A GPS antenna is very small, or you could conceal it in a plastic fairing that wouldn't block signals as strongly as metal. Wouldn't work inside, but you'd be able to track the thing until it entered a building.
That said, a track-and-arrest system may not work: Some publication had a "inside bike theft" article a while ago where they embedded themselves with actual bike thieves. The ones doing most of the theft in their article had sold the bike again within an hour of stealing it, usually for cash in a big open-air market.
I guess you could nail the person buying the stolen bike for possession of stolen goods, but that doesn't _entirely_ help the problem, as the thief is still free and flush with his cash. Arresting law-abiding people for buying what to them is just a used bike wouldn't be a very popular or effective policy. It'd slightly depress used-bike prices by curtailing demand a bit but probably not catch any big-time thieves.
Edit or maybe my pessimism isn't warranted. If the cops are running the GPS program and pay close attention, looks like it's effective.
STAC Zero Trainer - Zero noise, zero tire contact, zero moving parts. Suffer in Silence starting fall 2016
That said, a track-and-arrest system may not work: Some publication had a "inside bike theft" article a while ago where they embedded themselves with actual bike thieves. The ones doing most of the theft in their article had sold the bike again within an hour of stealing it, usually for cash in a big open-air market.
I guess you could nail the person buying the stolen bike for possession of stolen goods, but that doesn't _entirely_ help the problem, as the thief is still free and flush with his cash. Arresting law-abiding people for buying what to them is just a used bike wouldn't be a very popular or effective policy. It'd slightly depress used-bike prices by curtailing demand a bit but probably not catch any big-time thieves.
Edit or maybe my pessimism isn't warranted. If the cops are running the GPS program and pay close attention, looks like it's effective.
STAC Zero Trainer - Zero noise, zero tire contact, zero moving parts. Suffer in Silence starting fall 2016