A Dutch manufacturer is the latest to claim its bike can beat thieves – as insurers warn of a new robbery epidemic

It’s an £800 “bicycle with a brain” that locks itself as soon as its owner steps away and alerts them if a thief tries to tamper with it, while an in-built tracker tells a roving team of “bike hunters” how to retrieve it if it is nicked. Is the Van Moof “smart bike” the answer to cycle thefts – or will determined thieves find a way around it?

More than 250,000 bikes have been stolen in the UK in the past three years – one every six minutes – according to new figures from insurer Direct Line. Theft levels now are about 17% higher than three years ago, it said, with east London the centre of bike crime.

Van Moof joins a string of bike and lock manufacturers claiming to have solved the plague of bike theft. Yerka is the front runner, with an ingenious design that integrates the bike lock into the frame, so if a thief breaks the lock the bike is ruined.

Meanwhile, a US firm has developed a £90 lock that emits a smelly liquid when it is being cut, which makes thieves vomit. It’s called the SkunkLock.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The SkunkLock packs a nasty surprise for any bike thief thinking of trying to cut through it. Photograph: SkunkLock

The new Van Moof smart bike, retailing at £768, comes with a rear-wheel ring lock. When the rider hops off their bike at the end of a journey, the theft-defence system, neatly hidden in the bike’s crossbar, is automatically enabled.

If a thief tries to ride off on the bike, the ring lock kicks in, “all the vital systems are disabled” and an alarm goes off, progressively getting louder. The owner is notified by phone that the bike is on the move, while Van Moof’s bike hunters promise to find it within two weeks – or give you a new bike for free.

“If it goes on the move, the lock-down mode kicks in, turning on the theft defence tracking and alerting our bike hunters,” says Karlijn Marchildon of Van Moof in Amsterdam, where bike theft is as common as it is in the UK.

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She claims their bike hunters tracked one cycle stolen in Paris as far as Casablanca, where they uncovered an industrial-level theft operation.

The design of the bike, with the lights incorporated into the crossbar, is certainly eye-catching. As you approach it, Bluetooth technology recognises you as the owner, and it greets you with a wake-up sound, while disarming the alarm. When Guardian Money took its three-speed version for a test ride, it performed with all the ease and comfort most commuters would expect from a city-style hybrid bike.

The drawback? At £768 it’s a fancy price by most standards. What’s more, the bike hunter feature only kicks in if you pay €100 (£88) a year or €240 for three years. Canny cyclists will spot that you would pay less for an insurance policy to replace it if stolen. And while the alarms and lock-down technology are impressive, there’s still nothing to stop a thief simply picking it up and throwing it in the back of a van. Most city dwellers pay no attention to car and house alarms, and won’t to bike alarms either.

Van Moof acknowledges that the price will put many off, and has introduced a pay-as-you-go system with users putting down a deposit of £279, then paying £18 a month, which includes the bike hunter deal.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the Van Moof bike is that it’s not theft-proof – rather, it is designed to make sure that if it is stolen you will get it back. For a bike that is possibly entirely theft-proof, you might want to consider the Yerka.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Yerka bike secured to a tree. Photograph: Rodolfo Lagos/Rex

The brainchild of a group of students in Chile, it works by turning the bike’s frame into a giant lock. The front tube of the bike’s frame splits in half, and the rider then places the bike around something secure, such as a street pole, before resealing it. The genius of the design is that if a thief wants to steal it, he has to cut through the bike itself – making it unrideable.

Yerka was unveiled in 2015 but the first deliveries to Europe have only begun recently. The €649 (£572) bike does not have any official distributor in the UK yet, but in Hamburg, Germany, bike shop manager Razak Steinbrich of Fahrrad-Café St Pauli says sales are brisk, although some find the locking system takes time to get used to.

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“They are very fresh on to the market, but we’ve sold quite a few and the customers say they are wonderful to ride, bar a few small details,” he says. “On the locking system, people are 50-50. Some find it easier to manage than others.”

Direct Line says there were 93,571 bicycle thefts in the UK last year and 257,000 over the past three years. The most common types targeted by thieves are mountain bikes, making up nearly half of all thefts in the past three years.

How to insure your bike

The cheapest way to insure a bike against theft and damage is to add it to your home contents policy. Aviva says adding a bike worth up to £500 to a policy should only cost around £10. “This will provide cover for theft – assuming it is locked securely to a solid object – anywhere in the world,” it says.

The £10 fee will also cover bikes of the same value for a family of four, so it’s ideal for parents whose children are students at university. “The price does not increase whether individual or for family. This is underwritten, so prices can vary, but most people can expect to pay around £10,” Aviva said.

The big drawback is the excess – the amount you have to pay as part of any claim. So if you have a £100 excess – the lowest level that Aviva allows – and your £250 bike is nicked, you’ll get a £150 payout. If you have a higher excess, such as £250, then it won’t even be worth claiming. What’s more, you’ll have to declare the theft when shopping around for cover the next year – and your premium may rise accordingly.

Numerous insurance companies offer cycle-specific policies, at about £35 to £50 a year for a £500 bike. Excesses are lower, at about £25 to £75. Many will cover racing, personal accident and public liability, for a small extra premium.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mountain bikes make up nearly half of all UK thefts in the past three years. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer

We asked a range of insurers to quote on a £500 Specialized bike, with a London postcode.

• One Pro wanted £35.37 for a year’s cover, with a £50 excess. It also offers one-day insurance – aimed at borrowing very high value bikes – from £12.60 a day.

• Endsleigh charged £48.47 for a year’s cover on a £401-£500 bike for a student, but wanted a lot of details during the online sign-up, including age, university, postcode, parent’s address etc, so this rate may vary a lot. It has a maximum excess of £50.

• ETA Cycle Insurance claims to the be the most ethical and comprehensive insurer. It wanted £61.04 to insure our bike, dropping to £52.35 on a south coast postcode. The excess was £25.

How to keep your bike safe

Gleaming new bikes are a magnet to thieves – so rough yours up. Paint distinctive marks – and better still your postcode – on the frame with enamel paint, or scratch it in. Masking tape on the frame soon turns grey, and an older saddle will help. Replace quick-release wheel skewers with lockable versions.

Register the frame with Bike Register. If police recover your stolen bike, you’ll get it back.

Where you are going to leave it? Busy sites with lots of passing people and CCTV are best. Never, ever leave it overnight.

Use the best lock you can – ideally it should cost 10%-20% of the bike’s cost. A scuffed-up bike with a good lock will usually last. Thieves are lazy and in most cases target cheap locks. If it does go, keep an eye out on eBay and Gumtree.