Anti-theft options

Hi all, last Saturday in the dead of the night, someone brought a trailer up my street, walked down my driveway, took the bike cover off and carried my KZ750 away. Must have walked it up the (quite steep) driveway and loaded it onto the trailer. No noise - even chatting in the driveway would have woken the dogs.

Fortunately for me, that evening I got a call from the police who said that they had recovered my bike! Someone saw a group of people unloading a motorbike into the bush, and reported it as suspicious. I haven't got it back from the police yet, but they say there is no apparent damage, steering lock and ignition all look OK. It does just look like they very carefully stole it, and then very carefully dumped it. No idea why.

I've never thought much about security since it's a fairly uncommon bike (in Australia) and not valuable, so not a big target as it would be very difficult to sell on for not much money. I can't always store it in my shed, so what other options have people used to prevent (or reduce) theft?

So far I've ordered a Schlage 1/2" security chain and lock, and I'll be concreting a 16mm eyelet into the ground. Chaining the bike to the ground should prevent all but a skilled picker with the right tools from stealing silently in the middle of the night. Any other ideas? I know this isn't strictly 'chassis' related, but it's the closest match.

store.kryptonitelock.com/c/motorcyle-security_cable-lock

I bought one of these:

 

It attaches to the brake disc and is pretty visible (which should be a deterrent).

 

Here's what I use....

 

Ed

www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/t5...opshop_operator_ama/

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I'm not sure I'd trust anything that just prevents the wheel from moving. My bike did have a disc brake lock on it, but it must have been removed after stealing because it's gone. The theives that stole my bike simply picked it up and put it in a trailer, and from what I've read and seen that's getting pretty common, so I don't think disc brakes do much to prevent theft. Once they have the bike they can spend as long as they want removing a lock.

I'm also not sure about cable locks. My colleague has his e-bike stolen from right outside work, which was locked with an armoured cable lock like this one , about as tough as cable locks get. It was just cut with bolt cutters and left there. He didn't usually park the bike there, so it wasn't a planned theft -  someone must have just gone to the bike rack with a pair of bolt cutters and stole the most expensive one there. That's why I've ordered a 1/2" chain, very, very unlikely to be cut with bolt cutters. An angle grider would cut it, but would wake up the entire neigborhood too.

Putting a padlock on the rear disk might be a better option, but it still won't help from loading up onto a ute/trailer. I went to the police to inspect my bike, it was just used for hooning and burnouts and then dumped - if there was lock on the back that was difficult to remove, they still would have stolen it, but maybe no hooning and burnouts.

My friend would lock his bike with a heavy hex shaped chain from Kryptonite.  He would wear the chain as a belt while riding. 

www.kryptonitelock.com/en/products/produ...rent-key/999492.html

Of course, one day he chained it to a sign post that was only maybe 6' tall and the thieves must have lifted the bike up far enough to slip the chain over the top of the post.  That CBR600RR was only a few months old.  Never saw it again.

I agree that concreting something into the ground and then using the toughest chain you can find sounds like a good way to keep it from wandering off.  Maybe buy two of those Kryptonite chains, and concrete one into the ground instead of using an eye bolt?  That would be really hard to cut. 


 

wrote:

www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/t5...opshop_operator_ama/
 

Interesting article (Bike thief spills his guts.) "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"

For a security chain Pewag makes a 12mm chain that can not be cut with 42" bolt cutters and won't be easy to cut with an angle grinder.

security-chains.pewag.pl/en_US/p/pewag-V...mm-security-chain/11

They were originally used as tire traction chains on earth movers.

www.westechrigging.com/pewag-security-chain-012-galv.html
 

Not on my KZ, but I used two method, mechanical and electrical lock. What I mean was back when I was riding my 89' ZX-7 (Kawasaki Green), I really doubt someone was stupid enough to steal my bike at that time, we only had four bike with that color and four Black ones on the island (two each for 89', which one of them was mine, and two each been 90'). But never know about those joy riders, so I got one pad lock and put it on front (mechanical) and put el-cheapo Chinese bike alarm (still costed me around 60 USD back at that time. It was before ebay, you know...................) and the alarm saved my bike at least three times.

As far as I can remember, once been really late at night. Alarm went off and I woke up. Yup. Cover has been lifted and alarm went off before they could get to my ignition. Had motion sensor with that alarm. Once at my work place. Security told me alarm went off. No, not wind as it was in the parking structure. Not from the vibration either. Was on ground floor like most of the bike parking back then. Once while I was playing company softball and I heard the alarm went off. I'm not sure if they were going after my helmet or my bike on that one.

Because of my previous experience, I bought real cheap Chinese Alarm for my KZ as well. Again, I really doubt anyone gonna steal this old chunk of steel ( and Aluminum), but just want to keep the prankster off my bike.

I once had a mercury switch bike alarm that would wake the dead, as soon as the bike was stood up straight it screamed its bloody lungs out...
Works great if your bike is close, then its up to you, baseball bat, lump of pipe, pick handle, you get it, and a little tip, don't waste your time swinging high, swing like you're going to hit them high and drop and take out the side of the knee, works wonders, can't steel a bike, fight or run away with one leg......or so i've been told....

Motorcycle disk locks are available with built in motion sensor alarms.  We use one we move from bike to bike as needed.  Examples linked below:
www.revzilla.com/motorcycle-security
(We are in no way associated with RevZilla)


If your disks aren't drilled, such as the solid disks on spoked Z1 wheels, just secure the motion-alarmed lock on one spoke.  If we have two bikes with us, we cable them together through frame members with a 1in. thick Kryptonite cable in addition to alarmed disk locks.

A cordless cutoff wheel can cut through even a hardened chain fairly quickly.that bolt cutters merely nick.  Multiple layers of security (locked shed or garage, loud, audible motion alarm, locking cover, chain or thick cable run through the chassis & attached around a tree, chassis of another vehicle, etc. will discourage all but the most determined scumbag thieves.  Motion detect lighting will startle a potential thief.  They're like cockroaches; they don't like sudden light.

Don't cheap out on locks & such.  "Security On Sale" is false economy.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE