# An answer to bike thieves?



## porteous (11 Apr 2017)

Has anyone tried one of these? At around £25 I think I will give one a punt!


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## derrick (11 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> Has anyone tried one of these? At around £25 I think I will give one a punt!


One of what?


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## Globalti (11 Apr 2017)

An answer of course!


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## derrick (11 Apr 2017)

Iv'e tried one of these.


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## Rooster1 (11 Apr 2017)

Same


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## roadrash (11 Apr 2017)

I have one but cant find it....


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## GGJ (11 Apr 2017)

I had one, the thieves stole it and left the bike... so I guess it must have worked as intended


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## Yellow Saddle (11 Apr 2017)

What they can't see they can't steal.


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## Markymark (11 Apr 2017)

I have two - one is green and one is yellow. Probably. As I can't see them. But the nice man that sold them to me said they were well worth the £50.


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## ColinJ (11 Apr 2017)

I have 10,000 of _them_ in storage. I'll sell them for £15 including delivery ...


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## Markymark (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> I have 10,000 of _them_ in storage. I'll sell them for £15 including delivery ...


Deal. If the delivery is under £200 I'll go for that too.


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## jefmcg (11 Apr 2017)

42


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## Yellow Saddle (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> I have 10,000 of _them_ in storage. I'll sell them for £15 including delivery ...



How do you count them?


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## ColinJ (11 Apr 2017)

Yellow Saddle said:


> How do you count them?


_Slowly and carefully ... _They are hard to spot so it is easy to lose count!


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## Milkfloat (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> I have 10,000 of _them_ in storage. I'll sell them for £15 including delivery ...



Is that £15 for all, or per unit?


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## ColinJ (11 Apr 2017)

Milkfloat said:


> Is that £15 for all, or per unit?


Per unit, but if they don't sell well I might do a BOGOF offer ...


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## jefmcg (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> _Slowly and carefully ... _They are hard to spot so it is easy to lose count!


But they come in 10 packs, and the retail display units contain 50 packs, so don't you just count those? You can count twenty?


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## Markymark (11 Apr 2017)

God you lot are really dumb. I just divide the weight of my stock by the weight of one. It turns out I have infinity of them.


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## Yellow Saddle (11 Apr 2017)

Markymark said:


> God you lot are really dumb. I just divide the weight of my stock by the weight of one. It turns out I have infinity of them.


You do know that if you divide by zero you run the risk of forming a black hole?


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## Markymark (11 Apr 2017)

Yellow Saddle said:


> You do know that if you divide by zero you run the risk of forming a black hole?


Might be a good place to put the 15,000 I'm buying off @ColinJ as the infinity I have is taking up a singularity in my shed. But, with all things bike, the desired amount is ∞ + 1


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## ColinJ (11 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> But they come in 10 packs, and the retail display units contain 50 packs, so don't you just count those? You can count twenty?


The problem is that they were sold to me by a man who used to work with me. I'm taking his word for how many he delivered to the storeroom ...



ColinJ said:


> I worked in a factory for five years, and from time to time we'd have to do stocktaking. On one such occasion, I was helping a guy in the metal-working area work out how much steel tubing was left. He found that he had 10 lengths of 3.6 metres. I watched for a while as he struggled with the calculation. Finally I offered to help. I looked at his piece of paper and saw that he had written 3.6 ten times and was trying to add the numbers up. I asked why he didn't use multiplication but he didn't understand, so I explained that adding ten of the numbers was the same thing as multiplying by ten. He just looked back blankly and asked exactly how was that supposed to make things easier because nobody learned the 3.6 times table! I shifted the decimal point for him and told him that his answer was 36 metres. After that he kept going on about me being a 'brainbox'! I hadn't realised until that day just how little some people get out of their time at school.


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## Yellow Saddle (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> I worked in a factory for five years, and from time to time we'd have to do stocktaking. On one such occasion, I was helping a guy in the metal-working area work out how much steel tubing was left. He found that he had 10 lengths of 3.6 metres. I watched for a while as he struggled with the calculation. Finally I offered to help. I looked at his piece of paper and saw that he had written 3.6 ten times and was trying to add the numbers up. I asked why he didn't use multiplication but he didn't understand, so I explained that adding ten of the numbers was the same thing as multiplying by ten. He just looked back blankly and asked exactly how was that supposed to make things easier because nobody learned the 3.6 times table! I shifted the decimal point for him and told him that his answer was 36 metres. After that he kept going on about me being a 'brainbox'! I hadn't realised until that day just how little some people get out of their time at school.



