New bike in Dublin. What anti theft measures do you use?

CJhaughey

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

Is it just me or does anyone else prefer not to get a bike back if it was robbed? I would rather just get the insurance money then get a bike back in bits that some scumbag rallied all night!!!

No thanx, would have no confidence in that machine anymore.....

What if it was taken in a van? Not started and you would still be able to get it back.

Wonda-Boy

CJhaughey wrote: »

What if it was taken in a van? Not started and you would still be able to get it back.

Yeah that would be fine....just aslong as it had not been redlined all night.

KT10

Doylers wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a place that fits GPS trackers? Don't know if I want to play with electronics myself and kill the bike :P

If you're looking for a professional solution, I can send you a number for a contact who does our fleets of vans, he's ordering in GPS units for us on the bikes, apparently very high spec.

€300 fitted I think and €170 a year for the tracking service.

I'm himing and hawing about it, want to see one working before I pull the trigger.

Hotblack Desiato

Too easy to defeat trackers I think. Unlikely to work well in a van (faraday cage) or other hiding places like steel containers, underground car parks.

Cuddlesworth

I remember working near the flats in Ballymun and seeing a couple of Gardai riot vans pull up one day. The Gardai, with a couple of council workers, emptied the lock ups at the bottom of the flats. The amount of bikes that came out was unreal. A couple of hours later the lads started filling them back up again.

My bikes worth 2k. I'm not sticking a tracker on it, putting cameras on it or attaching a ton of alarms to it. It has a Almax chain to a ground anchor. That's all its worth.

CJhaughey

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Too easy to defeat trackers I think. Unlikely to work well in a van (faraday cage) or other hiding places like steel containers, underground car parks.

Yes that is true, but that one in the article had a last known position feature where the last position known is given.
GPS commonly give signals through the tin roof of a car, they don't block as much as you'd think.

KT10

CJhaughey wrote: »

Yes that is true, but that one in the article had a last known position feature where the last position known is given.
GPS commonly give signals through the tin roof of a car, they don't block as much as you'd think.

Yeah but you can pick up a GPS jammer fairly easily...

Its a bit above the average scrote looking for something to rally around, but a pro out looking for a bike to order...

KTR1C

I have a GPS tracker, alarm and immobiliser. Its also in a fairly secure garage with cameras. The tracker also uses the phone network for backup and when its pulled out of the bike will transmit its location for up to 10 days.

Saying that, like a couple of others here, I dont want it back if its been stolen. I will however break the legs of the scrote that takes it.

cerastes

zubair wrote: »

Lots of good advice on alarms, anchors and locks etc. I'll add that a motorbike cover is also a deterent for street or underground parking.

Out of sight I suppose, I dont put the cover on my bike when its parked, not that I had one to protect its value, the exhaust is hot and it seems like Im only going to melt the thing or start it burning.
Im still not so sure how much of a deterent it is? I suppose it might mean someone has to go to the extra hassle of checking to see if its worth stealing, but if they already know who parls what there anyway??

I was already going to post a thread about bike security. While locking my bike to a post, someone suggested to me how anyone would anyone move it even if it wasnt locked, and that I was wasting my time. On the face of it, it doesnt seem easy, but I prefer to lock at least one wheel. Again my chain is heavy but being no name rubbish, so its just to deter for appearances and to slow down all but the determined, in which case they'd probably have it unless I had all but the best of lock/chains.

Cienciano wrote: »

And always put on your steering lock.

I do but is it worth anything? I only do it to make it more inconvenient for someone that might attempt to take it or slow them down enough that I or someone else will notice or intervene, again I can only see someone taking it to joyride it and not for desirability, and of course the inconvenience to me.

KTR1C wrote: »

I have a GPS tracker, alarm and immobiliser. Its also in a fairly secure garage with cameras. The tracker also uses the phone network for backup and when its pulled out of the bike will transmit its location for up to 10 days.

Saying that, like a couple of others here, I dont want it back if its been stolen. I will however break the legs of the scrote that takes it.

even if its hit with a hammer and dunked in water?

KT10

cerastes wrote: »

I do but is it worth anything? I only do it to make it more inconvenient for someone that might attempt to take it or slow them down enough that I or someone else will notice or intervene, again I can only see someone taking it to joyride it and not for desirability, and of course the inconvenience to me.

