A bike is a more than convenient means of transportation, both within the city and in rural areas. In the first case, the advantages include the absence of the need to stand in traffic jams for hours, and in the second, the ability to quickly cover long distances in the warm season. For bicycle lovers, in addition to the issue of caring for their two-wheeled friend, the problem of a place or method of storing it has always been relevant. Some cyclists fiddle with inconvenient chains and padlocks, which, due to their massiveness, constantly have to be carried in a backpack. Others trust completely unreliable cables with primitive codes, although they can easily be disabled and your vehicle stolen.
Recently, as a solution, I often suggest that cyclists install an alarm on their bike, which would allow them to hear at a certain distance that a cable or chain connected to it is subject to physical influence.
Such devices have a number of significant disadvantages:
- The battery can be easily removed from the device
- The device itself is quite noticeable
- The battery charge of such an alarm can run out quite quickly
- Not sensitive to non-theft actions, such as frame damage
- Bicycle alarm with remote control
The modern market offers to secure your bike with another device. This type of alarm also produces a powerful sound that can attract the attention of passers-by and, most importantly, notify you, the owner. You can hear the corresponding sound signal in your pocket from the control panel. For example, now leaving a bicycle at the entrance to a store you will not need to worry about its safety.
There are two buttons on the control panel of such a device, one of which activates the alarm, and the second turns it off.
Principle of operation
The block is equipped with a rather sensitive element that reacts to vibrations occurring in the frame area, similar to those that occur when using a bicycle. After detecting the changes, the device begins to emit a sound with a volume of 110 dB. In some modifications of the alarm system, a short warning signal may be emitted. In parallel with these actions, the owner is also notified of the manipulation of his vehicle. The battery of this type of alarm holds a charge for quite a long period of time. When the charge does begin to deplete, the alarm will simply periodically emit sound vibrations that will warn the bike owner that it is time to charge the battery. Vibration sensitivity modes can be changed; there are three: low sensitivity, medium and high.
Installation method
It is best to install the alarm unit on a pin under the saddle, making sure that the base is not subject to significant vibration. To do this, you need to mount the device above the shock-absorbing parts. Manufacturers recommend tightening the fixing bolts completely.
Nuances of use
Before installing the alarm, install the battery. After fastening, use the remote control to activate the operation, wait for the characteristic sound, hear it after about 5 seconds. The alarm for your bike is ready for use. Using the same actions, only with a different button, the system turns off. Many people advise using the device in tandem with a classic cable or chain along with a padlock. You can count not only on the fact that the sound will notify you and scare the thief, but also on the fact that when you try to break into a mechanical device, corresponding vibrations will occur and the alarm sensor will go off.
This device can protect not only your bike. For example, you can simply install the block on the handle of your bag and take a quiet nap in the waiting room or go to the toilet.
Young parents are often justifiably afraid to leave their children's strollers in the hallway. In this case, you should install the device on an inconspicuous area of the base of the structure; if someone tries to take possession of your property, you will certainly hear it. The same goes for your garden tools or even utility room doors.
How else can you prevent theft?
Experienced cyclists advise simply not to leave your bike unattended, even for short periods of time. Even the latest alarm system or powerful circuit is not a panacea for swindlers who are ready to steal your vehicle, but the presence of such devices will allow the owner to leave for a few minutes without worrying.
If you need to step away for a longer period of time, try to find an opportunity to look at the bike from time to time.
Before stopping, while still moving, change gear on both rows of sprockets. The front row should be switched to the largest chainring, and the rear row to the smallest. All these actions can prevent the thief from starting quickly. Not only will it be difficult to ride, but there is also the possibility of the chain coming off. This will give you a few seconds, in such a situation they are never superfluous. Try not to add expensive accessories to your vehicle, as this will attract too much unnecessary attention.
Any anti-theft alarm for a bicycle is unlikely to stop a thief, but it can strain his nerves and may even scare him away. The presence of a protective circuit does not eliminate the need to securely fasten the bicycle with a steel chain or a high-quality lock, and not with a Chinese tuvite cable.
