SHYSPY GPS Tracker seeks Kickstarter funding

there is a serious flaw with this kind of technology.

1) I don't want my bike to be stolen in the first instance. this doesn't prevent it. but by labelling my bike as being GPS tracked, the theif can easily remove this or take measures against it.

2) it is battery operated, i.e. has an operating shelf life.

3) it is not smart, i.e. it is tracking all the time, as opposed to at the point of theft, thus by prolonging operating time

4) it can be easily removed/tampered with which renders this uselss.

basically it is a gimmick and only useful if you don't have a phone or bike computer...therefore it should be marketted as a GPS accessory for the likes of Strava as opposed to anything else.

If you want proper tracking then micro/nano tech that is built into the frames and utilise kinetic energy of movement is the only way. I suspect this kind of technology is years away.

This looks like a bad 'copy' of the garmin gtu10 which as far as I can tell is much more useful as it's smaller more portable and waterproof.

This product already exists. Google Spybike

Most bike thieves are unemployed scum who nick your bike to buy their next hit from the local drug dealer. While there are 'pro' bike thieves that target high value road bikes, most bikes are nicked by low intellect scum I described above. These thieves aren't going to consider that there's a tracker in the seat post. Not until such devices become commonplace.

A good idea if they are cheap enough. I had an £800 mtb nicked two years ago and recovered by police following a tip-off. The thief sold my bike for £30 then shot that £30 in his arm. The front light I had left on it was worth more than that!

Should approach Team Sky for funding as they could have done with this product overnight. Contact them today and could be an opportune time to get in touch with them. 20 free trial items could well get full sponsorship.

A lot of bike thieves are not part of a sophisticated criminal ring and I doubt they would think to check if the bike was fitted with a device such as this. If you can find out the precise location of your frame on a smartphone the second you find it has gone missing (or maybe there will be an app which can send an alarm if the bike start to move - how good would that be?) then you stand a much better chance of recovering it. I've been there, when you find an empty space where you bike was left, it is a gut sickening feeling. Not even knowing which direction your bike has gone, or exactly when it was taken is possibly the worst part - you imagine it might have just been nicked, and you start looking around for anything resembling it heading off into the distance, just in case. It is a hideous experience to go through. For me this would be well worth having, but these days I live in the middle of nowhere where crime is pretty much non-existant, and I never have to leave my bike anywhere it might get pinched. One of he reasons I left the UK....

As soon as any new tracking device, lock, alarm, etc., comes out, you can be sure that it is studied carefully, and that information gradually spreads amongst the criminal fraternity.

The rose tinted assumption that criminals don't know how to surf the internet, use social media, or even take a look at cycling websites such as this one, is a false one.

I don't want to be completely unconstructive, so may I suggest a "chip" that can be scanned might be more likely to win approval with cyclists. It's certainly what's done with lorries, that are also prone to being stolen and broken down for the parts.

Given that we'll all soon have our seatposts stuffed with our groupset battery, I'd want something which integrated with that rather than an entirely separate item, needing its own charge.

I'm inclined to agree with Gkam84. After having my bike pinched at the Tour Ride last year, the headset bolt and bottletops were found at the side of the road nearby. I would have had no idea why the thieves removed these but apparently you can get trackers disguised as those parts.

This device seems a very practical solution and will provide a bit of reassurance incase of an opportunistic theft, but unfortunately the career criminals who are increasingly targeting road bikes round the country are wise to these sorts of things.

I'm sorry, but with hearing about what happens with stolen decent value bikes in the UK, this is not going to work.

They strip the wheels, groupset and anything else of value off the frame. As the frame is the most identifiable part and holds most if not all of the serial numbers....They get dumped, cut up of scrap...etc

Now in America, this may be a different story, you have a massive country, where you can get rid of the full thing, also you can get to Mexico and Canada....

But to me, it is still a fairly obvious place to look. If you want to design a "sneaky" tracker, it needs to build into something that is NOT obvious, A crank arm? A brake calliper?