I think you knew the answer and are just bragging. What is 2.7 x 10?


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## ColinJ (11 Apr 2017)

Yellow Saddle said:


> I think you knew the answer and are just bragging. What is 2.7 x 10?


2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 = Er, ... it is between 20 and 30, isn't it? 22.7?


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## subaqua (11 Apr 2017)

Yellow Saddle said:


> I think you knew the answer and are just bragging. What is 2.7 x 10?



what Base ?


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## Yellow Saddle (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 + 2.7 = Er, ... it is between 20 and 30, isn't it? 22.7?


Ask someone else, I dont' have my calculator with me. 

Clearly there's a pre-lunch lull going around today.


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## Markymark (11 Apr 2017)

subaqua said:


> what Base ?


This one.


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## Yellow Saddle (11 Apr 2017)

Markymark said:


> This one.
> View attachment 346892



I can't see a bike thief stealing that. It is the true answer.


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## Drago (11 Apr 2017)

The Emperor's new padlock?


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## ColinJ (11 Apr 2017)

Yellow Saddle said:


> Clearly there's a pre-lunch lull going around today.


I have had Internet speed problems for a week or so which _somehow_ resolved themselves last night ** so I am catching up on missed races and messing about on here while waiting for the race action to kick off.



** Please allow me to humiliate myself with an admission of my stupidity ...  

I thought that my PlusNet router was playing up so I went down to my cellar and retrieved a bag of old routers that I had stored down there. I fished out the first router that came to hand (there were 3 in there) and spent nearly an hour messing about trying to set it up. 

I had connected my laptop to the router using an Ethernet cable. The problem was that I couldn't find where the menu entry for the wifi setup was. 

I eventually gave up attempting to work it out and tried to go online to search for instructions. The problem was that I hadn't got the replacement router working yet ...

Damn! I swapped back to the original PlusNet router to use that for the search. I Googled 'name of router' plus 'setup' and didn't even get as far as reading the results because I realised that the results came up on screen almost immediately rather than at the glacial pace that I have been suffering recently. I ran the broadband speed checker which had been indicating 0.5 - 1.0 Mb/s for the past week and - there you go -15.3 Mb/s! The router must have had its iKnickers in a twist and powering it down and rebooting it had fixed the problem. Super!

And then I realised that the old router with the mysteriously hard-to-find wifi setup page is a USRobotics 9003 model. That would be the one I used on TalkTalk back in 2003 _*and which doesn't have a wifi interface*_ ...


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## PeteXXX (11 Apr 2017)

I have one but I can't find it.. I'm sure I left it near the coal shed last week. (on Wednesday, I think)


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## ColinJ (11 Apr 2017)

PeteXXX said:


> I have one but I can't find it.. I'm sure I left it near the coal shed last week. (on Wednesday, I think)


Recycle it! Don't spend an hour or more trying to set up the elusive virtual wifi ... 

(You were talking about a USR 9003 router, weren't you?)


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## ColinJ (11 Apr 2017)

Ooh - cobbletastic fun! I'm off for a few hours now to watch the last 150 km of Paris Roubaix.

Maybe when I return we will have found what the mysterious bike thief deterrent is ...

My vote is for one of these:


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## Drago (11 Apr 2017)

A picture of Diane Abbot?


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## PeteXXX (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> Recycle it! Don't spend an hour or more trying to set up the elusive virtual wifi ...
> 
> (You were talking about a USR 9003 router, weren't you?)


No, I was talking about the thief deterrent that I can't find.
Maybe someone already found it and recycled it, hence the reason I can't locate it!


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## Yellow Saddle (11 Apr 2017)

I reckon @porteous him/herself is invisible.


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## mjr (11 Apr 2017)

subaqua said:


> what Base ?


Ace.


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## subaqua (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> I have had Internet speed problems for a week or so which _somehow_ resolved themselves last night ** so I am catching up on missed races and messing about on here while waiting for the race action to kick off.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Doh .....


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## derrick (11 Apr 2017)

Three pages on and none the wiser.


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## Beebo (11 Apr 2017)

What ever it is, for £25 my bet is it will be useless.
The only real solution is a very heavy expensive lock, or dont leave your bike locked up anywhere.


