DIY el-cheapo tracker?

[Rave]

I was pondering the purchase of a cheap scooter today for commuting on (I've decided to wait and see what happens with my job situation first). Anyway, it occured to me that scooters are very pinchable, and I wondered what could be done about that. A proper GPS tracker system costs about £300, with a subscription payment to be made on top of that, so not really worthwhile for a cheap bike.

With the advent of mobile phone tracking services, I wondered if I could use that. This service for example costs £30 to sign up to and then a tenner a year after that. If you've got an old mobile lying around (I have a few) what's to stop you taking the bodywork off the bike (or the dashboard off your car) and wiring it in to the electrics via a car charger? You could wrap it in plastic to keep it dry and mount it on foam to stop it getting damaged from vibration.

What do you reckon? Worth doing?

[Lead_Head]

It says active mobile phone. You'd have to make a call using the SIM every 6 months, otherwise it's a cracking idea.

[Rave]

Haha true. Still shouldn't be too great a hardship though as long as you remember to do it.

I also realised that if it's installed under the dash the bip-bip-bip through the stereo as you move between transmitters will be regular and irritatingly loud. Might be worth finding a way of switching it on and off when you're actually in the car.

[cm_uk]

very kewl idea Rave... affordable and practical

[Konan555]

Hide it under the seat.

If it gets nicked, find out where it is and then phone the twonk that's stolen it and ask nicely for it back before you set fire to his/her house

[Tumble]

And whoever nicked it would be doing you a favour mate... scooters are evil - I had to ride one for 6 months before I passed my driving test for work, travelling round town fixing things. Hated every minute of it. The wheels are too small to deal with anything bigger than a ripple in the tarmac and forget any "power" damn thing just about got off the lights before sunset. No. Get youself a cheap, proper bike, with gears. Better for you in the long run, less chance of a scally tea-leaf lifting it and you'll have more fun - also a lot less difficult to fix bits to snap on them when you do chuck it down the road (and you will at some point - it's the law ).

[Rave]

I know Tumble, but you can pick up a brand new four stroke scooter on Ebay for under £700 delivered- whereas that sort of money secondhand gets you a fairly shonky CG125 or C90. Also, I live in London remember, the roads here are a bit different to the IOM. I guess it depends what the build quality of cheapo Chinese scooters is like as to what is the better option really- no point buying new if its engine will break within six months I suppose.

[Konan555]

Honda Cub C90.... therefore you won't have that chronic angry b 2-stroke noise...... and nobody will nick it.

[Moby-Dick]

the Cub90 was voted worlds greatest bike IIRC

totally indestructable ( ish)

[Konan555]

the Cub90 was voted worlds greatest bike IIRC

totally indestructable ( ish)

Although if you hit a bump on an old one you'd be bounceing for about 3 miles

[doctor_prox]

I just tried that mapamobile thing, it gave me a postcode 2 miles away and said i would be within 3.5km of there.
Not really very useful if i was looking for my bike.

[Konan555]

I just tried that mapamobile thing, it gave me a postcode 2 miles away and said i would be within 3.5km of there.
Not really very useful if i was looking for my bike.

My mate tried asked the Vodophone thingy where the nearst pub was. It said over two miles.

Thing was, he was sitting in the pub when he tried it.

[Rave]

Apparently the accuracy of the location depends entirely on how many base stations are in the vicinity of the phone. So out in the countryside it wouldn't work as well. In London it would probably work a bit better, but I'd have to discover that my bike had been nicked before it ended up in a lockup in deepest Essex or somewhere.

Konan- the scooters I was looking at are four strokes, and the 50s can apparently be derestricted up to about 45mph which would do me fine.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TAISHAN-XT-SPO...QQcmdZViewItem

I rode C90s when I was a pizza delivery driver, and although I appreciate that they're a classic design, I found them pretty horrid to ride with that weird front suspension- of course it didn't help that they usually had loose chains and dangerously worn out tyres. I passed my test on a CG125 so I do have experience of both bikes, and I still think a new scooter for £700 wouldn't be a bad deal by any means.

[Tumble]

Most scoots these days will have the same suspension setup on the front unfortunately - leading link or something... makes for not a lot of feel through the bars as to what the front wheel's doing. best off with one thats got the wheel bolted directly to the fork legs... might have a chance of staying shiny side up that way.

[Rave]

The scooter I linked to has telescopic forks.

[TiG]

Apparently the accuracy of the location depends entirely on how many base stations are in the vicinity of the phone. So out in the countryside it wouldn't work as well. In London it would probably work a bit better, but I'd have to discover that my bike had been nicked before it ended up in a lockup in deepest Essex or somewhere.

Its a little bit more complicated than this too, won't go into the detail here, but the accuracy is flexible, and depends what service and what allowances you've got to query the system.

TiG