bike alarm?

gerfmurphy

My old man has an electric bike.
he parked it recently and someone was at it, messed around with brakes tried to remove wheel etc.
it was locked and battery removed.
he was looking for some kind of alarm to alert him if someone tampered with the bike.
anyone know of anything like this?
seen a few chinese type vibration activated one but they look kinda gimmicky

thanks for any advise

Weepsie

See.sense has a theft alert feature with its icon light, but you might need to be within a close enough range.

Wishbone Ash

Weepsie wrote: »

See.sense has a theft alert feature with its icon light....

Wouldn't the owner be removing the lights if locking up the bike?

gerfmurphy

The bike is electric and has built in lights . I am looking for a vibration related siren alarm.
The owner is old and smartphone apps etc are out as he has poor enough eyesight and tech ability.

ted1

Is it listed on his house insurance policy? It’ll be covered when it’s outdude the home

gerfmurphy

He is more concerned that he be alerted if someone is at it.

site_owner

i got a cheap chinese one, and also looked into some of the more advanced ones.
the reason you dont hear too much about these is that they are all useless. certainly some great videos but thats about it, marketing spiel.
if they were fit for purpose every one would have one.

general problems, with the cheap ones, that are reported on the more expensive ones too.

poor battery - always neeed to charge
poor concealment - many are just loose and need to be taped or secured on their own
poor access - if it isnt easy to remove its hard to charge
poor waterproofing - i had 2 fail before i gave up

software design - the chinese ones are not user friendly. maybe its on, maybe its not. maybe its connected maybe its not. maybe its just frozen, maybe its just having a break. spend more time trying to make sure its on and connected and then finding out that its not

crap GPS - small unit, old software, whatever the case. my bike would transport halfway across the city at random

no alerts - 2 days later, your bike was moved...

extra alerts - your bike moved (it was the wind, it was you locking it up, it was the GPS having a fit)

cost - needs a 2g sim card. limited options and regular top ups needed

not a deterrent - if you let them know its there theyll smash it, if you dont theyll still rob your bike. all you need now is a garda to get right on it....


honestly, bikes in this country are not safe (probably not any country) and an exposed, expensive bike is a target. good locks will stop it getting stolen, locking in a decent place might prevent vandalism or attempted thefts. but if a thief wants it it will be gone and no one will care. it happens to motorbikes too, lifted straight into vans with alarms blaring after angle grinding the locks in broad daylight on busy roads.

gerfmurphy

Thank for the post, it confirms what I expected,but good to know

ted1

gerfmurphy wrote: »

He is more concerned that he be alerted if someone is at it.

With lack of alarms you are better if having it insured.

tomasrojo

site_owner wrote: »

honestly, bikes in this country are not safe (probably not any country) and an exposed, expensive bike is a target. good locks will stop it getting stolen, locking in a decent place might prevent vandalism or attempted thefts. but if a thief wants it it will be gone and no one will care. it happens to motorbikes too, lifted straight into vans with alarms blaring after angle grinding the locks in broad daylight on busy roads.

In my experience you can lock a fairly normal bike in public over and over again without it being stolen, provided you use one gold-standard lock and one silver-standard lock.


I had a front wheel stolen years ago, so I use a security skewer or lock to secure the wheels, and that's it. I must have locked my bikes in public many, many thousand times by now.


I presume expensive (far north of, say, €1000) are another matter entirely, so I don't have any advice for the OP.

Alanstrainor

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Wouldn't the owner be removing the lights if locking up the bike?

The see.sense alarm is a gimmick really. It only makes sense if you're popping in for a coffee and you are very close to the bike. Bluetooth just isn't mean for any significant range, especially not through walls. And like you say, I wouldn't leave my expensive light on the bike anyway.

I would echo what others have said and invest in the best locks he can.

This:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/kryptonite-new-york-std-lock-flexframe-bracket/rp-prod171132

Or:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/kryptonite-fahgettaboudit-lock/rp-prod167053

Both look expensive to me, I bought the first one for significantly less last year, perhaps it was on sale. But the main drawback of both of them is that they are really heavy. Which might be okay on a electric bike.

tomasrojo

Those are great locks. OTOH, I have the Fahgettaboudit, and apart from the weight, it is a bit restrictive due to its size, if you're in an area that doesn't have bike stands. But I'm very happy with it in practice.

The Abus Granit X-Plus 54 Mini seems to be a great lock, and only 1.16kg. Bit expensive though.
http://thebestbikelock.com/best-bike-lock/lightweight-bike-locks/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ABUS-Granit-X-Plus-Mini-D-Lock/dp/B00GCB287O?tag=thebestbikelo-21

CramCycle

gerfmurphy wrote: »

My old man has an electric bike.
he parked it recently and someone was at it, messed around with brakes tried to remove wheel etc.
it was locked and battery removed.
he was looking for some kind of alarm to alert him if someone tampered with the bike.
anyone know of anything like this?
seen a few chinese type vibration activated one but they look kinda gimmicky

thanks for any advise

To be honest, multiple locks and where he locks it would probably be more use unless it has a GPS tracker for the theft.

Since it is electric, the added weight of a few decent locks should not affect it to much if I am correct?

site_owner

Alanstrainor wrote: »

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/kryptonite-new-york-std-lock-flexframe-bracket/rp-prod171132

i agree with this lock recommendation.

its a lot cheaper from halfords
http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/bike-locks/bike-locks/kryptonite-new-york-bike-lock

it sometimes gets reduced too, and then you can add axa discount at the till.
i got it for 51eu last year

Alanstrainor

site_owner wrote: »

i agree with this lock recommendation.

its a lot cheaper from halfords
http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/bike-locks/bike-locks/kryptonite-new-york-bike-lock

it sometimes gets reduced too, and then you can add axa discount at the till.
i got it for 51eu last year

Actually that's exactly where I bought mine, and I did the same axa discount trick too. Some difference in price.

Rechuchote

Would a Loka tracker fit on it? SigFox… https://loka.systems/

RHJ

This post has been deleted.

positron

I was about to suggest the same - motorcycle disk lock can be used of all you need is a alarm when someone tries to fiddle with the bike. The lock itself isn't that useful as you can just pick up bike and walk away with it.

gerfmurphy

that could be a exacty the thing, thanks