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## wheresthetorch (11 Apr 2017)

I think it is two tenners and a fiver sellotaped to the the bike with a note saying "please take this instead of my bike".


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## Rooster1 (11 Apr 2017)




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## Tim Hall (11 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> Has anyone tried one of these? At around £25 I think I will give one a punt!





derrick said:


> One of what?



StanleyDerrick, see this. This is this. This ain't something else. This is this. From now on, you're on your own.


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## andrew_s (11 Apr 2017)

Yellow Saddle said:


> I reckon @porteous him/herself is invisible.


Probably be to embarrassed to come back here now


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## jefmcg (11 Apr 2017)

He's been away all day. Watch for embarrassment when he gets back.


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## Rooster1 (11 Apr 2017)

All is forgiven.


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## Drago (11 Apr 2017)

Rooster1 said:


> All is forgiven.



Why? What's Ali been up to?


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## Rooster1 (11 Apr 2017)

Drago said:


> Why? What's Ali been up to?


He borrowed my bike, got me some KOMs, and I haven't seen him since.


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## johnnyb47 (11 Apr 2017)

I just leave a photo of my ex wife on the bike when unattended. It keeps even the most hardened of criminals away through pure fear


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## Dayvo (11 Apr 2017)

This works well - as it does deter them: fortunately, that is, as I don't like the sight of blood, or body parts, near my bikes and would be almost reluctant to use it.


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## snorri (11 Apr 2017)

ColinJ said:


> Per unit, but if they don't sell well I might do a BOGOF offer ...


You can Bog Off with that suggestion , thank you.


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## Will Spin (11 Apr 2017)

I think that what is being referred to is the use of a garden cane similar to those pictured below. When I was a child we used to try to stop people on bikes by inserting one of these through the the spokes of the front wheel. A note of caution though, you need to be certain that it is actually the bicycle thief who is riding the bike otherwise unfortunate consequences may occur. £25 will buy a bundle like the one below, which is probably a whole lifetime's supply.












Bamboo cane



__ Will Spin
__ 11 Apr 2017


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## Yellow Saddle (11 Apr 2017)

Will Spin said:


> I think that what is being referred to is the use of a garden cane similar to those pictured below. When I was a child we used to try to stop people on bikes by inserting one of these through the the spokes of the front wheel. A note of caution though, you need to be certain that it is actually the bicycle thief who is riding the bike otherwise unfortunate consequences may occur. £25 will buy a bundle like the one below, which is probably a whole lifetime's supply.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yes but these are visible.


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## Smokin Joe (11 Apr 2017)

Is "Going to give one a punt" some sort of sordid euphemism?

Maybe that's what he's been doing all day.


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## jefmcg (11 Apr 2017)

Will Spin said:


> A note of caution though, you need to be certain that it is actually the bicycle thief who is riding the bike otherwise unfortunate consequences may occur.


(briefly serious) It's pretty nearly as bad - legally or morally - to maim a bike thief as to maim a regular punter**. Especially as even if the person was a thief, it's unlikely they will get convicted after you have maimed or killed them, so you will not have that defence.
_
**I chose to use the word "punter" even though it didn't really fit, for reasons that were obscure to me. @Smokin Joe's post makes it clear where I got the idea from._


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## Drago (11 Apr 2017)

Only if you're caught.


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## Dayvo (11 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> (briefly serious) It's pretty nearly as bad - legally or morally - to maim a bike thief as to maim a regular punter**. Especially as even if the person was a thief, it's unlikely they will get convicted after you have maimed or killed them, so you will not have that defence.





Drago said:


> Only if you're caught.



Yeah, and who's going to find them 6' feet under in the middle of Epping Forest?


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## Drago (11 Apr 2017)

Feed them to the pigs.


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## Tim Hall (11 Apr 2017)

Drago said:


> Feed them to the pigs.


Goody gumdrops.


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## Salty seadog (11 Apr 2017)

Drago said:


> Feed them to the pigs.





Tim Hall said:


> Goody gumdrops.



"They will go through bone like butter."


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## jefmcg (11 Apr 2017)

I'm starting to worry about @porteous


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## Dayvo (11 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> I'm starting to worry about @porteous



He'll be all right.

He's been here nearly nine years but only made 450 posts, so he's not too prolific a poster.


