Bike Lock

P

phone expert

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This past weekend my house was the victim of a burglary. Never fun to come home to find doors open and then see the inside of your house a mess as the thieves went through everything. Luckily they were only after money and jewelry, and oddly my laptop. Now out of fear that though they may have only been after the money, jewelry, and a laptop, I am a little worried they might have friends that might like shiny red motorcycles. I have drilled the concrete floor and put in an eye bolt. I am planning on getting a chain with a cover on it to prevent scratches, but where are people feeding it through the bike to secure it? Also are the disc locks worth it? How about alarm systems? I have had an alarm system on my car and friends had them as well, but they were constantly going off when they necessarily didn't need to. It almost became similar to the "boy who cried wolf," as you would stop checking on things because it was always false alarm.

Looking for some advice, as this definitely has shaken me and the fiancee up, but also have become paranoid about things.
 
My honest opinion? Keep your insurance paid up, and your doors locked. That's about it. I'm not going to live in my house like a prisoner locking everything down. No amount of bolting and chaining will make you completely safe. A thief can get in, and given enough time, he will get your bike out. And if he doesn't have enough time, he can still mess your bike up trying to get it out.

Alarms are worthless. Especially in your house where the thief can take his time and find and disable it.

Disc locks, I'm not a big fan. I've been a motorcycle mechanic and a service manager at 2 different motorcycle shops. I'd wager disc locks have cost more money in damage than they've saved in prevented theft. It's amazing how much money it can cost you if you forget to take it off. If you're lucky, it will just hit the caliper and remind you. But that doesn't always happen. I've seen bikes where people forgot to remove the lock, tried to take off, bent the rotor, caliper carrier then caused them to drop the bike and cause fairing damage, broken mirrors, etc. If you'e the type of guy who can be sure you'll ALWAYS remember to take the lock off, it may be worth it. But, it's still not an effective mean of securing a bike. No thief plans to push your bike down the street. They'll throw it in the back of a van. The disc lock doesn't prevent that.

My greatest piece of mind is my dogs. None of them are trained attack dogs or anything. But I have a German Shepherd, a pit bull boxer mix and a black lab. They make a hell of a racket when someone approaches my house. I figure that would deter most thieves. But, if they're going to get my bike, they're going to get it. It's in the garage, with the key in it. I'd prefer they take it and make a clean getaway and I can talk to my insurance agent about my new bike. I'd prefer that to negotiating the repair of my bike that the thief tried to get, but only got halfway out the door then dropped and stepped on on the way out.

One word of caution, have a very specific discussion with your insurance guy about your coverage. Every company I've ever been with did not cover bikes in the garage on homeowners policy. The rule of thumb is, any vehicle that you can buy seperate insurance for won't be covered by homeowners. Tractors are covered. Motorcycles are not. So make sure your motorcycle policy has you covered well enough.
 
Dogs and have good insurance. Ask your agent about it. Loud dogs are one of the number one reasons a theif will pass up a house (research conducted by professor here in town).

Also, a large back-hoe and a 44 mag. Hang out w 44 first, use back-hoe to bury anything you don't want to be found second.
 
i used to park my bike in a high theft area. i had one bike stolen with a disc lock. these are useless because a thief can just lift the front tire or something and move the bike. hell, 2-3 guys can pick up most bikes and move it.

so when i replaced my bike, i used the kryptonite fahgettaboutit ny chain and lock. it looks heavy and massive, but is easy to transport. i would wrap it around a light pole, tree, or street sign. anything that is secured to the ground. then i would put it through my rear tire. the front works too, but the rear is larger and harder to take off. sometimes, i even attached it to my roommates bike.

any thief determined enough can get through any security device. in my opinion, the objective of these devices is to deter those that are looking for a quick score, which is most thieves. sometimes just the visual effect of seeing a theft device will discourage them, serving its purpose.
 
...put a back to base alarm on your house/garage etc. .a few advisory signs from the security co. on your gate /windows etc. most burglars will go for the easier pickings elsewhere.their is a tendency for them to return months later if you have had tvs etc stolen because they assume that the insurance co has replaced them. i got burgled[mainly electrical],put the alarm system in, when they came back,they went to the neighbours property instead.broke in ,fed !!! their guard dogs,and ransacked the joint inside a 30 minute window. and drove away in their 3mth old toyota landcruiser. hj
 
Yeah, a gun seems plausible. If not for your benefit than for your neighbor's sake when he's away and people rob him.

Put an alarm in, hit the bike up with GPS and use the British sound grenade technology for the garage, they trip that and it makes a huge racket and they'll never figure out how to disable it.
 
lo jack is useless, especially on a bike. there is no specific place to hide the transmitter and the whole system is flawed. the way lo jack works is when something is stolen and you call them to activate it, it sends out a signal to only specific police cars that are equipped with lo jack receivers. the thing is the majority of police cars are not equipped with lo jack receivers. on top of that, the police car must be in range of the device to catch the signal. lo jack is just a marketing scheme that provides a false sense of security. better off with full coverage insurance
 
Exactly what nitsuj said - verbatim!

Lojack and locks/alarms are worthless - your bike will not be hotwired and then the dude will ride it off. Instead, 3-4 guys will pick it up and drop it in a van. Lojack can be dismantled in a few minutes and it costs $1,000 (HAS TO BE INSTALLED BY A DEALER)! You can actually find some thread on other forums how to accomplish this (i.e., how to dismantle lojack systems)! Best marketing gimmick!

I thought about buying Xena disc lock (built-in alarm), but the alarm is useless because you can put your hand over it and you can't really hear it; thus, defeating the purpose. The only good thing is that thieves might "skip" your bike if they see some sort of security, but it doesn't mean that they cannot steal it. So in that sense, locks might be worth it. If you want that piece of mind, but something cheap and highly visible, but remember to take the damn thing off!! In your case, given that you have a red bike, I would buy yellow disc lock....

IMO, the best thing you could do is what nitsuj suggested: get full coverage (mine is through State Farm) and if your bike is stolen your insurance will give you the money for a new one. You're already paying for the insurance and the coverage, so you should already be "protected"...
 
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