the point I think is to make it more difficult for the potential thieves

I got shot of Strava last year when I realised that even with privacy set full I was still fairly tracable. Just use Garmin Connect now and set to fully private.

I was helping someone move house this weekend and did a trip to the local waste tip. Bloke there asked if I was a mountain biker, had me confused for a bit – wearing 510s gave it away.

Facebook makes me cringe at times the amount of people posting public pictures of their new pride and joy.

nformation has also come through that they are reading strava/garmin routes and linking it up with photos of rides on social media and then targeting people.

I’m not sure if I believe this kind of detective work is really happening, although I do think not having Strava privacy zones is an opening for thieves. Really should be by default.

Far more likely IMO is that people are simply being observed with their bikes, and this doesn’t necessarily mean things like being followed back from trail centres.

You only need to leave your bling bikes in the back of the car for half an hour when you got home while you have a shower for someone to wander by and mention it later to the wrong bloke down the pub.

When I lived at the nice end of a road with a dodgy area at the other end I would routinely do a couple of laps round the block if there was anyone I didn’t like the look of hanging around when I got back.

Paranoid and a bit judgemental, maybe, but at the first line of security IMO is not giving anyone a reason to be sniffing around in the first place.

Am I missing something, how hard is it to just start and stop it at the end of your street? 😕

Set up a few privacy zones around your house (rather than just one based directly on top of it).
Have a garage made almost entirely of asbestos, so anyone smashing their way into it will get their comeuppance (and then some…)
Ride knackered old bikes that no-one would want to steal.

Seems to be working so far…

Thank God that my times are way to slow to post on Strava. 🙁

Again I amazed that people would keep thousands of pounds worth of bicycles in a shed or garage

I have literally thousands of pounds worth of car just parked on the street.

Am I missing something, how hard is it to just start and stop it at the end of your street?

I’m too forgetful and confused to be remembering to do that at the start and finish of every ride

I just name all my rides on strava something along the lines of:
“That great ride with expensive bikes starting from Wwaswas’ house, 34 duncton street, Eastbourne. BN26 etc etc“

I kind of puts the thieves off MY scent, if you know what I mean…

DrP

I usually 90% Of the time Start & Stop Mine outside a house where the Bloke “Owner” Reversed out of his drive and knocked me off my Bike last Summer.

Then had the audacity to swear at me and tell me to watch what i’m doing whilst swearing at me,
POLICE Involved…………..
I’m hoping his Garage gets ripped open looking for my goodies, I’ve even taken a picture of it leaning Up against the hedge outside, still theres hope.

Again I amazed that people would keep thousands of pounds worth of bicycles in a shed or garage.

Circumstances that aren’t all that amazing mean that in practice many people don’t have much option.

I usually 90% Of the time Start & Stop Mine outside a house where the Bloke “Owner” Reversed out of his drive and knocked me off my Bike last Summer.

Then had the audacity to swear at me and tell me to watch what i’m doing whilst swearing at me,
POLICE Involved…………..
I’m hoping his Garage gets ripped open looking for my goodies, I’ve even taken a picture of it leaning Up against the hedge outside, still theres hope.

Bravo sir! 😆

kcal – Member
Mine have nicknames (sad, but I know what bike is which, defy anyone outwit close circle to identify them).

Yerbut, but.. calling them “the Wife” and “Sharon from Accounts” means we all see recorded on Strava “Just rode Sharon from Accounts all over the South Downs”

😆
😉

The multiple privicy zone feature is a bit disapointing as it only hides your ride within the privacy zone it was started in.

I blanked out the entire local area as I thought I’d go invisable miles before home. This wasn’t the case, it was only 500m from home as that was the extent of the zone based on my postcode.

I had my bike nicked from my workshop (not a shed, but a stone built outhouse). Certainly targeted (didn’t touch anything else) – I’m pretty sure it was a delivery driver who had a poke around when we were out. Now use collect plus for pretty much any delivery. Especially bike components. If a driver drops off a nice set of carbon wheels at your house, there certainly a bling bike around somewhere.

The multiple privicy zone feature is a bit disapointing as it only hides your ride within the privacy zone it was started in.

I blanked out the entire local area as I thought I’d go invisable miles before home. This wasn’t the case, it was only 500m from home as that was the extent of the zone based on my postcode.
Privacy zones only apply at the start and end of rides, and one is only applied if you start/stop in it. People have multiple or offset over their house so its not an obvious circle centred directly over their house. Of course it would be easier if strava just allowed you to draw the shape of your preffered zone (just having a 1mile radius means you lose any segments that start or end within that zone).

We were once followed by a van from outside a bike shop in Rotherham for over ten miles. We did quite a few detours through housing estates still been followed. Finally parked up on a car park and sat and waited till they had enough and drove off.
Try and have all parcels delivered to work and don’t usually allow stuff we sell to be collected from home.
Cant be too careful.

