Having a motorbike fitted with a microchip will not protect it from theft, according to insurers and bike dealers.

The chips, which have been in use since November 1996, have not led to significant declines in cycle theft, they said yesterday.

Quintonio Ratteray, of motorcycle shop World Distributors, said the microchips are not as useful as people might think. His shop has stopped importing them.

The microchips were worth $50 each and were added to the cost of cycles purchased at the store. But they were so ineffective that customers were not requesting them and the company stopped carrying them.

He explained that there is no central tracking station to locate bikes which have been fitted with the device, and noted Police would have to be physically near the stolen bike to locate it with the held-hand scanner.

Joe Barroso, of BF&M Insurance, explained a major flaw with the system was that bikes were often stolen for parts.

"If the bike gets stripped, the microchip is of no use to anyone,'' he said.

But Bridan Matcham, president and managing director at World Distributors, pointed out the advantages of the microchip.

"It simply identifies the owner of the property,'' he said. "It cannot stop your vehicle from being stolen.'' Mr. Matcham also noted that when stolen cycles are recovered, those that contain a microchip are able to be more quickly identified by Police.

All purchased chips are given a number, and linked in a computerised data base with a name and address.