This alarm for a bicycle will work if you change its position or if you touch it. The alarm sound lasts 30 seconds, and after a few seconds it repeats, and so on until the bike alarm is turned off.
A bicycle alarm consists of three main components: a vibration sensor, a siren activation delay timer, and an alarm sound generator.
The vibration sensor is a rather long and flexible spring, one end of which is soldered to a piece of double-sided fiberglass. Then we carefully solder this piece perpendicular to the printed circuit board from the back. We pass the second end of the spring through a tinned washer, which also needs to be soldered to the printed circuit board. That is, at the moment of a slight push, the spring will close to the washer and then open, which will create a difference on the inverters DD1.1 and DD1.2.
The generated pulse will trigger a one-shot on logic elements DD2.3 and DD2.4, which implements a 30 second delay. This delay can be changed by changing the resistance R7 and the capacitance of the capacitor C6.
Elements R4 and C3 set a time delay after turning on the device to calm the vibration sensor.
The source of the alarm signal is a piezo emitter. Rectangular pulses to the piezo head come from a Schmitt trigger made on the DD1.4 element. Its frequency is set by capacitance C7 and resistances R8, R9. To achieve the maximum sound signal, this frequency of the generator coincides with the resonant frequency of the piezo head. To make the sound signal more noticeable, it is replaced by a low frequency signal created by the second multivibrator.
Try not to leave your iron horse unattended.
Almost any number of normally open switches can be used in a bicycle alarm circuit. Install them so that they close when the handlebars change position or the bicycle frame moves out of place. Use microswitches to protect removable components and other easily removable parts. If at least one microswitch is closed, the siren will sound. Two minutes after the switch contacts become open, the alarm will stop. The sounding time of the siren is selected by the capacitance value of capacitor C1.
The circuit board and switches must be protected from moisture or condensation, which could cause the circuit to malfunction. Without its sensors, the board is quite compact.
When the bike alarm sirens, the circuit consumes virtually no electrical current. Thus, the presented diagram allows you to independently assemble a fairly simple and reliable alarm system for a motorcycle, which has a certain versatility. I supplied power to the circuit from a 12 volt power bank. The main disadvantage of this bike alarm scheme is that if the burglar knows about it, he only needs to disconnect the battery.
A good protection option can be purchased in Chinese online stores for only 300 rubles. This device is the size of a pack of cigarettes, and it screams so loudly that it immediately blocks your ears.
The device is controlled via a radio channel, with a frequency of 433 MHz, from a key fob with two buttons. The operating range of the control panel is 30-50 meters. The receiver is a regular super-regenerator. The signal is then decoded and controls the operation of the siren on a piezo emitter.
The piezo emitter is used in a bicycle alarm circuit and as a shock sensor. Even the weakest impulse from it, reaching the operational amplifier, is amplified and sent through a step-up transformer to the siren. The circuit is powered by one 9 volt battery.
If you still have your bike stolen, then you have a small, but still chance to find it; for this, I suggest assembling a small radio transmitter that can be tracked using a regular FM radio. The tracker can be powered by a 1.5-volt battery and has a range of about 0.5 km. This radio tracker must be placed hidden on the bicycle and if it is stolen, simply ride around the surrounding area and search with a regular radio. Since stolen bicycles are usually deposited in some place, an example is in a forest area not far from the city.
The current consumed by this device is only 3.7 mA, so AA batteries last for a week of continuous operation. It is better to exclude the LED from the circuit so that it does not attract the attention of a thief, although it can be left at the debugging stage. Because when you see his quick flashes. You need to tune the FM radio and find the clicks of the transmitter. The antenna can be a piece of flexible wire 25 cm long, invisibly wound around the brake cables or hydraulic lines.
To increase safety when riding a bicycle, it is recommended to equip it with an audible alarm. The electronic bell circuit includes an AF generator, a power amplifier and a dynamic head. Using an electronic bell is much more convenient and better than a classic mechanical one.
The bicycle alarm appeared again. If it weren't for the large number of hijackers, it wouldn't be needed. Until now, cases of bicycle thefts in villages are the work of “tourists”.
