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What’s the one piece of advice you’d give on bike security.


kevins1966
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Hi,


I know nothing about bikes but I’ve done my CBT and have just purchased my first bike, a 2nd hand 2020 Yamaha MT-125.


I’ve not got it yet but I’m trying to get my head around what I need to do for security.


I’ve been reading up on it but thought I’d go to the horses mouths.


The good news is I have a garage to keep it in when not in use.


Aside from making sure I do, what’s the one piece of advice experience owners would give.


Also when you go out on your bike do you carry all your security gear with you?


Thanks

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Hi and welcome to the forum


Most thieves are opportunists so a decent lock and lock it to something solid will keep most away


If someone wants it they will take it so always make it harder for them! they will just move on to something easier


As for the garage get a ground anchor and decent chain and again make it difficult to get in but not too difficult for yourself as you will get lazy and not lock it properly! a couple of really decent garage door locks is enough


Check here for chains etc https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/#/27907,3203,1186 :)

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Hello and Welcome :D

A difficult 1 this!

I would probably say keep it out of sight, if they don't know it's there they can't nick it.


After that make it as difficult as possible, they always go for their easiest option

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That is a desirable bike, scrotes will want it.


In your garage, have a ground anchor with good chain. Also depending on your garage, make sure you have

some sort of secure door or something - I don't know what you can do 'cos i've never had a garage. But I expect

some are easier to get into than others. Like a big roller door on the front, but then a crappy thin wooden door on the side...

Get a good tracker if you fancy, monimoto are good and cheap (compared to most trackers).


I probably went 'OTT', as on the bike I had tracker, big fk off chain, alarmed lock keeping that together and 2 disclocks.

Neither got nicked, so.. ;D One was chinese so not suprising, the other was the Honda Vara.


If you're in London good luck. ;D


I got most of mine on Sportsbikeshop as they had deals on security stuff at the time. Theres link at bottom of forum for them! ;D

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At the moment i have 2 bikes parked at the front of my house, both are alarmed, 1 has a disc lock on the rear wheel, both are chained to a railing with heavy duty chains and padlocks through the frame and rear wheels, both are covered and a further wire type lock through the cover around the front wheels and through the railings.


When i go out depending on which bike i go on, one is mainly just the disc lock and sometimes with the chain if parked up out of sight for some time like in town, the other as it has drum brakes i usually take the chain, and try and chain to something solid.


I would fit some kind of anchor in your garage and chain it with a couple of chains, it might be a pain but it is more of a pain to have it nicked, but no amount of security is theft proof, if they want it they will have it :thumb:

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.. alarms are a waist of time and hassle.

 

This. Total waste of time and money.


Buy the best lock and chain you can afford and use a ground anchor. Alarms take a few seconds to disarm. A quality chain takes at least a few minutes and an angle grinder which is a lot of hassle for a thief.

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Great bike - congrats, I loved mine.


Chunky chain to a solid object, sorted. Also if leaving it in a dodgy area then I watched a TV program interviewing a nice bike thief and he said the single biggest deterrent is a cover believe it or not. I believed him, funnily.

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As others have said a decent ground anchor and chain in the garage and when out on it chain it to posts or railings. Also make sure your garage door is secure and alarms are cheap even if you dont have power in there use a stand alone shed alarm. And do not advertise on the outside of your garage stickers and signs saying things like "Parking for Yamahas only "and the like, you are just advertising to the lowlife you have stuff worth nicking. Its a sad world having to do these things but until I am in charge and can pass a law for the death sentence to bike thieves you just have to be cautious. Another thing when you are out riding keep an eye out for bikes and vehicles following you especially when parking up or near home. Thieves scout out bikes they can nick later on.

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As others have said a decent ground anchor and chain in the garage and when out on it chain it to posts or railings. Also make sure your garage door is secure and alarms are cheap even if you dont have power in there use a stand alone shed alarm. And do not advertise on the outside of your garage stickers and signs saying things like "Parking for Yamahas only "and the like, you are just advertising to the lowlife you have stuff worth nicking. Its a sad world having to do these things but until I am in charge and can pass a law for the death sentence to bike thieves you just have to be cautious. Another thing when you are out riding keep an eye out for bikes and vehicles following you especially when parking up or near home. Thieves scout out bikes they can nick later on.

 

And that's the fuller version . Thanks for that , I was on 3% battery . 👍

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As others have said a decent ground anchor and chain in the garage and when out on it chain it to posts or railings. Also make sure your garage door is secure and alarms are cheap even if you dont have power in there use a stand alone shed alarm. And do not advertise on the outside of your garage stickers and signs saying things like "Parking for Yamahas only "and the like, you are just advertising to the lowlife you have stuff worth nicking. Its a sad world having to do these things but until I am in charge and can pass a law for the death sentence to bike thieves you just have to be cautious. Another thing when you are out riding keep an eye out for bikes and vehicles following you especially when parking up or near home. Thieves scout out bikes they can nick later on.

