RANKED: THE TOP 3 ANTI-THEFT PRODCTS FOR BICYCLES

Although pandemic related bike shortages have eased, bike thieves are still a persistent plague. With only a few feelings worse than coming to the realization that your bike just got stolen, it’s important to understand that in 2021, there is a reported bicycle theft rate of 4.4%, up from 3.1% in 2019. That is an increase of almost 20% each year, and 14% for all previous years. 75% of these thefts occur while the bike is locked up at either your home, work office etc, however a staggering 25% of thefts occur in casual settings, such as pitstop café runs where a lock has not been implemented. The aim of this review is to help you avoid that forever, by comparing and rating what we think are the top 3 products that protect your bike from theft. Number 1 is truly a game changer!

Our research suggests that it is very important to understand that there are motivated thieves, and thieves that are simply opportunists. These are very different situations to account for, as motivated thieves typically are experienced at theft and have the right tools to steal the bike. An opportunistic thief is generally someone who would attempt to steal a bike in an un-planned situation, with no tools and minimal theft skills. Opportunistic thieves are much easier to prevent from stealing than motivated thieves. The products that we reviewed factor both types of thieves, however we put a heavy emphasis on selecting products that can manage motivated thieves. Let us begin.

Disclaimer

Please note that there is no substitution to common sense and that you should also be weary where you park and store your bike. You should also consider insurance and other general common-sense practices to ensure your investment is protected.  

Features: 100%
Battery Life: 99%
Price: $$ ($119.99 USD)
Technology: 4G/5G, Bluetooth 5, GPS, Motion Sensing, IP68 Water/Dust Proof, Proprietary Lock Mechanism, Removable Travel Charger, Smartgrid app connectivity
Overall: A+

The best bike GPS tracker can make the difference between being reunited with your stolen bike, and never seeing it again. Avoiding theft in the first place is obviously the preference, but if your bike does go missing, the Smart GPS OnTrack will be the difference between getting it back or never seeing it again

OnTrack claims to do a lot, with a several impressive features and specs. Made for bikes, there are 2 mount options, a seatpost mount and downtube mount that are constructed of robust high-strength aluminum and feel like they can take an absolute beating. The downtube mount is perfect for those who are after a minimalist aero design. OnTrack’s smarts come from its advanced hardware and software that allow you to customize what you want to be tracked, how you want it to be tracked, the type notifications that you get, and allow the battery life that lasts for several months.

What this means is that your tracking capabilities become endless and truly tailored to your needs and lifestyle. Almost all GPS devices perform poorly when it comes to indoor tracking. If you own a product like an apple tag that relies purely on Bluetooth, an isolated space with nobody near you and surrounded by thick concrete walls, you basically have 0% chance of tracking anything. OnTrack utilises some clever algorithms, in-built motion sensors and its cellular connectivity to solve this problem.

It's charged via a USB-C port and is configured via the accompanying app – Smartgrid, which is absolutely insane. Once set, movement will set off an alarm and an alert will be sent to your phone. OnTrack’s motion alarm is toggled on via the app, and to preserve battery life, the GPS will remain inactive until there is a requirement to start tracking, which is automated. With OnTrack’s additional 4g/5g cellular connection, it is directly connected to the app without the need of Bluetooth, and therefore you can be as far as you like to receive motion sensing notifications.

We put OnTrack through several tests and it performed flawlessly. From tracking my child’s commute to school, alerting us of bike tampering while at work and even a staged theft scenario, OnTrack notified and automatically commenced tracking with pre-set updates that allowed us to monitor and act accordingly.

The experience has been seamless and the tracking methods have been well though-out to counteract several which we have only scratched the surface on. Essentially combining the latest state-of-the-art cellular, GPS and other technology with smart software, you have an excelling well-rounded anti-theft/anti-tamper solution powered at the edge of your fingers all within the Smartgrid app, and thus making OnTrack our number 1 anti-theft product for bikes that will certainly deter a motivated thief under several scenarios. Currently on sale for 50% off, you can check out OnTrack at www.sblworldwide.com.

Features: 60%
Battery Life: N/A
Price: $$($150 USD)
Technology:8mm hardened steel shackle, hardened sleeve, double deadbolt, high strength cylinder
Overall: B+
Our second product is straight forward and logical. It’s simply too difficult to not put a robust bike lock in the top 3. Coming in at number 2, is what we would regard as the best bike lock, the Kryptonite Faghettaboutit. An 18 mm dual-locking hardened shackle beast. This lock performed far better than any other bike lock we have tested and have seen. This includes cutting attacks, tampering, impact damage and more.

The powered tool we used to try and cut the lock barely made a cut after several seconds of use – this thing is truly a beast. Kryptonite claims that it is magnitude stronger than its competitors. The only main down-side is that it is heavy, but that is essentially the point of this lock, its indestructible. It is easier to cut through the bike than the lock.

If you are leaving your bike, being expensive or cheap, in an area that is a little sketchy, we highly recommend taking this lock with you. Kryptonite is so confident with this product that they provide you with $5000 of anti-theft coverage for the first year, just make sure to register your lock.

The Kryptonite ‘Faghettabout’ is an extremely robust solution for countering motivated and opportunistic thieves and is our no 2 pick for most effective anti-theft products.

Features: 85%
Battery Life: 85
Price: $ (From $40 USD)
Technology: Smart motion sensing, Bluetooth, Smartgrid app connectivity, smart optics
Overall: B Third on our list are a set of smart cycling lights by SBL, Cliq and Farina. These smart lights leverage their smart hardware and software to provide a motion-based anti-theft alarm that has been proven to be extremely effective on countering opportunistic thieves.

With the influx of bicycle theft, they are not getting smarter and typically go for the brute force approach, hence why products like smart lights that alert you of motion sensing and go undetected have been shown to be effective deterrents of theft. We studied this extensively and tested numerous scenarios with SBL’s smart lights Cliq and Farina, with results indicating that the motion sensing bike alarm, alerting you via the SmartGrid app when connected via Bluetooth and motion is detected, the smart lights were able to deter 68% of thefts in the casual pit-stop scenario, by giving the owner enough time to run out and prevent the theft.

This means that on an overall scale, 17% of bike thefts can be preventing when utilizing the anti-theft alarm set up through both Cliq & Farina, which also flash in a unique way which brings forward further attention.

Whilst this is not as bullet proof as the smart GPS tracker and even a toughened lock, from $40 USD can get some peace of mind, in addition to several other safety features which can also potentially save your life, and this for us is more than enough to give Cliq and Farina the third sport. You can find Cliq and Farina also on sale for 50% off at www.sblworldwide.com.

Yerka: The Bike is the lock

Yerka claims that their bike, and its unique boke lock (the V3), utilises an innovative locking mechanism that is essentially the bike’s frame by utilising the seat post. The image is self-explanatory and details how effective this can be. We would like to mention this as an honourable mention, with the only downfall being that the thief is more motivated to destroy the bike, which is the lock, rather than the lock itself, and you have to buy the whole bike itself.

Apple Tag

No introduction needed; the Apple AirTag is a good basic choice if you are into the Apple ecosystem. If you can think of a location to place/conceal the AirTag on your bike, you will essentially be able to track your bike using the FindMy network with a decent battery life. It’s as simple as that.

With several different options and products out there, our decision to select OnTrack was not only because of its great price, effectiveness, and innovative features, it’s much more than that. It is the fact that it has changed my life by reducing my anxiety, helping develop a new health routine and protecting my family.

Protecting my kids: I have an active routine, always cycling around early and late and I encourage my family to stay active with cycling. My children are young and generally cycle to school. We like to keep track of the whereabouts and set the geofencing function. Which allows us to be notified if they travel beyond the virtual boundary that we create via the Smartgrid app.

Protecting my bike: My 5am starts are essential to getting a workout in by cycling into the office. Sometimes I get a coffee on the way, which means I need to park the bike somewhere on the street, or I pick up some groceries on the way back, nonetheless when I’m not near my Trek Madone, I’m always anxious. Anxious not knowing who might be trying to tamper with it or planning something sinister. Since I was given early access to OnTrack, I know that wherever I may be, I will be alerted at the slighted touch and know how to act. This has significantly reduced my anxiety. To be fair, I also have a kryptonite lock which combined with OnTrack basically means that the bike is theft-proof. It doesn’t get much better than that.

A new health routine: I need to admit that I have also been utilising SBL’s smart lights throughout my rides. The lights not only have anti-theft capabilities, but their smart tech makes you more visible on the ride. Also fully customisable via the Smartgrid app, just like OnTrack, I mount my smartphone on the bike handlebars, which gives me full access to the app as I need and thanks to SBL’s early access to the SBL+ training service, I have been training harder and maintain my routine by keeping track of my data, managing my performance and hitting PBs! In addition, I plan my rides through the app and share them with family and friends for further interaction or peace of mind.

My life has genuinely changed entirely, and with a few simple gadgets I can get so much out of my rides, improve my health/fitness, and keep my family and investment safe.

OnTrack is available for pre-order now, with an early May launch date, and Cliq and Farina are both available now via a special offer from SBL. For those after SBL+, there is a limited opportunity to reserve your interest to gain 50% off at launch early April.

Do no miss this opportunity to change your life with SBL.

CLIQ against the competition