Think of it like this, if your bike is parked next to another bike, and you have a chain and disk lock on, the steering lock on, and the other bike has just been parked up and left there, which one will the scummer go for first?

Any measure, no matter how small, could be the difference between a scumbag thinking to himself, "I'll have that." or "Not worth the effort."

I worked in Naas years ago and a guy had his beautiful R1 nicked on the weekend the Superbikes were in Mondello. I got the CCTV footage for him, no security measures, not even the steering lock, what can be seen on-screen was:

Lad walks up to bike, picks it up off the sidestand, rolls it 10 feet forward to the curb.
Transit van had appeared, rear doors open as bike approaches, 2 lads hop out, grab the front and lift it into the van.
Front in, one lad helps the first guy lift the rear in, doors close, van drives away.

All this happened in, literally, less then 10 seconds. :eek:

cerastes

KT10 wrote: »

Think of it like this, if your bike is parked next to another bike, and you have a chain and disk lock on, the steering lock on, and the other bike has just been parked up and left there, which one will the scummer go for first?

Any measure, no matter how small, could be the difference between a scumbag thinking to himself, "I'll have that." or "Not worth the effort."

I worked in Naas years ago and a guy had his beautiful R1 nicked on the weekend the Superbikes were in Mondello. I got the CCTV footage for him, no security measures, not even the steering lock, what can be seen on-screen was:

Lad walks up to bike, picks it up off the sidestand, rolls it 10 feet forward to the curb.
Transit van had appeared, rear doors open as bike approaches, 2 lads hop out, grab the front and lift it into the van.
Front in, one lad helps the first guy lift the rear in, doors close, van drives away.

All this happened in, literally, less then 10 seconds. :eek:

I was just referring to the steering lock in use on its own, I use it but guessed it could be overcome easily.
My own opinion is every added measure helps as a deterrent, or to slow someone down.
I hope Im not jinxing myself, but I lock it to poles where it could be lifted off (although I dont see how without difficulty and hopefully a bad back for anyone that tries) and even just a chain around the wheel where there is nothing else. It almost feels pointless but better for my piece of mind that if someone does anything, Ive done as much as I can, and they at least have some work for themselves or hopefully they do themselves an injury and drop the bike on themselves.

Cienciano

I posted this before, but an ex bike thief did an ask me anything on reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/t5shp/ex_thief_chopshop_operator_ama/

