Motorbike crime

Gerry.L

So I've decided to get myself a bike (my first bike). And one of the obvious things I need to work on is security.

I dont have a garage So I'm guessing a big ass lock and chain would be a good start... but we all know, no matter how secure something is (not just a bike) if someone puts their mind to robbing it... they are gonna get it.

So my question is, is bike crime high in Ireland? Ive heard about houses being broken into to get keys for the car outside. Or literally people being robbed off their car when they pull up at petrol stations or shops etc...

So is this sort of stuff common in the motorbike world aswell. Or is motorbike crime limited to opportunists.

Lastly, how do you protect your bike?

traco

Get an alarm, then a big chain - best would be almax but expensive and a good ground anchor to lock it to. No harm in having a bike cover on it also as it keeps it out of sight.

Bike crime is a big issue as they can be easily lifted into a van and gone in minutes so make it as immovable as possible, it is happening in broad daylight so don't skimp on security.

Get those few basics right and you'll have them for years, its not that big a deal and once its done you can relax and enjoy the bike.

Best of luck

lord lucan

Mine's chained up outside the gaff. Have the chain locked to a ground anchor and a bike cover over her too. Brake disc on her and tbh that's as much as i can do. If they really really want it they'll get it,all you can do is make it as difficult as possible for them.

Doom

Take the steering wheel off, that should stop them;)

Del2005

Doom wrote: »

Take the steering wheel off, that should stop them;)

Wheels have been removed to steal bikes. They aren't that heavy and if they really want it they'll take it.

traco wrote: »

Get an alarm, then a big chain - best would be almax but expensive and a good ground anchor to lock it to. No harm in having a bike cover on it also as it keeps it out of sight.

Bike crime is a big issue as they can be easily lifted into a van and gone in minutes so make it as immovable as possible, it is happening in broad daylight so don't skimp on security.

Get those few basics right and you'll have them for years, its not that big a deal and once its done you can relax and enjoy the bike.

Best of luck

+1

If possible keep it in a solid shed, not a Barna type, or at least at the back of you're house behind a high locked gate. It's all about making it as tough as possible for the scum so that they'll move onto an easier one to steal.

Tomohawk

- Park it "off street" if you can.
- Cover it up with a rain cover (and don't clean the cover - keeps prying eyes away).
- Always put the steering lock on.
- Always turn off the fuel tap (An opportunist thief may run out of petrol not far away and abandon it if you're lucky)
- Chain it to something solid. Use the best chain you can afford. Use 2 seperate chains and 2 locks if you can. Never just chain the bike to itself as 3 lads in a van will easily lift it in and can undo all your security in the peace and quiet of their own lockup or garage.
- Never just chain the bike to itself. Arrgh, point worth repeating.
- Park under a CCTV if you live in an apartment but no guarantees with this one!

- Don't own a desireable bike...works for a lot of bikers and scooterists! www.ratbike.org if you need more info

thewatch

Depends where you live. Keep it out of view is the best advice

Fabritzo

Most of the new ones have immobilisers as standard like Honda's HISS, try get a bike that cant be started with a screw driver.

carsQhere

All good points above. I'd add this...

For small money, you can install a DIY bike alarm. Simple to do if you ignore the immobiliser type and go for a basic movement sensor one like this: http://www.motorbikealarm.co.uk/

No point spending big money on an alarm, it'll only be any good if you can hear it anyway, nobody else will care. If the alarm has a visual warning like a flashing LED or such, hide it.

Don't bother with flimsy chains. I had one cropped by an electric cropper tool, but the alarm saved the bike. These days I use Almax kits, one at home, one at work. Sorted. See: http://www.almax-security-chains.co.uk/

Run_to_da_hills

If you are using a decent almax you might also need a top box to carry iy with, a decent size MK4 19mm kit weighs a ton and is not a thing you carry in your back pack.

Gerry.L

More Questions

What about security when your out and about. Example:

Its Sunday morning and its time for mass.

Do you just park outside the chapel and take the key with you and hope for the best or do you go looking for a lamp post somewhere and get your chain and lock out?

And just on a similar note. Has any of ye ever came back to find your bikes vandalised...?

Thanks for all the other answers by the way....

Del2005

Gerry.L wrote: »

More Questions

What about security when your out and about. Example:

Its Sunday morning and its time for mass.

Do you just park outside the chapel and take the key with you and hope for the best or do you go looking for a lamp post somewhere and get your chain and lock out?

Always lock it to something if possible, 2 people can lift a bike into a van. But don't lock it to something too far out of the way where people can cut the lock(s) without being noticed.

And just on a similar note. Has any of ye ever came back to find your bikes vandalised...?

Thanks for all the other answers by the way....

Luckily not yet. People will sit on it if it's near a doorway where crowds gather and can do damage. Not much you can do about it, bar getting a proximity alarm.

