Advances in technology will see thieves turn their noses up at some of the latest e-bike models with anti-theft electronics.
It is aimed at preventing the sale of components as well as the bike.
Often the crooks that pinch your bike don’t intend to sell it whole: that can be too risky.
There is more cash to be generated and less threat of gaol time if the expensive bits are stripped and sold online.
Soon your new e-bike will have software that can ‘sign’ the parts of your bike so that anyone offered them can identify that they have been stolen.
Bosch recently announced that their e-bike system and related Flow app will allow riders to mark their bike, its battery, motor and display as stolen.
This makes stolen components permanently identifiable across the brand’s digital eco-system – meaning that second-hand buyers, dealers and authorities will get an instant warning when attempting to connect to the e-bike via the e-bike Flow app, including serial numbers of the components marked as stolen.
This effectively makes the bike worthless to thieves. Anyone who tries to pair the bike with the app will know that it is stolen, and even if the thief has the app, they will not be able to take control of the bike.
And if the bike was taken to a dealer, on the dealer's Bosch Diagnostic Tool, a warning is displayed.
The e-bike can be marked as stolen with just a few clicks in the app, and only the registered owner can remove the flag once the e-bike is recovered. This action also provides the option to immediately create a theft report for the police.
These new software features, provided free via the app, are in addition to Bosch’s other anti-theft features such as e-bike electronic locking, digital battery lock and GPS e-bike alarm.
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