basically you want it to appear to take a long time to steal. $100 disc lock on rear wheel, $150 chain/lock combo through hard parts not chain and not wheels, if it has to be a wheel put it through the rear one, lockable bike cover, and keep your steering locked
Lojack is pretty good for recovering bikes from beginners, but I want to keep mine from being stolen in the first place.
copy/pasta below! As far as the first post is concerned
1) Mostly supersports. They are the most commonly crashed and generally the easiest to find (left outside in nice apartment complexes) Next would be Harleys and for a brief moment in time the high dollar choppers.
2) Never, ever, never never never, NEVER leave your bike outside at an apartment complex. Especially one with a gated parking garage. The gated parking garage in a mid to high rise apartment building in the nice part of a large city is the number one place for bike thieves to go "shopping." As far as passive devices go I like the NYC fughetaboutit chain/lock from Kryptonite, the thicker of the two. It needs to go through something like a braced swingarm whenever possible. If you absolutely have to put it through a wheel put it through the rear wheel. It takes much longer to swap than the front wheel. Any $100 disc lock will work well, again, rear wheel, locks on the front are more easily defeated, take my word for it. Cheaper disc locks can be quietly, well, we'll leave it at that, cheap ones can be defeated in silence. Lo-jack and Lo-Jack w/early warning are pretty good at recovering the bikes from amateurs and semi-pros, but someone who knows what they are doing will remove the lojack system quickly after clearing the area. Still someone even more professional (surprisingly rare) will have somewhere to check/store/breakdown the bike that is rf shielded. The problem with lo-jack is that it doesn't keep someone from stealing the bike. Even if you get it back in one piece without the police crashing into your bike to catch the thief you'll still likely have a broken upper triple, damage to the neck of your frame (Steering lock), damage to your ignition, damage to the tank lock, possible damage to the tank itself (rareish) possible damage to the trunk lock , and then your insurance company might **** you too. It's much better to not get the bike stolen in the first place. So in addition to lo-jack you want some sort of VISIBLE passive devices to make the thief move on. The paging alarms are somewhat effective, but they aren't linked to the police. Removing electronic devices is obviously more of a mental challenge than a physical one. The quality of the install is a huge factor here. Hide the lo-jack or alarm in or under the airbox and all the wiring within the factory looms and you'll have a good set up. However, almost NO dealer tech is this thorough. It's not his bike, why would he go the extra mile?
3) I think bobbypeel covered the locks and chains well. Very few thieves are this thorough, of the dozens of them I knew over the years I only came across one like this, but I knew someone that had a pair of bolt-cutters that weighed a lot, more than a 45lb plate at the gym, and had replaceable cryogenically hardened teeth. They cost several hundred dollars. The high dollar chain lock sets $150+ are worth it. Even the high dollar braided cable locks are good. They can be cut, but it's a pretty time consuming process.
4) Personally, if it's rashed up, looks cosmetically rough, but mechanically sound. Say grips are worn, been dropped on both sides, but the chain is clean and well-adjusted, tires worn hard on the edges, has any signs of safety-wiring for the track etc. It's lack of value isn't what I'm looking it. It would remind me of myself once upon a time. I think that's probably all he's got, his whole world, it's not pretty, but he rides the piss out of it. He gets a pass.
More for most people, just what takes time. I've known very very few stone cold guys that can sit there for an hour working on a bike. Most people will give it a few seconds, maybe a couple minutes, and if they can't get it they are gone. What is only seconds feels like an eternity when your freedom and life are on the line. Quality disc lock on the rear wheel, quality chain and lock, lockable bike cover and theft coverage on your insurance. For me, lo-jack isn't worth the cost. It's more expensive than theft coverage and after a thief has had his way with the bike I don't want it back. All can fit in a back pack and aren't much of a hassle to carry. Never leave it outside very long day or night. If you have to ground anchors are good like bobbypeel said. I always wondered what was available in a marine application for something like this. Something with a real burly chain/lock.
If you're temporarily parked outside somewhere a good little FREE anti-theft trick, bring a stubby flathead with you and remove your clutch lever. No clutch lever and they aren't riding anywhere. Of course if you do this every night outside your apartment they'll just come back with their own clutch lever.
Also - LOCK YOUR ****ING STEERING - DON'T LEAVE YOUR SPARE KEY IN YOUR TRUNK. I can open your trunk with a butter knife, don't leave me your ****ing key in there, jesus. Happens more often than you think. Also, don't leave your TITLE in the trunk, i've seen this too often too. Steering locks aren't that hard to bypass, but they aren't THAT easy either. Sometimes you get the freak one that doesn't want to break and you'll need to come back with a second person. In that time maybe the owner sees the bike and the thief doesn't get it. Had it been unlocked the bike would be gone.
Again, if you park outside of an apartment and your bike gets stolen, rent a ****ing garage or self-storage unit near by to use as a garage. The thief is just going to wait a couple weeks for insurance to replace your bike and come back to check. If someone tries and fails to get your bike the same thing applies. Move it, they WILL be back.
The majority of thieves aren't that smart and half of those are on drugs, please don't be dumber than they are.

fear_factory84

rent a ****ing garage or self-storage unit near by to use as a garage

They still have to teach me how to do it in Dublin. It seems that nobody have ever build a garage here (and nice houses/apartments too).
But, my quest for an accommodation is still limited to Dublin City Center.........

Cienciano

cerastes wrote: »

I do but is it worth anything? I only do it to make it more inconvenient for someone that might attempt to take it or slow them down enough that I or someone else will notice or intervene, again I can only see someone taking it to joyride it and not for desirability, and of course the inconvenience to me.

Steering lock is worth putting on. You don't have to carry it, it takes half a second to put on. Yours could be the 1 in 20 that doesn't break.

KTR1C

cerastes wrote: »

even if its hit with a hammer and dunked in water?

Probably not but I'll know where it was hit with a hammer and dunked in water

listermint

KT10 wrote: »

If you're looking for a professional solution, I can send you a number for a contact who does our fleets of vans, he's ordering in GPS units for us on the bikes, apparently very high spec.

€300 fitted I think and €170 a year for the tracking service.

I'm himing and hawing about it, want to see one working before I pull the trigger.

Thats robbery for a non work vehicle.

You can fit it yourself and the sim will cost you about 10-20 Euro per year.

BlackWizard

Will it not drain the battery?