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## fossyant (11 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> I'm starting to worry about @porteous



He might have been trying an alarm mine, but used a live cartridge !


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## Drago (11 Apr 2017)

Accidentally, of course...


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## classic33 (11 Apr 2017)

fossyant said:


> He might have been trying an alarm mine, but used a live cartridge !


He's seen the other thread, in which case he paid a bit much for it.


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## HLaB (11 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> Has anyone tried one of these? At around £25 I think I will give one a punt!


Its not very effective, I can't see the bike any more


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## Smokin Joe (11 Apr 2017)

HLaB said:


> Its not very effective, I can't see the bike any more


That's what he meant, an invisible bike!!!

Unfortunately he was a bit careless with the invisibility fluid and although he has been posting here all day none of us can see any of them.


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## classic33 (11 Apr 2017)

Drago said:


> Accidentally, of course...


"Wild Eye" would have known better that.


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## classic33 (17 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> Has anyone tried one of these? At around £25 I think I will give one a punt!


You survived then.


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## raleighnut (18 Apr 2017)

Mine still hasn't arrived.


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## classic33 (18 Apr 2017)

raleighnut said:


> Mine still hasn't arrived.


Maybe they left it out at the back, where no-one would see it!


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## Shut Up Legs (18 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> Has anyone tried one of these? At around £25 I think I will give one a punt!


I can confidently say I haven't








got any idea what you're talking about


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## marshmella (18 Apr 2017)

I love this forum, somebody posts something about nothing and theres five pages of discussion...and i've read every post


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## Spoked Wheels (18 Apr 2017)

Lol that was fun to read


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## confusedcyclist (18 Apr 2017)

Markymark said:


> God you lot are really dumb. I just divide the weight of my stock by the weight of one. It turns out I have infinity of them.


Infinity doesn't exist, it's a thought stopper. You must have a finite supply.


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## classic33 (18 Apr 2017)

confusedcyclist said:


> *Infinity doesn't exist, *it's a thought stopper. You must have a finite supply.


Buzz went beyond it, so it's there somewhere.


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## confusedcyclist (18 Apr 2017)

classic33 said:


> Buzz went beyond it, so it's there somewhere.


How can you go beyond something which cannot be reached


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## jefmcg (18 Apr 2017)

confusedcyclist said:


> How can you go beyond something which cannot be reached


Are you fact checking this thread? And Toy Story?


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## confusedcyclist (18 Apr 2017)

Before you know it someone will be telling us Santa doesn't exist...


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## jefmcg (18 Apr 2017)

confusedcyclist said:


> How can you go beyond something which cannot be reached


 The set of integers is infinite but countable. The set of rational numbers is infinite but uncountable. In fact there are infinite rational numbers between 0 and 1. So one could describe rational numbers as being beyond infinity.

Now, how many cycling security devices can dance on the head of a pin?


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## confusedcyclist (18 Apr 2017)

You are right, in that there is potential for infinity... but it doesn't really exist. It's a representation, a human construct. It can never be achieved. 

Now, how fine is that pin head?


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## derrick (18 Apr 2017)

I put my one down and now i can't find it.


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## classic33 (18 Apr 2017)

confusedcyclist said:


> How can you go beyond something which cannot be reached





confusedcyclist said:


> You are right, in that there is potential for infinity... but it doesn't really exist. It's a representation, a human construct. It can never be achieved.
> 
> Now, how fine is that pin head?


Found it!
803
New Hey Rd, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD3 3YP


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## Lee_M (18 Apr 2017)

I ordered one but it was delivered by Yodel who signed for it themselves so I think it might have been thrown over the fence into my garden but I can't find it


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## jefmcg (18 Apr 2017)

confusedcyclist said:


> You are right, in that there is potential for infinity... but it doesn't really exist. It's a representation, a human construct. It can never be achieved.


What? Do we have a future Nobel winner in our presence? No leading physicist is ready to say categorically that the universe is not infinite.

Few of them believe that @Markymark's shed is, though.


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## Dogtrousers (18 Apr 2017)

I'm waiting for next year's model to come out. You'll be able to get these cheaper then. Mind you, I said that last year.


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## classic33 (18 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> The set of integers is infinite but countable. The set of rational numbers is infinite but uncountable. In fact there are infinite rational numbers between 0 and 1. So one could describe rational numbers as being beyond infinity.
> 
> *Now, how many cycling security devices can dance on the head of a pin?*


Can we see them?


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## Markymark (18 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> What? Do we have a future Nobel winner in our presence? No leading physicist is ready to say categorically that the universe is not infinite.
> 
> Few of them believe that @Markymark's shed is, though.


My shed is limitless offering infinite possibilities - although most of those possibilities involve a few bikes and some power tools that I 'needed' at the time of purchase but somehow are gathering dust,.


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## Dogtrousers (18 Apr 2017)

classic33 said:


> Can we see them?


Some of us can. 

There are those who cannot, but they are generally unfit for high office, or particularly stupid.


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## confusedcyclist (18 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> What? Do we have a future Nobel winner in our presence? No leading physicist is ready to say categorically that the universe is not infinite.
> 
> Few of them believe that @Markymark's shed is, though.



Arguing one way or the other is completely, utterly, hopelessly pointless. I was just having some fun.


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## Tim Hall (18 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> The set of integers is infinite but countable. The set of rational numbers is infinite but uncountable. In fact there are infinite rational numbers between 0 and 1. So one could describe rational numbers as being beyond infinity.
> 
> Now, how many cycling security devices can dance on the head of a pin?


Never mind that. Do the management of Hilbert's Hotel let you take your bike into one of its infinite number of rooms?


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## mjr (18 Apr 2017)

Tim Hall said:


> Never mind that. Do the management of Hilbert's Hotel let you take your bike into one of its infinite number of rooms?


Yes, but you have to remove the front wheel and leave it when you change rooms, which is problematic.


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## classic33 (18 Apr 2017)

confusedcyclist said:


> Arguing one way or the other is completely, utterly, hopelessly* pointless.* I was just having some fun.


Make that pin harder to press in then.


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## porteous (19 Apr 2017)

err, been away and didn't notice the small error. Still, it's given you all something to do. I meant this:

https://store.thetrackr.com


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## confusedcyclist (19 Apr 2017)

Looks like it only works if there's another device in it's vicinity, so pointless, unless the thief also carries one? I hear of similar devices, but operating with GPS, the problem is remembering to check the battery and having it work when you really need it, then finding somewhere safe for it to hide, where the thief wouldn't think to look.


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## Markymark (19 Apr 2017)

confusedcyclist said:


> Looks like it only works if there's another device in it's vicinity, so pointless


^^^ this, original thread concluded.

Can we get back to infinity being a human construct in a finite universe? How many sides does my circle have?


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## jefmcg (19 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> err, been away and didn't notice the small error. Still, it's given you all something to do. I meant this:
> 
> https://store.thetrackr.com


You don't actually want our opinions, obviously, or you would have dropped back to learn from us (yes, you have been back to CC before today).

I am also concerned that we are restricting ourselves to just this universe, when there may be an infinity of other universes and indeed our universe may be branching into in multiverses for each random movement of subatomic particles.


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## Markymark (19 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> I am also concerned that we are restricting ourselves to just this universe, when there may be an infinity of other universes and indeed our universe may be branching into in multiverses for each random movement of subatomic particles.


Restricting yourself to the known universe is the only sensible thing to do...else you could end up in a place where time and space does not exist - like Yorkshire.


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## porteous (19 Apr 2017)

Hardly, smart phones are like rats, you are rarely more than 30 yards from one. It is very small and thin although I agree about finding somewhere to hide it. Taped under the saddle might do. Battery life is not bad at a year.


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## confusedcyclist (19 Apr 2017)

@porteous, does it not depend on being connected to an app? Not all smartphone users will carry it, and proliferation of the device and app cannot be relied upon, rendering its intended use as a long range tracking device a bit hopeless.


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## Milkfloat (19 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> Hardly, smart phones are like rats, you are rarely more than 30 yards from one. It is very small and thin although I agree about finding somewhere to hide it. Taped under the saddle might do. Battery life is not bad at a year.



As above - smartphones are ubiquitous, but this app will be lucky to be running on one in a hundred thousand. There are plenty of these style trackers around all with different apps, the best use for them is for finding your keys.


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## glasgowcyclist (19 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> Hardly, smart phones are like rats, you are rarely more than 30 yards from one. It is very small and thin although I agree about finding somewhere to hide it. Taped under the saddle might do. Battery life is not bad at a year.