Privacy zones only apply at the start and end of rides, and one is only applied if you start/stop in it. People have multiple or offset over their house so its not an obvious circle centred directly over their house. Of course it would be easier if strava just allowed you to draw the shape of your preffered zone (just having a 1mile radius means you lose any segments that start or end within that zone

This is my point, they dont work like you think.

The overlapping zones has no affect unless you start your ride in a different zone each time. No matter how many zones you have listed if you always start from home you’ll form a circle with your house in the middle of it as only the privacy zone where the ride starts\finished is used , all others do not apply.

Tracy
Did you report the license plate tothepolice?

The overlapping zones has no affect unless you start your ride in a different zone each time. No matter how many zones you have listed if you always start from home you’ll form a circle with your house in the middle of it as only the privacy zone where the ride starts\finished is used , all others do not apply.

I get what you mean but what if the start falls witihin say four similar but not the same privacy zone, ie the zones have a large amount of overlap. does strava not hide the start from all the zones. In effect four similar zones which have a large amount of overlap end up creating a more freeform privacy zone.

I have to say flyby does seem to be just about the most perfect tool for bicycle thieves, and Strava was already probably quite handy…

Just pick an area, take a leisurely trundle around all the nice middleclass areas, you only need keep half an eye out for nice bikes because Strava will trace all the local rider’s routes out for you…

A bit of light profile stalking and you’ll have the approximate location of a dozen or so nice bikes, it’s not beyond the wit of most tea-leaves to stake out a few roads to get precise locations…

Then wallop! having planned, for a week or two they could fill a transit inside of a couple of hours and be 200 miles away before the first theft is reported…

I’m definitely in the wrong business…

MrSalmon you can pack your number one bike down small. Even leaving wheels in the shed- F&F in a bike bag. Mitigate risk.

When I lived in a tiny studio in West Hampstead I had two bikes behind/under the bed and wheels in the back yard under minging cloth/tarp.

Large radius privacy zone around both home and work. Start and stop the Garmin at a location well away from the house for each ride even if that means riding past the house for a Km or so to get back to the starting point.

Bikes are imaginatively named: “Road”; “Commuter”; “MTB”

Not a lot you can do if you are being followed other than ride on if you realise it.

I have to say flyby does seem to be just about the most perfect tool for bicycle thieves, and Strava was already probably quite handy…

Just pick an area, take a leisurely trundle around all the nice middleclass areas, you only need keep half an eye out for nice bikes because Strava will trace all the local rider’s routes out for you…

As I said, no need to even leave the house. Just pick a segment in a nice area and it will show you everyone who rode it today, or this week, etc. Look at their rides, pick a few other segments, see if they set a fastest time today, If not you can see their fastest time so you now have 2 of their rides, likely showing you a common location (home). You could now look on segment search for some other nearby segments, soon you will have 4 or 5 rides for that person and a pretty good idea of where their home zone is (or house exactly as so many STILL don’t have privacy zones). This will take 2 min tops, and is really easy.

Another thing, if you are making your profile private, and your flyby private, I hope you are not in any open groups (like say ‘Singletrackworld.com Forumites’) as everyone can see your rides.

I have literally thousands of pounds worth of car just parked on the street.

I bet when you park there the key is inside your house.
IMHO its worth being cautious its not worth being paranoid

Get good insurance.

Apologies if someone upthread has posted the link, but here’s Strava’s description of the privacy settings – https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216918777-Privacy-Settings

This:
“You will not appear on any segment leaderboard that starts/stops within your Privacy Zone and you cannot hold or earn any KOMs/CRs on those segments. Removing a Privacy Zone will reinstate your segment matches and any associated KOMs/CRs.“

Isn’t quite right, I’m in the public top ten of a segment that finishes well within my privacy zone but I finished the ride outside my privacy zone and it logged as a top ten time.

Thousands of pounds of car on the street? That same highly desirable car with carbon panels, hi spec parts, desirable suspension with the key left in the ignition ready to spirit away and easy to sell on? Where people will target you?

Scary analogy’s abound dude

and another thing where technology lets people down programing your address as home into your sat nav, somebody nicks your car, home keys on key ring drives straight home and nicks your stuff.

use an address nearby for home and 2 sets of keys one for home and one for vehicle, simple but people still get done over by not doing it.

Thousands of pounds of car on the street? That same highly desirable car with carbon panels, hi spec parts, desirable suspension with the key left in the ignition ready to spirit away and easy to sell on? Where people will target you?

Your analogys shite mate, i keep my shed locked and the bikes locked inside that .,,,ergo its not got its keys in it.

Also – houses are not secure at all- they have large easy to break highly see through shopping panels. You are not there every hour of every day to play guard dog either.