The problem of theft of any vehicle is very acute in our country, where you can sell stolen property in Kaliningrad, and find a car, for example, in Vladivostok.
With bicycles it’s quite simple: you don’t need to change the numbers, you repaint the frame and that’s it. As a last resort, I threw out the previous owner’s “baubles” that made the bike too recognizable.
Here, for example, is the Novosibirsk car of one good man. Not only is it equipped with a two-stroke Comet engine, but the whole car also bears the imprint of a design in a mixture of “rockabilly and steampunk”. The thief needs to strip everything, depersonalize it, and then sell it. Therefore, such cars are looked at in advance.
There is a heartbreaking site for finding stolen bicycles: lostbike.ru.
Since every fifth, if not tenth, bicycle ends up on its pages, the statistics are more than depressing. Here are typical situations: “The bike is almost new. They took me out of the stairwell after cutting the cable.” “Two guys cut the cable and drove off towards the outskirts.” “They stole it along with the chain. There was a piece of chain left near the porch at work. The police failed to do anything. It’s been poisoning my soul for three months now.”
The situation is aggravated by imperfect legislation. Even car thieves stated during the investigation that they had no thoughts of stealing, that is, forcibly appropriating other people’s property. Like, let's take it for a ride and put it in place. And it is almost impossible to prove that theft was intended. With bicycles it’s even easier: I could bite the chain, ride it and put it in place. Only when theft is legally equivalent to theft will bicycle thieves think about whether or not to take someone else’s property.
Simple rules that make life difficult for a hijacker
- The simplest and most effective rule is not to leave your bike unattended;
- In the event that there is a combination lock, chain and padlock and so on, you can take your eyes off the bike in about 40-60 seconds. Then it is advisable to get out of line at the pharmacy and take a look at the porch and the bike.
- Before driving up and dismounting and leaving the bike, you should place the shifters on the largest driven sprocket and the smallest driving sprocket. In this case, the attacker will be forced to drive very slowly until he figures out how to switch. And these are seconds, the opportunity to attract attention, the threat of falling. Anything is better than the quiet disappearance of a thief with a bike.
- Remove everything “beautiful and expensive” from the bicycle - a rare brass horn, audio speakers, a beautiful rear-view mirror. If you return, you won’t find it.
- Never fasten the bike by the wheel. Remember that the frame and front fork are the most expensive parts, just like the car body.
- Advice from the “experienced” - repaint the bike in a poisonous luminescent color or “zebra” in the most tear-inducing shades. Most likely, they will not mess with this.
What can a bicycle alarm do?
- The bicycle alarm can sound a sound signal when the vibration sensor is triggered at the pain threshold level, up to 120 dB.
- The setting allows you to ignore vibrations that last less than a certain time, for example, 2 seconds. This time is enough not to disturb the owner while the tram is passing near the parking area.
- A bicycle alarm with feedback not only beeps very loudly, but also sends an alarm signal to the remote control.
Therefore, if you see a feedback alarm on sale, it means that you, like a car owner, will have a device with a remote control or a key fob.
The alarm and anti-theft bicycle lock were combined. This is how locks with alarms appeared.
The advantage of this device is that a loud and unpleasant sound signal is emitted not only when an attacker opens the lock, but also when trying to get by with “little loss,” i.e. when the cable is bitten or at the slightest vibration. This significantly increases the owner's chances of reacting.
The device runs on 3 batteries. In addition, if desired, the alarm can be turned off and the device can be used as a simple lock.
The second option with alarm is a rigid frame type made of hardened steel. At a price of about 2.5 - 3 thousand rubles, hardened steel perfectly resists both hacksaw blades and double-lever bolt cutters.
What a smart bike lock can do
In connection with the development of cellular telephone communications and GPS navigation, it would be surprising if sooner or later these innovations did not begin to help not only car enthusiasts, but also bicycle owners.
One such example of the use of connectivity in bicycle alarms is the Lock 8 smart lock, which came to market about a year ago, in May 2014.
Its distinctive properties are:
- Electronic locking is controlled through a special application on a smartphone.