But not every smart phone user will have downloaded the relevant app. That's only going to be of interest to people who've bought a Trackr for themselves and considering that globally they've only sold 4.5 million, there's only a very small chance of a fellow user being near enough (within 30m) to your target device to help you find it.

I use a small GPS tracker that I can use on various things like my luggage while travelling, my drone, my camera equipment, and my car. I'm still looking for a way to hide on my bike as the saddle rails are preventing me getting it out of sight under there. Battery life is good and I can track it live on the provided website, or just send it to sleep and ping its location as and when I need to know it and it'll send its coordinates back to me (viewable in Google maps).

It doesn't rely on other people or devices as it works just like a mobile phone. In fact, I can call it and listen to whatever's going on in its vicinity. It'd also be good for wandering pets or elderly relatives who might suffer from Alzheimer's.


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## confusedcyclist (19 Apr 2017)

@glasgowcyclist, that looks good, there may one day be trackers designed to fit internally in the frame, the seatpost being an ideal location, sadly as thieves catch on the tracking will no more useful as GPS tracking is on a mobile is now. i.e. they learn switch em off.


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## classic33 (19 Apr 2017)

Markymark said:


> ^^^ this, original thread concluded.
> 
> Can we get back to infinity being a human construct in a finite universe? How many sides does my circle have?


Two


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## classic33 (19 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> You don't actually want our opinions, obviously, or you would have dropped back to learn from us (yes, you have been back to CC before today).
> 
> I am also concerned that we are restricting ourselves to just this universe, when there may be an infinity of other universes and indeed our universe may be branching into in multiverses for each random movement of subatomic particles.


Quarks?


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## jefmcg (19 Apr 2017)

classic33 said:


> Quarks?


Gesundheit.


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## porteous (20 Apr 2017)

glasgowcyclist said:


> But not every smart phone user will have downloaded the relevant app. That's only going to be of interest to people who've bought a Trackr for themselves and considering that globally they've only sold 4.5 million, there's only a very small chance of a fellow user being near enough (within 30m) to your target device to help you find it.
> 
> I use a small GPS tracker that I can use on various things like my luggage while travelling, my drone, my camera equipment, and my car. I'm still looking for a way to hide on my bike as the saddle rails are preventing me getting it out of sight under there. Battery life is good and I can track it live on the provided website, or just send it to sleep and ping its location as and when I need to know it and it'll send its coordinates back to me (viewable in Google maps).
> 
> It doesn't rely on other people or devices as it works just like a mobile phone. In fact, I can call it and listen to whatever's going on in its vicinity. It'd also be good for wandering pets or elderly relatives who might suffer from Alzheimer's.


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## porteous (20 Apr 2017)

I take the point about depending on the take up of apps, but at under £25 I am still very tempted, no running costs apart from annual batteries as far as I can see, and they seem to be selling pretty well, so the "crowd" facility might be good in towns, at least.


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## mjr (20 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> I take the point about depending on the take up of apps, but at under £25 I am still very tempted, no running costs apart from annual batteries as far as I can see, and they seem to be selling pretty well, so the "crowd" facility might be good in towns, at least.


They don't seem to be selling well enough for the crowd facility to be worth a damn. And even that depends on what happens to "TrackR Inc".

Sorry, but I'm going to hammer this point home: even if all 4.5m have been sold in the EU and US and no-one bought multiple TrackRs (unlikely IMO), that's 4.5m out of a population of 835m or about half a percent. So let's say 5¼m people pass through Leicester Rail Station a year, that's an average of less than 17000 per non-Sunday, so maybe 85 Trackr users a day - and that's if the thief is dumb enough to leave the bike within 30m of the gateline of one of the 10th-ish city's rail station and all Trackr users are running the app when they pass through (and I'm not sure why they would unless they hate their phone battery life).

Park it in a back street half a mile away and I suspect it'll see one user every blue moon. Park it in a back garden in a market town and it may never see one. Put it in a container at a self-storage and wait to sell it at a Fresher's Fair the following autumn and the battery will probably have gone flat before it ever sees someone with that app.

It seems like a so-so way to locate stuff you've lost (but the Big Brother cloud/crowd tracking isn't needed for that), but it seems a bit rubbish for tracking stolen bikes even if you can hide it well.

If you think it's a good idea, can I tempt you with some elephant repellant for your bike too?


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## Ming the Merciless (20 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> Has anyone tried one of these? At around £25 I think I will give one a punt!



