Motorbike security

biggsy137

Right then, after several years of umm-ing and ahh-ing over getting a bike, I'm finally setting off on my journey - got my CBT booked for a couple of weeks time so starting to look at bikes...

Now, as makes sense, also trying to budget for security of it too - don't want some scumbag making off with my new toy!
So, can anyone recomend the best way of securing such a beast.
I have heard that disc locks are actually a waste of money - more of a deterant.
Obviously a ground anker is the best, however as I am renting at the minute and will pobably have to move again soon, it's probably not too practical at the minute for this.
I'm thinking alarm/immobaliser and some form of chain or U lock?

So any advice of what to look at and from what manufacturers? I'm looking towards middle of the range I recon - I know it can be a case of how deep are your pockets!

Cheers All!

ciano125

Google "Almax Chains". That's all you need to know. Everything else can be cropped.

fivetide

Most things are a matter of time. Something you can chain to is important. Otherwise it can be lifted into a van, chain in place.

A decent cover will help too. Keep it under wraps and out of site. Alarms are not too much use I don't think, most people ignore them and on a bike, they hammer the battery.

Good dics locks are not as bad as they once were so have another look at those.

5t.

brokenant

Most bikes are nicked by being lifted into the back of a van so no matter how good your security if its not chained to something its useless, decent ground anchor is a must
AlMax is the only chain worth bothering with, price wise not horrendous, what's an extra hundred so your 3 grand bike doesn't get nicked.
For piece of mind the only other thing you can't do without is fully comp insurance.

Keith

As above Almax with a ground anchor.

forgotmyname

One thing to watch is if you leave your lock attached to anything they will come along and jam it up preventing you from locking your bike.

If your moving soon dont buy it yet. You wont want to spend ages setting an anchor in concrete and have to remove it soon.

If you have a cover be wary if its been moved, Brother in law's landlord said he had put his cover back on several times that week and a few days later the bike was stolen.

Sussing out his security, Left one chain attached to a post and the lock was stuffed with metal and superglue.

boyse7en

Put a cover over it, use a decent chain and make sure it is attached to something suitably solid. Thieves won't worry about an alarm, they can lift the bike into a Transit in about 20 seconds and be gone before anyone even bothers to look.

If it a decent bike, a tracker device helps to find the bike if it gets pinched (uses the mobile phone network to alert you and to triangulate position)
http://www.tracker.co.uk/TRACKER/ProductDetails/Motorcycle.aspx (others brands may be available)

biggsy137

Cheers for the advice!
So sounding like an alarm is not necisserily worth the extra cost (although the most likely option to bring insurance down)
Good chain and ground anchor is the best option, Is a disk lock worth getting as an addition?

We have a brick pillar at my current place with metal railings comming off it, so that would seem like an obvious temporary alternative to a ground anchor for the time being.

What to people tend to use when out and about? Lamp posts and the likes of for putting a chain around?

(Sorry for the naieve questions, I've never really though about all this til now as I've always driven! Suddenly there's a lot more to think about than I first thought!)

Keith

I never used to bother whilst out and about... I had an alarm but knew it was worthless, a disc lock the front wheel can be lifted or the lock chopped.

Where I parked was nothing to lock to so it was pointless.

boyse7en

Most insurance companies won't do a discount for alarms any more. They know they don't work very well.

Cash-Strapped.T32

First things first - Good man. :cool:

Right, now that's said I would advise that the first line of defence really, is by not having a bike that's boy-racer bait & that every little scrote within 30mi will be trying to nick.
Something like a Yammy Vigaro, or a Suzuki GN will tool around town, cost peanuts to run & ought not to bring them sniffing from miles around, particularly if this is your fist bike (max 125cc so unless it's like a Yammy R125 then it's never going to be a beast anyway).
As for autos, Gilera Runners, particularly 2-stroke examples are like crack to them. :mad:

As for actual security; Where exactly will be parked?
Garage? (ideal)
Shed? (next best)
Back yard? (covered)
Street-parking? (oh dear)

I ask because these will have a major bearing on security.
Boy7 & broken both make a very good point;
Back of a transit? Job done.

Even in the middle of the daytime in a busy town, a bloke in a crash helmet or some leathers can load a bike into a van & be off in 30secs, and if the alarm goes off, who the hell is going to do anything in that time? Gah, makes me mad.

I would suggest chains & locks in the main; ok, in some crime spots you'll even get people going out with power tools, but I would hazard it's harder to angle-grind about 2 or 3 heavy duty chains than it is to simply move quickly before the sound wakes up too many people.
(and even then they'll just be angry for having been woken, let alone bother to look out the window).

That's why street-parking, or on those bitty little front yards is such a problem.




Secondly, different people will likely try to pinch different bikes.
As a leaner, you'll be on a 125, max.

That would make me suspect that rather than the pro-gangs that go for Italian & Japanese sportbikes for stripping-down, you'll be more on the lookout for chavlings & chavistas trying to get a leg over & joy-ride for the night, due to it being a small bike with l-plates, the kind of theft that ends up with the bike being torched, or pushed into a ditch.

In that instance, I believe an alarm might help, because mostly joy-ride thefts are pretty opportunistic, even if they suss-out a target first, it's unlikely they'll come armed with pro tools.
An alarm wah-wahing down the street might cause them to either give up & leg it, or dump it quite soon, as well as waking you up (hopefully) to come looking with a frying pan.



I also agree a tracker is a nice touch, but I don't like the idea of one of those horrible subscription solutions.
Actually, our company use the same brand as shown in that link iirc (Tracker I think, might be wrong though), the company who run it are useless whoever they are.

We had phone calls coming in saying the van was being joy-ridden though town (load flying off the back, etc..) the driver himself borrowed a mobile to say his van had been stolen, but the company concerned wouldn't even turn the thing on until the police had contacted them separately, which can take as long as you like with the police.
I asked our transport manager a few weeks later & it'd been dumped before it was tracked, they actually got the position from a phone-call about an abandoned van.

Better imo to buy one yurself & use a PAYG simcard (about £80 on ebay last time I checked, and it only costs you the price of a text each tme it reports it's GPS co-ords), or even a gps equipped smartphone will do;

Nearly all of them have free apps that you can run which will alert you via SMS to your "main" phone if it's being stolen, if it's GPS co-ords change, & let you "ping" the phone & send you it's position by text - The kind of program originally designed to alert you if the phone itself is stolen or lost.

I have long planned to do this, & simply set it to silent mode then wire the phone into the bikes wiring permanently ujsing the charger, so if it ever does go walkies I can just follow it using my own phone + gmaps or whatever - but because of the cost (not a deal, but not just pocket money) I'm putting this off because I really see it as something of a "luxury".


End of the day though, don't let any of this put you off too much because it’s a very good move to make, financially & practically - I'm just trying to be complete so don't let the massive long reply make you think the dangers are endless. :eek:
Fivetide's basic advice is probably the single most effective thing any of us can do; Out of sight, out of mind.



Personally, I always park with the bicycles & use a fairly heavy chain around a pole or lamp-post; In supermarkets you tend to get all the bikes up near the trolly-ranks (check next time you go to one).
In fact, check when you're out & about various places & you'll quickly spot the places where bikes tend to park up so as to always butt up to the good locking spots.

Best of luck, whatever you do mate.