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Making sure your bike doesn't get stolen...

64K views 249 replies 122 participants last post by  distantThunder 
#1 ·
As my custom title implies, I really don't know anything about bikes.

So is there anything stopping someone from pulling up to your parked bike with a big pickup while you're in a store or something, loading it into the bed, and driving away?
 
#232 ·
Everything is a deterrent. The club for autos for example just adds a slight barrier making someone typically choose the lesser protected car next to yours as opposed to yours. If they really want your model they will take it.

If you lock the bike, have an alarm, etc you make it more difficult, time consuming or whatever to take the bike. Someone who wants to be opportunistic will just go elsewhere. Someone who is specifically targeting that model will still be able to take it. Alarms, locks and the like just increase the amount of time required or the amount of skill required (rarely would it take a skilled thief a lot of time). The goal is to make them choose an easier target, thus providing some form of protection.
 
#4 ·
That exact thing happened to a friend of mine. He had his bike parked at his girlfriends apartment complex for the evening. When he woke up the next morning it was gone.

One of the neighbors saw the whole thing happen. In the middle of the night two guys pulled up in a pickup truck, loaded it onto the bed of the truck and drove off. Why the neighbor didn't find this odd or call the police is beyond me...
 
#5 ·
A friend of mine dumped his GSXR 750 several years ago. Three of us picked it up and put it in the back of his Chevy short bed. All said and done maybe 4 minutes total. And we were not in a hurry. Bottom line if someone wants it, they can walk off with it. :mad:
 
#7 ·
Garage it is probably #1, but that doesn't help those of us with townhouses that don't have a garage or people living in apartment complexes.

Buy a bike that is less wanted by thieves. Maybe I'm kidding myself, but I have a feeling someone will be less likely to steal my older Suzuki Savage than a new C40 or a Ninja. Again, I could be delusional on this one but that's my take.

I've seen ads for LoJack systems for motorcycles. It probably ups your chances of getting it back... probably. I'm curious to see if anyone else has suggestions on this because I've been wondering the same thing about my bike since I don't have a garage.
 
#56 · (Edited)
Buy a bike that is less wanted by thieves. Maybe I'm kidding myself, but I have a feeling someone will be less likely to steal my older Suzuki Savage than a new C40 or a Ninja. Again, I could be delusional on this one but that's my take.
Ah, nothing like eating your own words. My bike was stolen on the evening of Oct 5th. I woke up, showered, geared up and went to warm up the bike to discover an empty parking space. I still wonder why the hell they'd steal my bike, it's hardly worth the effort to steal. I loved it but it was a s**t commuter. Anyway... now I can speak with some more authority on this thread I suppose.

Insurance is great but you still have to pay a deductible. So, you're still losing some money. I now know from personal experience.

My next bike, once I get my insurance pay out, will be equipped with a Talon alarm system and I'm petitioning my HOA to let me install an anchor into my parking space to secure a heavy duty lock and chain too.
 
#9 ·
As pissed as I'd be if it got stolen, I figure that's what insurance is for. Make sure you're well insured and if you have a loan make sure you have GAP protection to make up the difference between the loan and the value of the bike.

I say that but I'm still considering LoJack, I need to look into the cost of it. But I think I really want it more out of spite. If someone steals my bike, I want to make sure they do time. :D
 
#10 ·
I know it wont keep people from stealing your bike but locking the steering will defer them from stealing it or make it harder for them. It may be the time difference of having the police called and not called.
 
#12 ·
I think about this too. At home I have a garage and can lock the back yard if I park it there. At work, one needs a badge to get into the facility and we have so many employees always out and about that a would be thief would catch a beating for trying.

Out in town, I'd try to chain and lock it to something like a light post. The chain could be cut, but hey, if a thief really wants it... they rob armored trucks with armed guards...

And hey, if I'm riding around with a chain, I can do that cool thing where you ride around hitting people next to you with the chain, like in that video game. Kidding, of course :p
 
G
#14 ·
Get a sticker that says "I value my bike more than your life"

really maybe a gps tracking device could help but just try to be smart about where you park, try to park near a light source, those kind of things.
 
G
#19 ·
Sigh.... Sadly not much except just how much (to what extent) your willing to do, to keep what YOU worked hard for, from the blood sucking parasites out there (unfortunately a LOT of them). 1987 in the High Desert of the Mojave Desert I had two very much ‘Transients’ try that very thing – to take my bike and my life. If I hadn’t been armed I wouldn’t be telling this tale now. Luckily NO one lost their lives that night or was injured. I consider THEM to be luckier then me because quite frankly if it had been a LOT of folks out there now, these two low life creeps would have been long since worm food. In any case, what does YOUR ride mean to you?! Is it just a ‘thing’ easily replaced? OR is it like family – like a child – a part of your very soul? I honest to gawd don’t know HOW I feel these days… I only know HOW I felt back in 1987. But of course, only YOU can answer how you feel about you’re scoot (now)……

Nuff’ said,
LRG :cool:


So is there anything stopping someone from pulling up to your parked bike with a big pickup while you're in a store or something, loading it into the bed, and driving away?
 
#23 ·
I you go the trailer route, where ya gonna park that? Round here you can only keep a trailer on the street 48 hours. I live in an apt. complex with lighted parking in the middle. A couple of the cars there almost never move, so I parked between them, locked the steering and chained the rear wheel. Still worried about the baby tho.....
 
#25 · (Edited)
Friend of mine in college had his Katana stolen. It was parked in his garage with a u-lock through the front wheel and around the forks (hmm..or maybe it was the back wheel? don't remember clearly). The broken lock was still there when he got home.

If they want it, they will get it.
 
G
#27 ·
And you're both right, unfortunately. We've been lucky enough to always have garage access for our bikes, but on the few occasions we didn't, we used a kryptonite lock with a cuff. I guess all we can do is make it more complicated for them.

Damn thieves!!!
 
#185 ·
Absolutely correct. *******s!!! Perhaps installing rider specific seats where spikes shoot out if unauthorized users try to ride it??? Just a thought, hehehe.
A friend of mine kept getting his stereo stolen out of his car, (5 or 6) last time he glued razor blades under the dash, They caught the guy, never got the blood our of the interior, but my buddy got in some serious **** (police) over it!
 
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