GPS bike thefts

[giropaul]

I don't frequent this corner of the board much - I have no need for such devices!

However, this doesn't seem to have been reported - if it has I apologise.

Staffordshire Police have warned local clubs that there has been a spate of high-value bike thefts - and the common link is that they have all been owned by riders who use Strava etc and make their routes (and therefore often home location) public. It appears even thieves are going hi-tec!

[vorsprung]

I just use Strava as an easy way to get ascent stats from a gps track

I've just altered my settings on Strava in this way

1) top right of page there is a pull down with your name on it.  Select Settings from this
2) select privacy
3) use your postcode to set a "privacy zone"

Next thing

In settings find "my gear"

delete all your bikes.  This doesn't loose any tracking data but obviously each ride is not now attributed to a bike

If you do these two things then potential thieves don't know where you live or what bikes you have

[marcusjb]

Certainly don't call your bikes specialized venge dura ace (or whatever high end bling you have).

Mine are just called audax bike and fixed bike.

I also have to approve followers.

Being in London, my privacy zone probably has several thousand houses in it.

[Specializta]

And it goes without saying that in any sort of satnav, car, bike. phone you should never enter your home address as 'Home'. If you live at number 50 then enter number 60. It'll still get you home but if your satnav gets stolen as well as your keys then the thief won't be able to navigate straight to your house and let himself in.

[Ningishzidda]

If a thief was to steal my Satnav, 'Home' would appear as the HQ of the most recent Audax I rode.

The Acorn pub in Lichfield IIRC.

The closest 'Favourite' to my real home is an ATM I use to start DIYs. When I'm within ten miles of this, I can find my way to my front door.

I don't electronically record any cycling. I have a diary, in which I scribble such things as 'Snowdrop 100, DONE!'.

[contango]

And it goes without saying that in any sort of satnav, car, bike. phone you should never enter your home address as 'Home'. If you live at number 50 then enter number 60. It'll still get you home but if your satnav gets stolen as well as your keys then the thief won't be able to navigate straight to your house and let himself in.

My sat nav has the "home" waypoint set up to be a nearby road junction. It's close enough that I get a useful route when I tell it "go home" but vague enough that a thief wouldn't automatically know which street was mine let alone which house.

I've been surprised for a while just how much people upload, usually to sites like twitface, and how little thought is given to privacy implications. A while back I read of a site called pleaserobme.com that just collated information people posted about themselves online - in some cases people posted enough to make their home address apparent and then freely logged how they had just visited a great bar in LA or some such, making it clear that they weren't home and probably wouldn't be for at least a few days.

[Specializta]

pleaserobme.com

AKA facebook?

[contango]

pleaserobme.com

AKA facebook?

I think twitface is one of the sources it uses. I could never see the attraction to telling the world I'm in a particular cafe, I guess I'm just a grumpy old cynic who doesn't feel the need to stalk my friends and know exactly where they are in real time.

[Polar Bear]

Take heed if you have a pin in the map here showing your home location too.   I used to have this but no longer.

We were burgled last November as you may have read about elsewhere.      

[andyoxon]

My sat nav has the "home" waypoint set up to be a nearby road junction....

In the limited use of my eTrex (so far) this is what I do too.  I also try to reset the ride trip data and track log when I get to the 'start point', and then edit the log to not include the very end (home).

[Kim]

Take heed if you have a pin in the map here showing your home location too.   I used to have this but no longer.

I have mine set to the location of a popular local pub.  If they follow that, they'll probably end up nicking Basil's bikes instead.   

[Adam]

Take heed if you have a pin in the map here showing your home location too.   I used to have this but no longer.

Mine's set in Mauritius!

[Polar Bear]

I was going to reset mine to somewhere relatively close by but then realised that I could inadvertently make some other person a potential victim.   In the end I decided to go pinless. 

[JonBuoy]

Mine is within a mile of my house but I am pretty sure that no-one lives at the centre of a 200m deep swiss roll.

[contango]

Take heed if you have a pin in the map here showing your home location too.   I used to have this but no longer.

We were burgled last November as you may have read about elsewhere.   

I have a pin in the map here. It's within a few miles of home but any enterprising burglar who visits the location hoping to steal some bikes might be disappointed.

[Oaky]

I have a pin in the map here. It's within a few miles of home but any enterprising burglar who visits the location hoping to steal some bikes might be disappointed.

Same here except they'd be disappointed AND wet.

[Specializta]

Could always just set 'home' to be the local nick, then if everything gets stolen ring ahead and tell them to keep an eye out.

[contango]

I have a pin in the map here. It's within a few miles of home but any enterprising burglar who visits the location hoping to steal some bikes might be disappointed.

Same here except they'd be disappointed AND wet.

My pin lands in the middle of a fountain. Unfortunately my previous tenancy at Buckingham Palace didn't work out.