4 ms·

LoJack for bikes

29 points by speek 14y ago

handsomeransoms 14y ago
Minor design quibble. The "we'll keep you posted" banner that appeared after I submitted my e-mail does not fit in with the (otherwise very elegant) design of the rest of the page. #FFFFFF on #FF0000 out of nowhere is jarring.
northisup 14y ago
Can we stop posting landing pages that are simply fishing for interest in a non-existant product?
- truebecomefalse 14y ago
  Agreed, It also looks like it would be easily defeated by aluminum foil. I read about a phone thief that uses a faraday caged bag to snatch iPads and iPhones.[1] [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booster_bag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booster_bag
- fieldforceapp 14y ago
  I think this type of A/B testing (assuming these kind folks are doing that) is valuable for early stage product design. If not posting to HN, where would you advise to post?
damianpeckett 14y ago
Now how are you going to power the transmitter, that is my question, sure you could add a little dynamo but it's not quite so elegant then.
samps 14y ago
Bike theft is a huge problem precisely because there's no good way to track stolen gear. I'll buy one of these in an instant if it works well.
speek 14y ago
designed by HN's own kyro (http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=kyro http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=kyro)
dyeje 14y ago
What happens when everyone is checking for them? Security by obscurity doesn't really scale.
- hnruss 14y ago
  Thieves are dumber than you think. One time, they stole my front bike wheel because it had a quick-release, but left the back wheel even though it also had a quick-release. (The back wheel is worth more because of the gearing system on it.)
  - agumonkey 14y ago
    Let me guess, it also takes a few seconds more to untangle the dirty wheel chain ?
ChuckMcM 14y ago
Sigh, the idea has merit, this seems like its just a landing page to collect a mailing list of people who might buy one if you happen to make it. Here is an "easy" answer, make a reflector with a simple RFID tag embedded in it. Make them look like all the reflectors you normally have on your bike. Create a repository for registering reflectors and give a free reader to every bike shop that wants to combat bike theft. Will determined thieves swap all the reflectors? Sure. Does it raise the 'cost' of stealing a bike? Yes. Alternative idea, put the tag in the bike seat. You can re-use pet tags, you can then re-use pet tag injectors and pet tag readers.
- joe_the_user 14y ago
  Bike thieves often strip the bike to the frame. Through dumb luck, I got back a bike that was almost nothing but a frame by that point. Reflectors and seats are easy to remove, something dropped into the frame would be really difficult to remove and bike thieves don't bother doing something like that. This is a good idea, actually. Just taking email addresses for an idea might well still be sketchy but that's as may be. Someone should do this even if that someone doesn't my email in the meantime.
georgemcbay 14y ago
"It's like LoJack for your bike, but better." IANAL (and as far as I can see this isn't a real product), but.. While this phrase gets the message across very nicely, it is likely legally problematic. Not only is it coat-tailing a trademark, but it is making a claim of superiority which is not a wise thing to do unless you have some strong objective proof.
rheide 14y ago
Very interesting. I've been thinking about buying a topcap tracker from spybike-gps.com after my previous bike was stolen, but haven't committed yet as it's damn pricy. If you need any help testing or developing for it let me know. I'd be glad to give you a hand.
- agumonkey 14y ago
  Had a nice napkin design to hook an old cellphone to an accelerometer to trigger text messages through a cheap plan, unfortunately I'm not an EE nor a hacker so it's only unicorns at this point. This could be a nice national/college project, anyone coming with a cheap design could help a lot of people.
savrajsingh 14y ago
It's a great idea and it's one that I've had too. The hardest problem you have is pricing -- making it all inexpensive enough for it to be worth it for you and your target market. Is this a subscription / is this a one-time purchase / is this pay-per-use? Price too high, and only high-end bikes will have it. And high-end bikes have smart thieves / are already stored safely, etc. Otherwise, I can see how this would work. GPS, batteries, low-power design, goes inside your frame and is visually undetectable, M2M deal with jasper wireless (or sprint or whatever), etc. It'll take a while to make it reliable and have a great user experience, but its totally possible. Good luck and make it happen!
hnruss 14y ago
where's the kickstarter?
acallahan 14y ago
For the interested, there was a pretty good article earlier this year by priceonomics about bike theft: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4444708 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4444708
wittjeff 14y ago
Default bookmark is default.
slajax 14y ago
As someone who rides dual suspension bikes religiously on the north shore of vancouver bc, and has had expensive bikes stolen in the past, I would absolutely buy this for all of my bikes. Especially since it helps you to track the thief down. Nothing sucks more then bike thieves. Don't steal bikes bro.

