Thieving scumbag defeating device: I’ve made something you might like.

Inside the stuffing of the saddle it’s self.

Was my thought. Also under a plastic frame protector or disguised as a computer magnet/ cadence monitor. Still need to rip it open and disable the beeper though.

apparently a colleague of a friend used one to retrieve a stolen Land Rover! Thieves had disabled the installed GPS tracker but there were some keys or something with an AirTag on inside. Managed to find it parked up a few miles away!

No, you must be mistaken, I was told this absolutely couldn’t happen on the previous Airtag thread since so many folk have iPhones.

Can’t set them up or put them in lost mode. Can read them with NFC or detect if one’s following you.

That’s pretty useless.

That’s pretty useless.

Yes, if you have an Android phone, but they’re not designed with that technology in mind.

Have to say I’m really thinking my next phone might be an Apple. Small format ‘mini’ , great camera and now this genuinely useful and sensible priced accessory.

I’ve ordered four, brilliant idea, now just need to order some airtags

Instant £400 spend there… Nice to be able to splash that on a whim!

I like the look of the seatpost reflector one for a gravel bike or something without a tapered steerer, I much prefer to run my mtb without reflectors though, and they’re not available to buy as of yet. The BikeTag Trail provides a similar level of sound deadening to the internal speaker thing, it’s pretty hard to hear once installed.

As bfw says:

I have disabled the sounder.

I’m told this is quite easily done, not that I’d know anything about it…

Could be used as a Fork Cork? It’s £10 cheaper.

Yes, it would work very well, just needs a 2.5mm hex to remove it so don’t go stashing your multi tool up there 😂

Ordered one – Not sure of the name though.

I was hard to come up with a good name! I quite like the BikeTag bit, but needed to come up with something to suggest that it’s mainly for mountainbikes (needs a tapered steer with an open bottom), which is where the Trail bit came from. All ears for better suggestions!

For people struggling to find them on eBay, it’s easiest to put biketag in. For some reason airtag bike tracker works, but just airtag bike doesn’t. I guess SEO isn’t my strength 🤷

Instant £400 spend there… Nice to be able to splash that on a whim!

AirTags a £30 each, or they do a 4 pack for £100. So just £100, not so ridiculous!

Instant £400 spend there… Nice to be able to splash that on a whim!

4 x £20 is £80

Hey, @BeveledEdge I’ve got an idea, as you’ve had a fair chunk of free advertising now. If it takes off, why don’t you bung, (pun intended) a couple with air tags towards Singletrack for next years Megasack?

@tthew That’s a great idea, I’ll get on that now!

Biggest mistake is limiting your audience to Apple only users. You could have gone for the Chipolo One devices which integrate into Apple’s Find MY network but the plus side is that they are also compatible with android devices. At 38mm diameter, they are only marginally larger than an airtag

Android version please!
Ps think this is a really good idea. Good work.

4 x £20 is £80

Well, dey ain’t much use wivout da Airtagz. Except to keep ya steerer toob clean

AirTags a £30 each, or they do a 4 pack for £100.

Ah, thats better, I only sawed £79 each on apple.com! Dunno where I saw that, but it wasn’t here https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-airtag/airtag

Yes, if you have an Android phone, but they’re not designed with that technology in mind.

And as such, useless to me.

Chipolo One devices which integrate into Apple’s Find MY network

This, potentially less so.

For anyone interested, a 4 pack of Airtags is £87 on Amazon atm

You could have gone for the Chipolo One devices which integrate into Apple’s Find MY network but the plus side is that they are also compatible with android devices. At 38mm diameter, they are only marginally larger than an airtag

Sadly that’s just too big to go up a tapered steerer. The Tile Sticker would work if you’re an android only household, but if there’s an Apple device in the house I reckon it’s best to stick with the AirTags for maximum coverage.

I’ve just ordered a couple – well done, look really useful

These look great, however nobody in my house has (or wants) an iPhone.

Is there any other way to connect to an airtag? Can I borrow someone’s phone to set it up and then use a website or something to track it?
Failing that, will the app work if I buy an ancient cheap iPhone simply for this purpose?

From the link I posted to Apple’s site:
Airtag… “ Requires iPhone SE, iPhone 6s or later, or iPod touch (7th generation) with iOS 14.5 or later, or iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation or later), iPad Air 2 or later, or iPad mini 4 or later with iPadOS 14.5 or later.”

How to find Apple AirTag with Android phone?

Once installed on an Android smartphone, the ‘Tracker Detect’ helps Android users to carry out a manual scan for item trackers near them. If the application detects any trackers, it will inform the user. Additionally, the application will also allow Android users to play a sound on the tracker device to find its location. The app has been built to detect both lost AirTags and any other trackers that are being used for malicious purposes. The Tracker Detect application says that it looks for item trackers that are separated from their owner and that are compatible with Apple’s Find My network. Additionally, the item trackers that can be detected by using the application also include tracker devices from other companies. Android users who think they are being tracked can scan their surroundings using the application.

Apple kindly defeats the purpose of having an airtag

https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/how-to/apple-launches-airtag-for-android-how-to-find-nearby-airtags-using-a-smartphone.html

Hopefully Apple will have some antitrust problems with AirTags and then we’ll get Android compatibility.

Could be used as a Fork Cork? It’s £10 cheaper.

Yes, it would work very well, just needs a 2.5mm hex to remove it so don’t go stashing your multi tool up there 😂

What’s the thickness please?

Also I’m sure we’d all prefer a 3mm hex.

Anyone used the Chipolo one product and have a review on it.

Apple kindly defeats the purpose of having an airtag

What exactly was the purpose of an airtag?

Wasn’t it to help find misplaced things. Not covertly track things ,.

Yes, this is a fundamental limitation to anything like an airtag. If it’s too good at being hidden and tracked then it’ll be used by stalkers etc., so it’s not allowed to be very good.

I think disabling the beep is pretty necessary for bike use, even if only to stop it beeping away ad infinitum in the garage while I’m at work.

Despite the limitations, I do think that there will be many cases where these are useful. Three bikes were stolen from my garage a couple of weeks ago. If I’d been able to give an address to the police the next day then you never know..

Nice idea, certainly a good location for them – more discreet than bottle cage or saddle rail mount.

I was about to order but got concerns about the tags. Say your bike goes walkabout and you’re able to track the location using an AirTag. Then what? Are police likely to act (and act in a timely manner) to recover the stolen items, given limited resources? I’m not sure I’m powerfully built enough to go and recover stolen bikes myself.

This obviously relates to limitations of the AirTags in general, not @BeveledEdge’s product.

Mine arrived today

Hopefully, you’ll never need it/them 🙂

I notice you doubled the price of the item in the last 6 months.

Yes, I sold 5 with hand made rubber washers to test the market/see if there was any interest at all. Needless to say that couldn’t last as I was making a loss on them, particularly if you account for the time and faff involved in hand moulding the rubber washers, it was a real pain but convinced me to invest in the tooling to do it properly.

Bump, as it’s a relevant topic again.

I see the mucoff one that goes on bottle cage mounts uses security torx head bolts. Seems a good idea to slow the thief down slightly. @BeveledEdge might be worth you doing the same?

gplama did a review of an airtag mount disguised as a reflector on his youtube channel, which looked about the best option I have seen.

I just bought one of these to try (gravel bike so can’t put anything up the steerer) haven’t tried it on the bike yet but it’s a bit naff.
It looks a bit cheap and nasty and might stand out a bit much on any reasonable looking bike.

Will report back once I’ve tried it.

I have just successfully disabled the speaker on an AirTag though 👍