atocp Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Hey guys and girls, hope you are all doing well. I'm back on after a long winter (every time I worked on my bike for more than 10 mins my testicles turned to ice cubes), so I gave up - and as well as being a fair weather golfer, fair weather rugby player, fair weather hiker, I'd also like to be a fair weather mechanic/motorcycle enthusiast. My little YB100, after spending the past few years working on getting it rebuilt, is finally in at the local garage getting it's first MOT. I have been informed it only failed on 3 minor things: fork seal, rear brake bulb/switch, and something on the wrong way round (but as I didn't look at the picture when I installed it, I'm not surprised). So it's almost there!!! On now to the question that I thought I'd pose to everyone. I have no security features, apart from a bike chain (still to buy), and the insurance excess of £600 that I'd have to pay is the exact cost of the bike's worth (pointless insurance eh!)...so I thought I'd install a GPS tracker...for a bit of fun and security only, not as a insurance reducer or something to rely on, strictly for tinkering...coz I likes to do it. Has anyone here used a GPS tracker for their bike? I can buy a prebuilt tracker, with GPS, SMS/GSM/GPRS and a built in datalogger and covert microphone to pick-up the would be bike thief's voice. Something similar to this Or I can build a GPS/GSM/GPRS/Microphone+Datalogger using Arduino and some circuits (more expensive but customisable). Does anyone have any success with them? Does anyone use them and/or had to use it when a bike has gone missing? I know it's a tinkering thing, now I've fixed the bike, I'm moving onto the next project of a CNC machine then my wind turbine, but I thought I'd try this before for the bikes sake. Any input would be good to know. Trackers are getting cheaper and cheaper, and its hard to find a downside to having one, even more so if you can charge it from the bike without reducing the bike battery when switched off. Many thanks, and I hope you're all enjoying the weekend. I am. And I thoroughly recommend Brothers Strawberry Premium Cider as a fruity alternative to the traditional apple cider/scrumpy. Cheers, atocp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator DirtyDT Posted April 21, 2013 Moderator Share Posted April 21, 2013 Never tried one. Not sure how useful the audio is; all you are going to hear is someone really enjoying your bike. Alternatively, if you placed the unit under the seat, the sound of flatulence! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttaskmaster Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Not used one, but any pro bike thief will lift your bike into a van that is shielded against such things, rendering the unit useless. However, some people have had success with recovery, so if it's something you fancy doing just because you can, feel free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atocp Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 Not used one, but any pro bike thief will lift your bike into a van that is shielded against such things, rendering the unit useless. However, some people have had success with recovery, so if it's something you fancy doing just because you can, feel free! I feel you over-estimate the worth I place on my little YB. That being said, my customised version was going to employ a deep seated unit, hidden down in the frame and potentially hard to access without prior knowledge, with a covert antenna that isn't easy to spot, so I might get them when it gets taken out the van if they fail to realise it has such a unit. T-minus 2 days before I get my little one back and still time to figure out if I want to build one. I can always put it on my car if I don't use it much. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atocp Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 I feel you over-estimate the worth I place on my little YB. Sorry, I feel you over-estimate the worth others will place on my bike as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttaskmaster Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Well, if it ain't worth that much to anyone (or even if it is) you'd still do better, in my (not so) humble opinion, by chaining it to something immovable that requires an expensive plasma torch to cut it free. But like I say, if you fancy giving it a go, then by all means. I'm not actually trying to disuade you and will follow any progress thread with genuine interest!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atocp Posted April 23, 2013 Author Share Posted April 23, 2013 I've purchased this as a small GPS module to fit inside the bike. After looking at custom building one, the price was going to be around £150 inc VAT for boards, shields, antennae etc, vs this one at £20. Although the custom one would be easier to hide with external antennae, I will try to fit this neat little thing within the instrument cluster (it is that small!) then it only has plastic to beam through. Scotty should have no problems getting a lock. I will update with my results in a later post and let you know if it's worth it. If I do move on to building one myself, I'm sure that'll be a longer blog post. Now to figure out how I'm going to connect this to my 6v battery without killing my bike cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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