This is an awesome thing for him to be doing, but I don't understand why he needed to step up and do it. The thieves post in a public place basically admitting that they stole the item and are more than willing to meet up... Why did it take a third party to start doing it?
Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
21–30 of 151 posts
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#22This is an awesome thing for him to be doing, but I don't understand why he needed to step up and do it. The thieves post in a public place basically admitting that they stole the item and are more than willing to meet up... Why did it take a third party to start doing it?
http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/30393216796/what-happens-t...
TLDR; with bikes theives can hit a sweet spot in the trade-off between risk and reward.
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exploding bike seats? http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYlBT1d_GWo Seriously though, GPS receivers and GSM radios are a few dollars each these days. Seems like an easy thing to hide in the frame (of course a thief could still part out everything except the frame)
The problem is then you need to remember to keep your bike's GPS tracker charged. Your bike isn't carrying a large capacity 12V battery the way your car is.
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#24I wonder if there is more that bicycle manufacturers/dealers can do to prevent theft or help recover stolen bikes - not because they're obligated but just to improve sales. Especially as the price approaches four digits, "what if this gets stolen?" has to be near the top of most potential buyers' list of concerns and probably chills sales to some degree.
Exploding bike seats? http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYlBT1d_GWo Seriously though, GPS receivers and GSM radios are a few dollars each these days. Seems like an easy thing to hide in the frame (of course a thief could still part out everything except the frame)
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#25Here is the HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4444708
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is then you need to remember to keep your bike's GPS tracker charged. Your bike isn't carrying a large capacity 12V battery the way your car is.
I wonder if you could do the same thing a car does, charge the battery with the engine.
For ultralight racing bikes, definitely not, but those are probably a minority even in cycling-friendly cities like Seattle.
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exploding bike seats? http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYlBT1d_GWo Seriously though, GPS receivers and GSM radios are a few dollars each these days. Seems like an easy thing to hide in the frame (of course a thief could still part out everything except the frame)
The problem is then you need to remember to keep your bike's GPS tracker charged. Your bike isn't carrying a large capacity 12V battery the way your car is.
Or use BLE and an accelerometer. If your phone isn't in range and the bike is moving then starting tracking.
I haven't done the math but you could probably get away with recharging every 6 months or so.
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#28In Norway we have a central register where you can add your bike. Each bike has a serial number engraved in the frame which is used for registering it. In an ideal world, everyone would check the bike they are buying in this register and see if it is reported stolen or not. Of course, this doesn't happen, but the opportunity of it I think helps deterring people somewhat for stealing a bike to resell it. And last year…
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exploding bike seats? http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYlBT1d_GWo Seriously though, GPS receivers and GSM radios are a few dollars each these days. Seems like an easy thing to hide in the frame (of course a thief could still part out everything except the frame)
The problem is then you need to remember to keep your bike's GPS tracker charged. Your bike isn't carrying a large capacity 12V battery the way your car is.
Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners
#30I wonder if there is more that bicycle manufacturers/dealers can do to prevent theft or help recover stolen bikes - not because they're obligated but just to improve sales. Especially as the price approaches four digits, "what if this gets stolen?" has to be near the top of most potential buyers' list of concerns and probably chills sales to some degree.