 

And that's the fuller version . Thanks for that , I was on 3% battery . 👍

 

I would avoid disc locks when possible, they always end in the inevitable face plant when you forget to remove them before you set off. Usually when you are in a hurry and drop the clutch...there's a brief second when reality and fantasy come together and the ground comes rushing up. Speaking from experience. :oops:


If you get a good lock and chain from a recognised manufacture like Abus, they you will most likely get a discount on your insurance as well as feeling a little more secure. Always try to keep the bike in sight or close enough to hear any muppets trying to nick it, or get a pager alarm for when its out of sight.


I used to live in cheetham hill and had many confrontations with lower life forms trying to pinch my trusty steed. They had a trick off pulling of the HT caps so it couldn't be started and then returning later to load it into a van along with the railings it was attached to. I always travelled with 2 heavy duty chains, one to lock the front wheel to the frame, and one through the frame, rear wheel and any street furniture. I also had an alarm with a pager and parked it in a visible location with plenty of people around. It may sound like overkill but I still have the bike.


Get some CCTV signs and stick them on the front of the garage, add an alarm to the garage even a cheap one will do so long as it wails loud enough to wake the dead. Always cover the bike even when in the garage, criminals love to peek into places they don't have access to.


Failing all that you could disguise it as a pantomime horse. :wink:

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if you have to leave it ;out of sight that is ; take another form of transport.. minimise trips to fuel pumps by keepin a 20l can in the garage..

 


If you get a good lock and chain from a recognised manufacture like Abus, they you will most likely get a discount on your insurance as well as feeling a little more secure.

whatever security you declare it will be expected to be used 100% of the time the bike is unattended..

Edited by Copycat73
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wear sunscreen.....





fortify your garage, try and keep it insight when you stop for a coffee etc, disc lock.... alarms are a waist of time and hassle.

 

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97

Wear sunscreen

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it

A long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists

Whereas the rest of [mention]Six30[/mention] advice is shite !!

But trust him on the Sunscreen

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Regardless of whatever security you have make sure you're steering lock is always used.


It is a bit of security that can be beaten in seconds but insurance companies will check if it was used and if not they won't pay out even if they thief has had to cut through other locks and chains

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If you have electric in your garage and it’s close enough for WiFi then this is surprisingly good, cheap and robust (dropped mine from a height several times because I was too lazy to stop the wires precariously draping in my path).


It has 360 degree ‘vision’ a remote control for zooming around (from an app on your phone), good picture quality, quality night vision, the sd card overwrites so no running out of space, motion detection that sends an alert to your phone and marks any motion so you can easily replay just that section and a two way mic all for £24


The picture quality in HD is so good I can use it to zoom in and read an LCD temperature and humidity display on the other side of the room.

If you have a lot of moths in your garage (we did before renovating it) then the motion detection alerts are annoying.


Since then I’ve had only a couple of false alerts, not false as in they weren’t real just false as in I don’t want to fly into full fight mode to see the thief is actually my son helping himself to icecream at one in the morning. Evened the score though by opening the mic and shouting “This is the police, put down the icecream and step away from the freezer” watching his face on my phone from bed on holiday in France was worth £24 of anyone’s money!

:lol:


Everyone knows cameras don’t stop thieves (you just get to watch them steal it on playback) but what this one offers with the motion detection alerts is a chance to know it’s happening at the time and if they look armed and you don’t fancy your chances or you’re not there you can let them know you’ve called the police and are on your way so they’d better scarper.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07XR2NWZC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Don't park bike outside garage...


Either in garage or elsewhere so they don't know where to look for it.


Don't leave it in the same place to often if you can help it.


Alarmed disk lock will notify you with luck, the day you do leave it on. The is a slim chance it will scare a their as well.


Your choice of chains ground anchors. You can get cheap battery powered review motion sensors for garage doors that give a noise if garage door moves.


Thieves will either take your bike as it's the one they want or be looking for a soft target..

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Worth mentioning that some insurances have ‘ground anchor’ in their small print so you have to have one or your not insured- it’s worth reading the sneaky small print.

Plus if you tell the insurance you have certain types of security, this is noted and you have to use whatever it is every time as the quote and any discount you received was based on this. If you don’t it invalidates your insurance and they won’t pay up.


I’ve did a quote with and without security and it made bugger all difference so now apart from a fitted alarm and tracker on one I don’t mention any of it, that way if I forget to use it I’m still insured!

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When you're out chain it to something that can't be moved. If you don't, two people can easily lift it into the back of a van and it will be gone in seconds. Don't trust steering locks or disc locks. Steering locks are easily broken and besides they don't even need to break steering locks or disc locks. They just put something under the front wheel and hold the front brake and then slide the bike away out of sight. Chain it to something that can't be moved

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