It's all about compromises, you don't want to leave it too far out of the way where people can easily steal/vandalise it and you don't want to leave it too close to where people congregate as it could be damaged.

Best bet is to park where you've seen other (undamaged:D) bikes park before.

antiskeptic

Gerry.L wrote: »

Lastly, how do you protect your bike?

Since every bike bar my last has been stolen, I've come to learn how



Out and about: by stealth rather than strength:

A decent disc lock to stop it being wheeled away, park well into a busy, policed pedestrianised zone (eg: mid grafton street) and a discrete nyloc nut/bolt through a hole in the rear disc. It's not that the bolt wouldn't be eventually seen but tea-leaves probably wouldn't have a spanner and allen key with them


At home: by sheer brute strength. I've made a ground anchor out of steel plate where there is no surface less than one inch thick to be cut through. The bar that goes through the front wheel is an inch in diameter and there is anti-axle removal included. The weakest point is the bar through the front axle and I was thinking of drilling it out hollow, filling with petrol and plugging shut...:)

You could cut through it with a torch but you'd be quit a while and would melt the front wheel in the process. Other than that, it's virtually impregnable


ps: I wouldn't bother spending a fortune on a top of the range lock and chain. As far as battery-powered angle grinders, petrol-powered consaws and oxy-acetylene torches are concerned, cheap steel is as easy to cut through as expensive steel. I've the bits of a 200 quid lock and chain to prove it.

Cuddlesworth

antiskeptic wrote: »

At home: by sheer brute strength. I've made a ground anchor out of steel plate where there is no surface less than one inch thick to be cut through. The bar that goes through the front wheel is an inch in diameter and there is anti-axle removal included.

You could cut through it with a torch but you'd be quit a while and would melt the front wheel in the process. Other than that, it's virtually impregnable

Bet a consaw would go through that bar. But at the point where somebody is willing to use that level of force, they can have the bike.

antiskeptic

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Bet a consaw would go through that bar. But at the point where somebody is willing to use that level of force, they can have the bike.

I haven't got a photo but you wouldn't get a consaw or angle grinder to it to cut it - not without cutting through a good chunk of 1/2" steel plate (protecting the axle from removal) first.

A oxy/acet torch would be about the only practical way (one bike of mine was nicked this way by a crowd using a portable oxy-acet set, then again, it was only a chain they had to contend with). I was thinking of making the bar through the wheel from a number of tubes slipped inside one another (you can't really cut through layered steel in which air gaps exist with an oxy torch) but figured folk wouldn't be prepared to spend the amount of time it would take to cut through it as it is.

One of the best things about it is the peace of mind it gives.

antiskeptic

Gerry.L wrote: »

More Questions

What about security when your out and about. Example:

Its Sunday morning and its time for mass.

Do you just park outside the chapel and take the key with you and hope for the best or do you go looking for a lamp post somewhere and get your chain and lock out?

And just on a similar note. Has any of ye ever came back to find your bikes vandalised...?

Thanks for all the other answers by the way....

I made the mistake of hiding one bike round the back of my workplace - away from any chance of the thieves being rumbled. Then again, I'd not rely much on the bike being in plain view of the public: I once worked as a bike mechanic and went to pick up a breakdown in a battered old Transit. We lifted the bike from the median in O'Connell St. without anyone saying a dickie bird to us.

A far away from lift-into-van as you can with any non-obvious anti-wheeling device you can think of. The unusual will more likely stump a thief than the most expensive lock they've been through any number of times before.

Cuddlesworth

antiskeptic wrote: »

I haven't got a photo but you wouldn't get a consaw or angle grinder to it to cut it - not without cutting through a good chunk of 1/2" steel plate (protecting the axle from removal) first.

A oxy/acet torch would be about the only practical way (one bike of mine was nicked this way by a crowd using a portable oxy-acet set, then again, it was only a chain they had to contend with). I was thinking of making the bar through the wheel from a number of tubes slipped inside one another (you can't really cut through layered steel in which air gaps exist with an oxy torch) but figured folk wouldn't be prepared to spend the amount of time it would take to cut through it as it is.

One of the best things about it is the peace of mind it gives.

Sweet jesus. do you live in Limerick by any chance?

antiskeptic

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Sweet jesus. do you live in Limerick by any chance?

Nope. But now that you mention it, Finglas comes to mind as the significant location for the various bikes I've had stolen over the years. Two bikes were recovered by the Guards and it was to Finglas I went to pick them up (indeed, two days after a bike was stolen, I got a call from them to they'd recovered a bike registered to my name. I went over to pick it up only to discover the bike they had was the bike-before-last-stolen ). Two others were stolen in the Finglas area (incl. the one using the portable oxy-acetylene set). I wouldn't leave a bike out of my sight there anymore - not if locked, not if welded down, not if the wheels taken off....