You do know that ROI joined the euro and that a punt is worthless now?


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## jefmcg (20 Apr 2017)

YukonBoy said:


> You do know that ROI joined the euro and that a punt is worthless now?


If you get good at it, you could earn an average of about £175,000/year.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj1fGrHTls8


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## jefmcg (20 Apr 2017)

Oh, it's TrackR that had the YouTube that really annoyed me. It's the second last line that I found worrying.


View: https://youtu.be/LIMe8cvidGg



Spoiler: the line



"No need to call the police". Yup, you've apparently just found your bike amongst a whole ot of other bicycles, but no need to tell anyone.


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## classic33 (21 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> I take the point about depending on the take up of apps, but at under £25 I am still very tempted, no running costs apart from annual batteries as far as I can see, and they seem to be selling pretty well, so the "crowd" facility might be good in towns, at least.


Do they not still have the map showing the location of users. Nearest to me was five miles away, in a straight line.


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## jonny jeez (21 Apr 2017)

Dayvo said:


> This works well - as it does deter them: fortunately, that is, as I don't like the sight of blood, or body parts, near my bikes and would be almost reluctant to use it.
> 
> View attachment 346936


If you want to get away with it, just use one of these.


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## glasgowcyclist (21 Apr 2017)

porteous said:


> I take the point about depending on the take up of apps, but at under £25 I am still very tempted, no running costs apart from annual batteries as far as I can see, and they seem to be selling pretty well, so the "crowd" facility might be good in towns, at least.




It's your money, your shout.

Here's a map of the TrackR users around Great Malvern (assuming it's near you, going by the given location in your avatar).






I'd point out that their map of users in Isla Vista, "the theft capital of California" where they staged the bike theft demo, has a _much_ higher concentration of app users, yet it took 10 days for him to get a hit from a user who passed close enough to the bike to register its last known position. 

That doesn't fill me with any confidence that it would be £25 well spent.

In any case, it's not an answer to bike thieves if it doesn't prevent them from stealing it in the first place, which TrackR can't do.


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## jefmcg (21 Apr 2017)

glasgowcyclist said:


> In any case, it's not an answer to bike thieves if it doesn't prevent them from stealing it in the first place, which TrackR can't do.


That's what I what I was about to say.

And I am not seeing it working out like it did in the video, at least in European cities. If you are standing in front of a row of terraces, and the proximity alarm is going off, what do you do then? Knock on a few doors, and ask them if they stole your bike? Even if you are *certain* which house it was in, that's not enough for the police to get a warrant. I think the only thing worse than having your bike stolen would be staring into the face of the guy who stole it, who is smiling and lying to you when you know your bike is metres away.



glasgowcyclist said:


> I'd point out that their map of users in Isla Vista, "the theft capital of California" where they staged the bike theft demo, has a _much_ higher concentration of app users,


To be fair, the video was done in 2014 before they did their initial crowd funding, so there would have been a lot less trackrs there at the time.


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## glasgowcyclist (21 Apr 2017)

jefmcg said:


> To be fair, the video was done in 2014 before they did their initial crowd funding, so there would have been a lot less trackrs there at the time.



Fair point.


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## confusedcyclist (21 Apr 2017)

I just checked out the TrackR website, and you can see the network on an interactive map from back in March. It seems reasonable in major urban conurbations at first glance, until you zoom right in to see the individual devices, but within the city of Bradford where I work, there were only 7 devices. Chances of your bike being stored within 30 meters of those is slim. I'm thinking that Bluetooth connectivity is up to 30m, probably not that good in the real world use though. As other's have suggested, unless the bike is stored in direct line of sight outdoors, retrieval still has its issues.


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## classic33 (21 Apr 2017)

YukonBoy said:


> You do know that ROI joined the euro and that a punt is worthless now?


Not quite worthless


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## jefmcg (21 Apr 2017)

confusedcyclist said:


> I'm thinking that Bluetooth connectivity is up to 30m


"up to". My bluetooth headset cuts out pretty sharply after a few metres if there is a wall in the way.


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## porteous (21 Apr 2017)

glasgowcyclist said:


> It's your money, your shout.
> 
> Here's a map of the TrackR users around Great Malvern (assuming it's near you, going by the given location in your avatar).
> 
> ...



Thank you very much. TBH I am surprised at how many are in my area. Clearly if it catches on then the £25 might be more cost effective.


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