alarms and CCTV? Is physical security the only deterrent that matters?

 

[Alex321]

You can't blame them for trying. They're thinking: Right we've sold these bits of hardware that have these sensors, this data and this connectivity. What else can we do with them, using just software. Can we dream up a killer app? Sometimes it's actually useful (live track) sometimes it's iffy (incident detection, hazard reporting) and sometimes it's just stupid (bike alarm)

There is nothing stupid about the bike alarm in itself, it just may not be as useful as people might hope.

Yes, it involves leaving the Garmin on the bike, but if you are just popping in to a cafe or shop, how often are you going to take your computer off the bike anyhow? I know I rarely do.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yes, it involves leaving the Garmin on the bike, but if you are just popping in to a cafe or shop, how often are you going to take your computer off the bike anyhow? I know I rarely do.

Absolutely every single time for me!

YMMV natch.

 

[PaulSB]

There is nothing stupid about the bike alarm in itself, it just may not be as useful as people might hope.

Yes, it involves leaving the Garmin on the bike, but if you are just popping in to a cafe or shop, how often are you going to take your computer off the bike anyhow? I know I rarely do.

Everyone I know removes their Garmin, Wahoo etc and takes it into the cafe. If someone forgets we take it off and give it to them.