- Data exchange is carried out via a wireless Bluetooth connection.
- It is possible to send a copy of the electronic key to those people whom the owner of the bike trusts.
- The lock is equipped with a mobile communication module and a GPS receiver in case of theft.
- It is important that the blocker does not have batteries, but is recharged while driving. This means the device is energy independent.
Read more about this wonderful castle here:
By the way, this lock also has a “miracle price”: about 8,500 rubles without delivery throughout Russia.
The second option for a pure GPS tracking device is Spy Bike – GPS Tracker.
This alarm does its job quietly and unnoticed. It hides in the steering bushing and is activated via SMS. The vibration sensor sends an SMS to the owner’s phone about the theft. The work of this sleeve is to send coordinates from the processor, which can be sent to the owner’s cell phone in the form of terrain coordinates at a certain time interval, which can be represented as a trajectory.
Naturally, this requires a SIM card. The device runs on batteries for several months. SMS messages received from the device show the battery charge level.
A wonderful thriller with a happy ending about the use of this device is shown below.
What are the “disadvantages” of an anti-theft alarm?
High current consumption of devices in “standby mode”, which is explained by powering motion sensors, gyro position sensor and other devices. Typically this current is 0.7 milliamps per hour. Considering the battery capacity of 0.5 A/hour, you can understand that the average service life is about 1 month.
And therefore the following situation is possible: having forgotten to change the power source a month later, you are horrified to see that the bicycle is gone, and the device “didn’t work.” The need to frequently replace batteries dictates certain restrictions on the ease of use of an alarm system with an autonomous power source.
In addition, the alarm itself sounds for 15 seconds to save energy. Sometimes she falls silent at the most inopportune moment, for example, when she “shouted out” in deserted garages and the thief drives out into a crowded place in silence. A lot can happen while the next 15 seconds pass.
In order to make a bicycle alarm with your own hands, it is not at all necessary to have knowledge of radio engineering.
To do this, it is enough to purchase a wireless bell for the front door and slightly rearrange the contact so that it works to “open”.
After this, you can mount it in the end of the steering grip and, changing the bell to “howler”, use it calmly. To do this, you need to press the button and, while pressed, lean the steering wheel against a tree, for example. Now, when you try to move the steering wheel away from the support, a sound signal will be heard.
Of course, a DIY alarm system is more vulnerable than an industrial one. What if it doesn’t work, or the water gets wet. Trust the professionals!
Of course, it is best to combine GPS control, a lock with an audible alarm, and a powerful chain.
Finally, you can watch a good piece from Galileo about bicycle locks.
– this is the least protected type of transport, which, according to statistics, is the easiest to steal. If the owner leaves the bike for a couple of minutes to go to the store, he may be left without a bike. Therefore, we advise you to take security measures that will prevent theft and protect your bike from intruders.
The choice of safety equipment for a bicycle should be approached with all responsibility. A bicycle alarm or lock is fundamentally different in design from car security systems. We advise you to buy a bicycle alarm with a remote control, as it has a number of advantages over other security devices.
One of the effective ways to protect your bike from intruders is an alarm with a remote control. This device will notify you in time about an attack on your vehicle by sending a signal to the remote control, and the fraudster will be frightened by a loud sound signal that is triggered when there is an attack on your bicycle.
The use of a bicycle alarm is recommended for all vehicle owners. The device is compact in size and can be easily installed on a bicycle. This way, you get reliable protection in those moments when you need to leave your bike unattended.
The alarm is suitable for sports and mountain bikes. It does not weigh down the structure. And its presence does not affect the maneuverability of the bike. Such a device is a must-have for those who prefer to move around the city by bicycle. You never know when you will have to go away and leave your bike on the street. But the alarm will always be ready to notify you of danger.
A bicycle alarm with remote control is designed to protect against thieves and vandalism. There is a category of people who do not want to steal a bicycle, but for unknown reasons can cause damage to transport. In such cases, the alarm has an advantage over bicycle locks, since it notifies you even if the bicycle remains in place, but a stranger is nearby.
