Muc-Off's Clever New Product Allows You to Hide an Apple AirTag in Your Wheel
Muc-Off has introduced a new way to stow an Apple AirTag on your bike, completely hidden and not easily removed by bike thieves. The new Stealth Secure Tag Holder is a covert tracking solution, hidden inside the tire of a tubeless-compatible mountain or gravel bike.
According to a study from Direct Line Insurance, in the five months between April and August 2020, there were more than 110,000 bike thefts in the UK. As for the United States, bike registration specialists 529 Garage reported that there are over two million bike thefts every year. Locks, alarm systems, and insurance have historically been the best ways to protect your prized possession, but with the release of the Apple AirTag in April of 2021, we've seen an additional way to keep tabs on your bike.
There have been a couple of different companies that have released products that allow you to hide an Apple AirTag on your bike, including the Ninja Mount that hides the AirTag under your saddle and Project4AGZE's holder that mounts under your water bottle. Muc-Off also has a similar product called the Secure Tag Holder which allows you to install a tracker to your frame using the bottle cage mounting holes, so you can track down your bike down in the event of theft and locate it.
 | Technologies like the Apple Airtag can be a great defense against would-be bike thieves. This is what led us to develop our Tag Holders, we wanted to give riders secure and thief-proof ways of fixing the tracker to their bikes. The newest offering – the Stealth Tubeless Tag Holder - is a completely unique undercover solution unlike anything we have seen on the market so far. We will continue to embrace emerging technologies to enhance every rider experience, as we continue our exciting program of innovation in the future. |
The Apple AirTag (not included) on the Stealth Secure Tag Holder is housed in a protective, 3-part silicone and rubber tubeless valve mount and supplied with a range of tubeless valve bases, so you can ensure an airtight seal is achieved against the rim when installing inside a tubeless tire.
Also built-in to protect the rim and the AirTag from high-impacts is a sacrificial stem that compresses and rebounds under extreme loads. Although the holder will absorb impacts, Muc-Off says it is secure to the valve with a durable stem mount which allows sealant and air to flow through the valve as usual and will not rattle inside the rim and tire.
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The Apple AirTag itself works by allowing users to track any item from their phone, using the Find My app. Once activated, any item to which the tag is connected appears on the radar within the app, so you can track down your bike by looking on the map.
If the thief has an iPhone, their iPhone will notice when an AirTag is separated from its owner and is travelling without you and send the thief an alert. This is an anti-stalking mechanism. After a while, if the thief hasn't found the tag, it will start playing a sound to show where it is. Regardless, the AirTag hidden in the wheel should give you more time to alert the authorities and hopefully recover your bike than other options.
The Stealth Tubeless Tag Holder retails via Muc-Off distribution network and at muc-off.com for £14.99/€19.99/$19.99 and as part of a kit which includes a set of black Muc-Off 44mm Tubeless Valves for £34.99/€42.99/$44.99.
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What a coincidence, she has an AirTag on your wallet so she and your best bud know when it's time for them to put the party planning on hold and rush home before you arrive. "Oh hi honey, how was your day? I'm just going to hop in the shower, I'm all sweaty after my run..... again."
Would probably be a decent accessory for commuter bikes though, which quite frankly are probably more likely to get stolen on a regular basis.
so no I wouldnt recommend it, but sometimes you just need to get home or at least to civilisation/ mobile reception to bum a lift
Agree: "...After a while, if the thief hasn't found the tag, it will start playing a sound to show where it is..."
Does it communicate with your phone? In which case it needs a sim too. If it communicates directly via bluetooth for example, that's pretty useless. Or does it communicate with its own receiver? In which case you can add a bulky receiver and £600 to the cost of the bike.
It's an easy solution to suggest until you consider what it actually involves.
With this changing the battery means dismounting the tire…
youtu.be/aLtWN1Mp2Qc
1.Inside aluminium stem. Signal completely blocked (useless)
2 inside carbon bb signal distance lowered to 21m
3 onhead of metal seatpost 23m
4 in plastic 3d print bottle cage mount. So basically outside of bike. Best range at 35m ( a bit obvious for the smart thief)
People have successfully recovered bikes by having mounted 2 tags. Thief removed one before taking bike to home location of their own phone and then 2nd tag pinged location
On top of metal seatpost was not visible to thief but outside of frame ( all shown in his video)
Having it taped to saddle would be easier for thief to spot and remove if the thief was smart ,
@LokiTheCat:
Not knocking this Muc Off product, it's actually quite smart aside from this Apple flub.
If someone else’s AirTag finds its way into your stuff, your iPhone will notice it’s travelling with you and send you an alert. After a while, if you still haven’t found it, the AirTag will start playing a sound to let you know it’s there.
So I would say they will know long before they get home.
This is human innovation at its best:
1. Make a really useful device to find lost things.
2, Realize that people are such f*cking pieces of shit they will exploit it to hurt others.
3. Make said device less useful.
“An AirTag away from its owner for eight to 24 hours will play a sound to alert you to its presence, letting you know if someone has illicitly stuck an AirTag in your belongings.”
@warmerdamj:
Because sure, everyone wishes to be obliged to check back on its belonging every hour or so. Like the whole purpose of deciding to rely on a tech solution wouldn't just not be to avoid that. Freakin' Apple genius.
I've got books to bind in the softest leathers.
- Baseball bat
Two problems with having it in the tire:
- Low Psi-setups over rocks or roots seems a menacing risk to the airtag being smashed
-Flats
In general:
Airtags not being paired with your personal iOS devices notify you that someone elses is travelling with you after about 45 minutes to an hour. Experiencing this with my Airpods Pro from work that i take home with my work-MacBook.
Tire issues - these can happen and you might destroy a couple of Airtags.
Notifications - at least you will have about an hour to see where your bike is headed, in case it hasn’t been discovered.
Or … the thief does not have an iOS device.
Probably the best solution would be if the industry would settle on a technological GPS-tracking and Owner-ID standard, similar to what VanMoof is doing integrated in frames.
But you know … standards. Looking at you, UDH.
support.vanmoof.com/en/support/solutions/articles/44001778607-how-does-the-anti-theft-tracking-work
You’ve arrived home, as determined by the address set for the Me card in Contacts.
You’ve arrived at a “significant location,” explained below.
It’s the end of the day (whatever that means), even if you haven’t gone home or to a significant location.
What’s a “significant location?” Your iPhone and iPad track locations that they believe have some relevance to you, whether you’ve visited once or every day for a month.
Also:
At a random interval after 8 to 24 hours, the AirTag plays a sound. The sound recurs every so often thereafter.
Still have the problem of alerting the thief, but I bet most thieves wouldn't think to open up a suspension fork. They'll just destroy the rest of the bike trying to find it, lol.
Steer tube mount option works for me.
Damn Faraday cage.
@SvenNorske: