Stolen bikes

[OB_maui]

OK what do you do to prevent your bike from ending up like Aussie's? (Sorry Aussie) chains locks, garages rigged to blow up. Maybe 300amp service to your frame, that should be able to take out a small town.

What are the best locks? Alarms, security systems, etc. What do you do to protect your stuff? What would you like to do (that's a dangerous question)?

Dirty Pete treated his throttle with anthrax, seems to be working. Kawabuser put a curse on his bike, makes you turn into Hapo. Hapo, well lets just say you shouldn't steal from hapo. If you think he's a little off, try get between him and his bike.

But seriously, or not, what can be done?

 

[OB_crazy bill]

when at work pull it inside(i work at a machine shop). at home get roll-out plastic floor runners and pull it into one of the the extra bedrooms(floorplan permitting).
actually i never leave my bike out of my site anymore. im petrified of it getting stolen.
and i would kill any f**ker that i caught laying there hands on it.i dont mean that as a metephore. i would really see that this person doesnt use up any more of our precious oxygen. im getting mad just thinking about it...whew..ok..

 

[OB_speeddemon]

check my post on the subject that started this for a good start on what i done. Heres some more food for thought.

1. This is actually something i have implied. Make good friends with your neighbors. Always let them know your watching over their property for vandels and ask them to do the same. Like i stated, i live in a rough neighbor hood (da hood more like it) but it does have its benefits. My neighbors just happen to be a nice, but rowdy bunch of Hispanics that likes to throw party's on occassion (not real noisy party's actually) With that in mind, and add the fact that they have family and/or friends (actually my whole side of the block IS their family) that are part of a gang, if they see anyone hopping my fence that i didn't invite, that is going to be bad news for the would be burgler(s).
VERY Bad....

2. Booby trap your machine: Tie a Rattle snake to the handlebars your bike and see how many people Mess with it. Many other ways to do this. Be Creative!

3. Storage facilities: Even though you live in a apartment setting, doesn't mean you can't have locked garage protection. Look around at storage facilities. Inspect for theft deterrent, and prices. This is only good if u have other transportation u can use besides a bike.

4.Become a cop: Need i say more? Shoot the bastard. Get it on video so you and the rest of your buddy's can laugh like hell. Got a badge, your most likely invincible.

Keep in mind the last one was intended as a joke (although Falconcop might say this is a reality) But the above ones i ment as true. (Think i was Kidding about the rattlesnake idea? This is the REAL Viper alarm system pail!) In reality, There is hardly any perfect protection devices out there. Locks can be broken eventually. Alarms can fail. Dogs can be poisoned. Neighbors can be caught off guard just as easily as you. Bear in mind that yes your property is valuable and go by whatever means you choose to protect it. But always go out of your way to protect yourself and your loved ones first. Laws or no laws, if my parents, my friends, or my life was in danger they're would be no way the intruder(s) would make it out alive. Bikes can be replaced, You and you loved ones can't.

speed

 

[OB_SoreHead]

I use the Insurance Lock and Chain from Abus and have a spyball alarm and immobiliser and I'm just waiting for the connection to be set to the pager system so when the alarm goes off it pages me. Should be on next week.

Believe me I'll be checking it if it goes off always even if they are all false alarms.

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

At home, my bike is never left out front for passers by to see. It always goes in the garage with the door down. While it's in my garage, there is a 60 pound bull terrier no more than 15 feet from the inside garage entrance, and the dog can get through that door into the garage at will. Grab my bike, lose your face.

At work, it's in a small (50 car) card access private underground guarded by a zealous superintendent who knows who owns which vehicle, and by the tenants themselves who almost all drive cars they like a lot.

On the road the only time I'll let it out of my sight is when it's parked among a bunch of other bikes. Otherwise, I won't eat at a restaurant where I can't park in sight of my table, and I won't stay at a motel where I can't run a 6 lb. fishing line from the front wheel to my wrist while I'm sleeping. Often in ground level rooms like that you can push your bike into your room when no one's looking.

On top of all this, I pay the extra money to have full replacement insurance for fire, theft and vandalism.

I guess the circumstances of my life make my bike easier to protect. But even back when I had to leave my bike on the street and out of sight at home and at work, I found a way to protect it. If you have to leave your bike on the street, park it with attitude: leave it right out in the open in a well lit area like you might appear at any moment...don't semi-hide it in the same dark place every day and night.

If your bike is customized a lot, it's less attractive to thieves because it's harder to fence.

If you buy my Chameleon Skins and fill them with lighter fluid with the filler caps off, they'll leave your bike alone.

Bike thieves make my blood boil.

 

[Guest]

Killing the thieves sounds like a fine idea until you understand that you will spend more time in jail than the thieves. The reality is you'll never find the thieves anyway.

So that leaves locks and alarms. Here in yuppie land car alarms go off all the time and EVERYONE IGNORES them. So that leaves locks. I bought a Case Hardened lock and a Kryptonite
15' braided steel cable at the hardware store. I will use at the mall, public places, etc. Rig the cable and lock off the ground so they can't be hammered open. At home I'll keep it in a locked garage with two noisy dogs.

I like the idea of an alarm that calls my pager. If they're available in the USA I'm interested. Anyone have a url or phone number
for this sort of thing?
...

I just read Aussie's story. Sounds like my cable lock idea is worthless except in daylight public places.

I'm even more interested in the pager alarm.

[This message has been edited by Lyle (edited 03 November 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Lyle (edited 03 November 1999).]

 

[OB_Cisco San Jose]

Tricks I've learned since I had the experience of having one of my bike stolen.
1.Bag your bike,no one knows what is under the motorcycle cover.
2.Locks:Home use:disk lock on front wheel,corbra link lock 8' on back wheel plus frame going to pole,small cable going from front wheel up thru the inner pannels to the front steering with lock,and bag the bike.
3.Locks n the road: disk lock on front wheel; largest dia cable lock with krypto small/short U-lock for back rim/frame to light pole,plus bike bag.
3.Make sure to bag your bike every day or night if you are leaving your bike alone to go shopping or in the house.Check to make sure that your bike bag is in the same position that you left it when bagged cause thieves will lift the bag up and check to see what's under it.If the bag doesn't look right when checking it be prepared to have your bike taken,most likely around 2am-4am time frame.
4.Neighbors can be your best look out or your worst crooks. Know your neighbors.
5.Electronics; cheap ears for your bike.Buy your self a good baby monitor and rig the unit up to work on a motorcycle battery or power source with the correct voltage to the unit,and get your self a radio scanner that can be tuned to the same freq. 40mhz-50mhz,and lock in on the freq for that baby monitor.Hide the monitor under your bike or in a close area to your bike and you can hear what is going on outside or in your garage.
6.video monitor:they now make video monitors that are small enough to hide anywhere and set one up for your bike parking area,they also have a video monitor that is RF so you don't have to run wires to your camera unit.Check around for the best deals.
7.check your neighbor hood,if you notice any vans or tow trucks that are in your neighborhood that you don't recognize,take a hidden video camera and video the people in the vehecile just to keep a record of whos in the area,might come in handy later on.
8.Know all your local bike shops in your area and talk to all riders you meet,you'll learn more about who are your local bike thieves from other riders than you would learn from the cops.Make friends with everyone cause it will come in handy some day.People talk and you'll get enough information from other bikers.
9.Always carry a buck knife or something that can slice open a car,truck,motorcycle tire in the event that you see your bike or some friends bike being pushed into a vehecile,no one can drive far enough on a flat tire.
10.Never go home if you are followed by a van or truck or another motorcycle,try to loose them if you think your bike is being targeted.
11.Most cops won't come out when you call 911 on a stolen vehecile fast enough and the way to get them out fast is to tell the 911 person that you have a gun and make sure you pull the slide back so they can hear it and tell them that you're going out to get the crooks,that will get the cops out faster than anything else.Don't give them that information if you have a warrant out on you or you are a felon,bad idea.Make sure to check for a round in your gun if you did pull the slide back and let one in chamber,take the clip out and remove the bullet if you are not going out to use your gun,safety first.

 

[OB_JohnnyB]

Nah,
Insure it for theft & buy a new one if it gets stolen.

 

[OB_Dr Busa]

1. Don't let it be seen.

2. If it can be seen, park it next to something more expensive like a Ducati.

3. Put a sticker on it that says "not Y2K certified".

4. Repaint the bike to look like a Kawasaki ZX-12.

5. Never lock it, that will only make it look desirable.

6. Put bloodstains on it and add a sticker with text like "motorists against aids".

 

[OB_maui]

I must say I'm impressed with the comments so far. I also don't subscribe to the "shoot the bas-tard" version of bike defense.

Most of the ideas presented are really good. Some follow up info is needed now. I.e. where to get the goodies described.

I also know that most thieves regard dogs as a non option when it comes to surpassing security systems, they just can't predict what the buggers will do. The fear of being bitten, is often worse than the bite its self.

I'd like to throw one in that seems to be absent. The old ID numbers on various parts of your bike. Further, I would consider adding .ORG, or Hayabusa.org (depending on how patient you are with engraving), in the sequence for a quicker and easier ID for the members. That way you know it's tied to this board in some way and might prompt you to check it out.

 

[OB_defectron]

SoreHead,
can you tell me some more on when can I get more info on the spyball alarm and eventually where to get it online? Can it call a cell phone too?

 

[OB_defectron]

Unfortunately I don't think there's much one can do against. If they really want it, it goes.
A friend of mine gave me an example, there's a dealership around my place, and one day they got a really nicely cromed and customized piece. So to make sure is safe there, they chained it every night, plus a good alarm that would draw the cops there in few minutes if something. So imagine that one night, there is a report that thiefs are trying to break in in a house, relatively close to this dealer. They go, check, is a false alarm. In like 15 minutes, another report, another house, and in like an hour, police is running every where to see what's up, full of false alarms. Then in a short time alarm goes off at the dealership too, however, police sick of it, plus spread all over other houses, don't have time to check this right away.
So basically they cut the chains with kool tools, lifted the bike in their van and that's it...

 

[OB_maui]

Unfortunately I feel this one needs to come back up to the top. EVERY ONE- Review your security measures. How would you steel your bike? Also, review some of the comments here. Cisco goes into great detail on this subject, as well as others. Double check what you're doing. Ask your friends how they would steel your bike (make sure they're your friends). Sometimes other people will see, or think of things that you may miss.

Falcon Driver

I'm sorry about your bike. This is my effort to be proactive, rather that just sympathetic.

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

I am convinced that Dr. Busa's suggestion #6 tewo posts up will be more effective than anything else you could do, so I have purchased a gallon of blood from the local coroner and will be splashing the Busa down every night. Made up a nice sign with red finger painting, too.

-Falcon Driver please add my condolences to Maui's above.

 

[OB_maui]

Yes I can see your point. I like #4, only on the condition that a cover is used to accomplish this dastardly task. Other wise one would be subjected to riding around like that on a permanent basis.

Again Falcon Driver, condolences,

[This message has been edited by maui (edited 08 November 1999).]

 

[OB_SteveC]

Dirty Pete,
I also have a bull terrier and a pit bull only I think that mine would show them where the bike was and want to know if they could help. By the way what's the pedigree on your dog?

Steve

 

[OB_Mr Bear]

I will very likely get my new bike soon, while I live here in my large, ground-floor studio apartment with unsecure parking out next to the main street. I kid you not, I will roll it onto my apartment at night and it will sleep next to my bed, on a sheet of plywood. I hope my snoring doesn't bother it! If the manager finds out and evicts me, well I needed to move closer to work anyway.

FalconDriver and Aussie, I am seriously sorry and bummed out to hear the news. It is inevitable that a few of these great machines will get picked off by thieves, I suppose. It has to be hard to tell yourself it's just a machine, forget the sentimental value. I mean, it was YOUR baby, your personal one. I have thought through how I would feel, what I would think if it ever happened to me. I have had stuff stolen before, but never my bike. I suppose God has been kind to me that way.

[This message has been edited by Mr Bear (edited 09 November 1999).]

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

Steve C, she's a b-i-t-c-h (the site censored that word) just like my Busa, white, 60 pounds and VERY muscular, Canadian Kennel Club National Champion English Bull Terrier July 4, 1994, Certificate #BS159972, (all wins by Best of Show) registered name "Bullovers Everlasting Hope," bred by Kate Fletcher. Sire YL954039 ByCross Silent Impact out of AJ008261 Bullovers Gingerbread Girl, born September 11, '93.

We just call her "Hope." She is a sweety until the moment someone weird comes in the house (Hapo stay in the driveway with your engine running).

I've had English Bullies since 1981. My next dog will be a Standard Bred Poodle. I'm finally tired of canine stupidity.


[This message has been edited by Dirty Pete (edited 09 November 1999).]

 

[OB_Dirty Pete]

Mr. Bear, will your landlord let you build a painted plywood lean-to structure against the wall of your apartment that you could park in?

 

[OB_maui]

Actually, Dirty Pete, you have that a little backwards. The lean-to would be for Mr. Bear to sleep in, while the busa is kept nice and toasty in the living room.