The burglars who stole 2 bikes from my garage when I lived in the UK didn't need to track my bike. The MOT station where I had been the week before sent them. I told the police who had sent the 2 scroats, but they weren't interested.

The UK property owner is low hanging fruit and in my experience UK coppers are lazy "constables" (4 letter or 5 in the plural word substituted out).

An interesting recent Bulgarian anecdote from friends who had cash stolen from their house by a builder, previously working on the property: The police and private security turned up together to challenge said builder. In terms of correct division of labour, the police arrested the thief and recovered some of the stolen cash (the balance had been spent in a casino) and the private security firm assisted in the extraction of the confession and are now helping the thief in his attempt to sell his car, so that the balance can be reimbursed.

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TBS.com

Air tags just helped Itcy Boots locate her stolen bike. Didn't stop the theft, but did help relocate.

Issue is with airtags is you need an apple phone near the tags to detect them to send the information back to you. In S. America, Apple phones are not that popular, so may never get a hit.

I think it's the same with TILE or Samsung tags as well. The general public need to also have TILE app on their phone and/or Samsung tag app on their phones for the tags to work.

Also, all modern phones now inform you if a bluetooth tracker that's not your own is travelling with you. It's a defence against stalkers or thieves tracking your bike to its home base, but it also warns thieves they're being tracked so they know to search for it.

Airtags and Tiles are fine within limits but you're better off with a well hidden proper tracker.

The police are very interested in stolen bikes I can assure you, but they require a little thing called evidence. A space in the road where a bike used to be doesn't give them much to go on, nor does an owner who tells them "It must have been the MoT shop, nobody else knows."

As we all know, a tracker won't prevent a theft but it gives you a much better chance of getting your bike back. In fact it's common for thieves to park the bike in a side street for a day or so to see if the owner has tracked it.

I'm glad you have faith in British police. My experience is that they often don't care about things when it's not convenient to them.

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FreeBSD fan since before it was cool ...

Thank you so much for your assurance. Hugely appreciated

There was evidence. At the very least to follow up the lead and investigate further, rather than not giving a flying fcuk.

Bradford, West Yorkshire police chose not to investigate. Possible reasons could include: Laziness, uselessness, motor vehicle theft not being on their target list or even the law itself (the garage was 7 feet from the house = not so serious a crime, apparently. Had the garage and the house shared a wall, it'd have been a much more serious crime of burglary).

Shane Cooper of the Buttershaw estate in Bradford, after DNA from a cigarette butt was found on our driveway, admitted the offence. He was let off by the magistrate's court.

The reason: As a 17 year old at the time, there was a 3 strikes rule, if you're under 18. This was his second offence (allegedly ). His first offense/ arrest was for affray. That's why the plod had his DNA on their database.

(The legal aspects were explained to me by 2 JPs who also worked in the MC as well as being work colleagues of mine).

In connection to the actual topic: I now use Chipolo trackers on my bikes. They were recently released and use the Android "Find My Device" system. So far, so good. They require Bluetooth to be activated on a nearby Android handset, including the thief's who is in the process checking for trackers on the bike

Android has a 71.5% worldwide market share Vs Apple iPhone iOS (28%), maker of the Airtag. Likely closer to 90 or 95% in countries outside the rich Europe and North America.


PS. A short while after my bikes were stolen, the MOT station that sent the thieves (Odsal MOTs, near the Bradford Bulls stadium) had their MOT issuing licence revoked by VOSA for issuing pass certificates, despite the bikes never appearing on their premises

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TBS.com

There is no one solution for all. Not all thieves are the same. Some steal a bike for a joyride. Some steal a bike because they need parts for similar bike. Some steal a bike to bring to a breaker to pay the rent, or get next dose.

First defence is good locks, connected to some ground anchor. Thieves tend to be lazy. Making the bikes difficult to remove from the premises reduces odds of theft. The third type of thieves often have solutions to quickly bypass locks.
Second defence is a loud alarm. Annoying the perps and drawing attention to what they are doing. False alarms have reduced the effectiveness of that solution.
Third defence is AirTags, their Android doubles and other locating devices. To try to recover bike once it's stolen. The first two types of thieves are not going to be looking for AirTag or two. The third type can scan for AirTags but might miss some other solutions.
Anything after AirTags tends to have monthly or yearly costs associated and require wiring to provide power.
Another solution could be be an old phone that you don't use anymore. That usually requires you to fork out for regular data plan and your data plan provider doesn't always work in the region you're in. Software could be as simple as being logged into Google Maps with location sharing turned on, or "find my phone" feature.
There are satellite based solutions, but these tend to be in a price range where it's not worth using unless your bike is the latest BMW GS.

In one of my bikes I installed a relay with GPS and SIM card installed. Then I stopped paying for the SIM card, and finally removed it. In my current bike I have simple motion alarm.

That's certainly not the opinion of most people who have had their bikes stolen.

I had a bike stolen some years ago. All on CCTV. Registration of the van. Faces of the perps clear as day. I was on the phone to the cops 30 seconds after the theft.

They didn't even show up. Not interested.

I think you'll find recovering stolen anything has absoltely no priority in the U.K.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.