29 points by speek 14y ago

Minor design quibble. The "we'll keep you posted" banner that appeared after I submitted my e-mail does not fit in with the (otherwise very elegant) design of the rest of the page. #FFFFFF on #FF0000 out of nowhere is jarring.

northisup 14y ago

Can we stop posting landing pages that are simply fishing for interest in a non-existant product?

truebecomefalse 14y ago
Agreed, It also looks like it would be easily defeated by aluminum foil. I read about a phone thief that uses a faraday caged bag to snatch iPads and iPhones.[1] [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booster_bag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booster_bag
fieldforceapp 14y ago
I think this type of A/B testing (assuming these kind folks are doing that) is valuable for early stage product design. If not posting to HN, where would you advise to post?

damianpeckett 14y ago

Now how are you going to power the transmitter, that is my question, sure you could add a little dynamo but it's not quite so elegant then.

samps 14y ago

Bike theft is a huge problem precisely because there's no good way to track stolen gear. I'll buy one of these in an instant if it works well.

speek 14y ago

dyeje 14y ago

What happens when everyone is checking for them? Security by obscurity doesn't really scale.

hnruss 14y ago
Thieves are dumber than you think. One time, they stole my front bike wheel because it had a quick-release, but left the back wheel even though it also had a quick-release. (The back wheel is worth more because of the gearing system on it.)
- agumonkey 14y ago
  Let me guess, it also takes a few seconds more to untangle the dirty wheel chain ?

ChuckMcM 14y ago

Sigh, the idea has merit, this seems like its just a landing page to collect a mailing list of people who might buy one if you happen to make it. Here is an "easy" answer, make a reflector with a simple RFID tag embedded in it. Make them look like all the reflectors you normally have on your bike. Create a repository for registering reflectors and give a free reader to every bike shop that wants to combat bike theft. Will determined thieves swap all the reflectors? Sure. Does it raise the 'cost' of stealing a bike? Yes. Alternative idea, put the tag in the bike seat. You can re-use pet tags, you can then re-use pet tag injectors and pet tag readers.

joe_the_user 14y ago
Bike thieves often strip the bike to the frame. Through dumb luck, I got back a bike that was almost nothing but a frame by that point. Reflectors and seats are easy to remove, something dropped into the frame would be really difficult to remove and bike thieves don't bother doing something like that. This is a good idea, actually. Just taking email addresses for an idea might well still be sketchy but that's as may be. Someone should do this even if that someone doesn't my email in the meantime.

georgemcbay 14y ago

"It's like LoJack for your bike, but better." IANAL (and as far as I can see this isn't a real product), but.. While this phrase gets the message across very nicely, it is likely legally problematic. Not only is it coat-tailing a trademark, but it is making a claim of superiority which is not a wise thing to do unless you have some strong objective proof.

rheide 14y ago

Very interesting. I've been thinking about buying a topcap tracker from spybike-gps.com after my previous bike was stolen, but haven't committed yet as it's damn pricy. If you need any help testing or developing for it let me know. I'd be glad to give you a hand.

agumonkey 14y ago
Had a nice napkin design to hook an old cellphone to an accelerometer to trigger text messages through a cheap plan, unfortunately I'm not an EE nor a hacker so it's only unicorns at this point. This could be a nice national/college project, anyone coming with a cheap design could help a lot of people.

savrajsingh 14y ago

It's a great idea and it's one that I've had too. The hardest problem you have is pricing -- making it all inexpensive enough for it to be worth it for you and your target market. Is this a subscription / is this a one-time purchase / is this pay-per-use? Price too high, and only high-end bikes will have it. And high-end bikes have smart thieves / are already stored safely, etc. Otherwise, I can see how this would work. GPS, batteries, low-power design, goes inside your frame and is visually undetectable, M2M deal with jasper wireless (or sprint or whatever), etc. It'll take a while to make it reliable and have a great user experience, but its totally possible. Good luck and make it happen!

hnruss 14y ago

where's the kickstarter?

acallahan 14y ago

For the interested, there was a pretty good article earlier this year by priceonomics about bike theft: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4444708 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4444708

wittjeff 14y ago

Default bookmark is default.

slajax 14y ago

As someone who rides dual suspension bikes religiously on the north shore of vancouver bc, and has had expensive bikes stolen in the past, I would absolutely buy this for all of my bikes. Especially since it helps you to track the thief down. Nothing sucks more then bike thieves. Don't steal bikes bro.