Spy Review

Bike thefts are quite common, especially the state of art ones which have have a high resell value and are sold on in markets and even pop up on auction sites like eBay, despite the fact that owners often take precaution of using what they would consider very secure locks. There is now an alternative way of protecting against theft – using a registered database of stolen bikes that uses electronic tags. The database has been set up in association with the police.

It works like this. A owner would be required to stick an immobiliser tag on the bike which is secured with a jammer that is in itself very difficult to remove (unless the frame of the bike is broken we are told) and then have the security of knowing their bike is registered on the tag via the Immobolise database.

There is also a warning sticker the bike is traceable, so that in itself should act as a deterrent.

In a way, this works a bit like how offenders are electronically tagged to know their whereabouts. So, in essence, you are getting double security with the physical lock and also the electronic tag.

The success of this would depend on whether a thief can brake the jammer and remove the tag. Though they may be a little optimistic in saying the jammer cannot be removed unless the bike frame is broken, it would nonetheless be extremely difficult for a thief to do so and would probably need a special tool which can put a lot potential thieves off, not to mention the warning stickers which can make them even more hesitant.