How does a bicycle alarm work?
Many of you probably know how a bicycle alarm works. Still, there are some nuances that the future owner of the device should know.
The bicycle does not stand still, two wheels dashingly roll it in step with the times. Models are being improved, the assortment for every color and taste is replenished, devices and accessories appear to improve the quality of “cycling life”. These include an alarm system that is ready to protect the bike from the evil intentions of the ubiquitous car thieves.
An alarm with a feedback function is not just a “shout”, but a functional device for communicating the owner with a bicycle left in the parking lot. It has a complete analogy with a car anti-theft system - the owner will be notified in time about the theft or its attempt. What is good about this device, what disadvantages it has, and about enhanced protection for the bicycle, we will find out later in the article.
Anti-theft system functions
The feedback alarm kit includes an electronic unit, key fob, mounts and batteries. Actually, nothing complicated, the device is very simple, the settings are transparent, but instructions for adjustment and operation are included to help.
The operating principle of the alarm is to give a loud signal and notify the owner of the theft via a key fob or control panel. The alarm is turned on and off using special buttons on the key fob.
True, at first the owner himself may forget about the need to turn off the device and be deafened by the piercing scream of the alarm. Some models have integration with a smartphone: a special application is installed, through which the owner will be promptly notified via Bluetooth about attempted thefts, as well as the location of the bicycle via GPS.
Standard bike alarm options include:
- loud, attractive signal with volume up to 120 dB;
- sensitivity settings by distance and time;
- call via app or remote control;
- additional power supply (for long-term parking);
- notification of low batteries and alarm deactivation.
The system is usually attached to the seat tube, less often to other parts of the frame.
Remote signaling: yes or no?
It’s worth noting right away that an alarm is not a cheap thing, so it makes sense to install it on the appropriate bicycle models. Advantages of the anti-theft system:
- loud signal: on city streets this will immediately attract the attention of passers-by and the owner himself;
- remote warning system, you can leave the bike in the parking lot without a lock;
- Although the device is expensive, you can buy it without any problems - on the counter or by ordering it on the Internet;
- sensitivity setting.
Minuses:
- The sensitivity of the alarm is also a drawback - the device can be triggered by small vibrations, causing inconvenience to the owner;
- on budget models there are weak fastenings;
- the application on the smartphone may suddenly freeze, which is why the owner may not receive an alarm signal;
- high energy consumption of the battery in passive mode.
Whether to buy an alarm for a bicycle or not is up to everyone to decide. Here it is worth considering the price of the device, the class of the bicycle, the frequency and duration of parking, and the place of the most frequent stop.
Anti-theft bike alarm with lock
Combined option - bicycle alarm with a lock. When disabled, the device works as a simple anti-theft alarm with keys. An active alarm sends signals and notifications via Bluetooth.
Signal cable lock
The advantage of a signal lock:
- the bike is fastened;
- the signal is always given, even when a thief tries to bite the cable;
- The device is less noticeable.
Of course, no matter how ultra-modern and reliable methods there are, there is no 100% guarantee of protection - there are no fewer thieves, if not vice versa. Therefore, it is worth giving a few more valuable tips on how to protect your bike as much as possible in the parking lot.
Additional protection won't hurt
Since stopping a bicycle on the street is risky even with an advanced signal, it is not recommended to leave the bicycle unattended for a long time. Although the alarm is silent, you need to periodically check whether your two-wheeled friend is in place.
A wireless warning system plus a cable or U-lock lock is a more reliable option when compared with installing only an alarm system. The classic rule of “fastening both the frame and the wheels” is not canceled: when only the wheels are fastened, there is a risk of losing the most important thing in the bicycle – the frame and fork.
Another good recommendation for protecting a high-speed bike from theft is to install a low gear. A thief, carried away by the process of theft, will not be able to immediately drive far from the parking lot, and the alarm will attract more attention at low speed.
Conclusion
A bike alarm is a great addition to protecting your bike when parked. However, you should be vigilant: the device may fail, and the thief may remove it from the bicycle. It is preferable to install maximum protection and choose proven parking places.
