Bicycle Datadots - Review

[jarrah]

After buying a new bicycle recently, the bike store I bought it from gave me a pamphelet about bicycle datadots as a strategy for theft prevention.

I had a read and didn't really think about it again until recently. I'm competing in a couple tris coming up and don't want to risk my bike "walking" out of the transition area without me.

So I went back and bought a datadot kit (www.bicycledna.com) and here's what I think:

1) There is no way the number of dots in the can is enough for 3 bikes as is claimed by the datadot literature.
2) That is, if you can get the datadots out of the can. In mine they were stuck down at the bottom of the can in the adhesive - which was too far for the applicator to reach! I left the can standing upside down overnight in the hopes that gravity would do the trick, but ended up running the datadot can under hot water to warm the adhesive in the can and then banging it repeatedly on a desk whilst upside down to dislodge the dots.

Applying is as easy as they claim though - if you do it quick enough so that the adhesive doesn't coagulate and become too hard and dry to actually stick.

And the claim that the datadots are nearly invisible against most surfaces (but better against dark ones) is a miswording - more like it's only invisible on a black/dark grey surface, anything else and they are bleedingly obvious - forget "dotting" all your expensive shimano ultegra/dura ace componentry, it will be easily obvious wherever the dots have been applied on that type of surface.

I'm not sure if the decal the kit comes with that says "Protected by Datadot Technology" and the awfully-obvious dots will be as much of a deterrent as they should be, but here's hoping!


jarrah

 

[jur]

Please forgive for being sceptical about the success of this product. Is there any police data that show this is working? If I were a thief, I wouldn't care less if there were dots on it; I would simply part the bike out and flog the bits off. Moreover, UV lights are a dime a dozen these days. So one could go over the parts you are selling to spot any UV glue.

But perhaps real thieves think differently about it. However they are not known for their brilliance so would still walk away with the bike, perhaps getting caught. Like that idiot who stole a cartoon artist's old beater bike a month or so ago, he drew a caricature of the thief resulting in him getting nabbed.

 

[jarrah]

If I were a thief, I wouldn't care less if there were dots on it; I would simply part the bike out and flog the bits off. Moreover, UV lights are a dime a dozen these days. So one could go over the parts you are selling to spot any UV glue.

True. The instructions say that you put a few of the dots in obvious places, and a lot in unobvious places - and of course on all removable parts.

It's supposed to be just another deterrent - when the thief goes to steal the bike they will weigh up whether or not it is worth their effort trying to locate every dot and remove it, from all the parts, and risk not finding all the concealed ones, just to try and sell them.