Could Strava lead to bike theft from your house?

[EmptyB]

Saw the article in Bicycling magazine earlier:

 

A recent rash of bicycle thefts in Carmarthenshire, Wales is being linked to GPS ride-recording apps like Strava. The rise of crime led local police to investigate and found that many of the victims used apps to track their rides.

 

Strava tracks your location from the second you hit record, so if you start your ride as you are leaving your house, it is pretty easy to find your home address. Also, Strava allows you to share what bicycle you ride as well, which lets thieves target homes with expensive or in-demand bikes.

 

Mike Oldenburg, senior communications Manager at Strava, says that the company has not been able to confirm any cases of bike thefts related to the use of Strava, but that there are available privacy controls.

“In addition to being able to make individual activities private, our members can set privacy zones around any address, such as a home or office, so that the start and end points of an activity are not visible to other members,” Oldenberg says.

 

Other ways to manage privacy include approving followers and limiting who can see your bikes and the time of day you ride.  

 

 

What do you think, do you set up the privacy zone and state what type of bike you ride on your Strava profile??

[GaryvdM]

Saw the article in Bicycling magazine earlier:

 

A recent rash of bicycle thefts in Carmarthenshire, Wales is being linked to GPS ride-recording apps like Strava. The rise of crime led local police to investigate and found that many of the victims used apps to track their rides.

 

Strava tracks your location from the second you hit record, so if you start your ride as you are leaving your house, it is pretty easy to find your home address. Also, Strava allows you to share what bicycle you ride as well, which lets thieves target homes with expensive or in-demand bikes.

 

Mike Oldenburg, senior communications Manager at Strava, says that the company has not been able to confirm any cases of bike thefts related to the use of Strava, but that there are available privacy controls.

“In addition to being able to make individual activities private, our members can set privacy zones around any address, such as a home or office, so that the start and end points of an activity are not visible to other members,” Oldenberg says.

 

Other ways to manage privacy include approving followers and limiting who can see your bikes and the time of day you ride.  

 

 

What do you think, do you set up the privacy zone and state what type of bike you ride on your Strava profile??

 

Do you set up the privacy zone? - Yes! No brainier.

State what type of bike you ride on your Strava profile? - Yes, but I'm very vague....

[Raydek]

Interesting...  Ever since I started using apps for running/cycling I would never start the tracking until 100m away from home and also end it 100m from home,  call it paranoia, but unknowingly had a good reason to do so.

 

The Privacy zone is a good idea.

[dirtypot]

Interesting...  Ever since I started using apps for running/cycling I would never start the tracking until 100m away from home and also end it 100m from home,  call it paranoia, but unknowingly had a good reason to do so.

 

The Privacy zone is a good idea.

 

I also start and stop mine at the top of the street.  Never really thought about it before, it's just what I did.

 

My internal secret agent must have been in effect 

[DIPSLICK]

100meter would take the skelms 2 trips to locate you he sits on two corners and keeps a look out where you pulling from, literally needs to watch max 20 houses at 200m,,,,,what lawabiding citizens forget these guys have nothing but time, personally in sa i think its much easier to park on the top of a hill with a 9mm and wait for the cyclist to COME TO YOU sadly we are out in force, these guys dont need much effort to get what they looking for,,,,,,,,,,,

 

think of one decent size riding group, one or two dogmas,couple of specialized, there is no need to track us, most groups ride roughly from the same point to the same point of return, along similar routes

[Raydek]

100meter would take the skelms 2 trips to locate you he sits on two corners and keeps a look out where you pulling from, literally needs to watch max 20 houses at 200m,,,,,what lawabiding citizens forget these guys have nothing but time, personally in sa i think its much easier to park on the top of a hill with a 9mm and wait for the cyclist to COME TO YOU sadly we are out in force, these guys dont need much effort to get what they looking for,,,,,,,,,,,

 

think of one decent size riding group, one or two dogmas,couple of specialized, there is no need to track us, most groups ride roughly from the same point to the same point of return, along similar routes

 

 

Sadly too true..

 

(side note:  hope you get your baby back.. been keeping an eye on gumtree and the sorts and tweeting etc.)

[DIPSLICK]

Sadly too true..

 

(side note:  hope you get your baby back.. been keeping an eye on gumtree and the sorts and tweeting etc.)

thanks i appreciate everyones efforts    

[EmptyB]

100meter would take the skelms 2 trips to locate you he sits on two corners and keeps a look out where you pulling from, literally needs to watch max 20 houses at 200m,,,,,what lawabiding citizens forget these guys have nothing but time, personally in sa i think its much easier to park on the top of a hill with a 9mm and wait for the cyclist to COME TO YOU sadly we are out in force, these guys dont need much effort to get what they looking for,,,,,,,,,,,

 

think of one decent size riding group, one or two dogmas,couple of specialized, there is no need to track us, most groups ride roughly from the same point to the same point of return, along similar routes

 

Good point, I suppose there's various ways these "bike shoppers" could use Strava if they want to!! All the best with getting your bike back too....and finding the box who's responsible!!!

[Rider3000]

They'll never ever steal my bike.... my Strava desn't work!

[DIPSLICK]

They'll never ever steal my bike.... my Strava desn't work!

nevaaaaa say nevaaaaaa

[Wil6]

Would it not be easier for these guys just to follow you home??? Much easier than to use Strava. Just saying

[JGR]

Its quite clear from my strava I have a slow bike, no one would want it

[MTBc]

privacy zones + approval on follow requests instead of completely public rides. not failsafe, but I'd imagine it would be a deterent.

[Edgar]

Crazy not to use the privacy setting.

[RocknRolla]

Online privacy is getting more and more important.

[Patchelicious]

In Europe I would think people would use Strava for tracking people and breakins.

BUT its the same with people checking in on Facebook, or posting pics on Instagram, it immediately tells anybody watching that you are not at home.

 

In SA though, people have a much lower value for your life and dont really care if you are home or not, and as said above will just TAKE the bike from you in the open, no need for them to waste their time and be non-violent.