When I'm at home, I throw it in the garage and consider it done.

I commute to work nearly every day... the job I was at before had a pretty secure parking lot with cameras and motorcycle parking in the back so that any potential thieves would have to navigate quite a few cars to get the bike. So I didn't worry about it too much.

New job used to let me squeeze it into a warehouse, but I've been parking outside the last couple of months and wanted to discuss ways to potentially prevent theft. Right now I just throw a shitty looking cover on it and a padlock in one of the front disc rotor holes. Not sure how much this will do, but it seemed like a simple version of those $80 bike locks. It's in the same spot every day...

Anyone have any tips? There are a lot of GPS/alarm options out there, not sure which ones would be worth it.

 

If you are serious and have a place to connect the other end to, these look fairly substantial: Products - Motorcycle Locks - 8290DPS - Master Lock®

 

Those are awesome! I need to get a pair for the bike... and bedroom!

 

In the garage for now. In the past when it had to be stored outside in the alley i used some pretty extreme chain... (like this OnGuard Locks Beast Series Motorcycle Chain Lock 644-2003 at SportDemon.com ) with a nylon protective wrap, looped through a heavy duty D-ring shackle ( like this Heavy-Duty 11,000 lb. Surface-Mount D-ring-184700 at The Home Depot ) anchored into the concrete with a bunch of jb weld on the anchored threads.

I felt good about it. Always cover a bike parked outside, no matter what. reduces temptation for a thief.

 

Always put the disc lock on the rear disc. It is MUCH harder to move the bike with the rear wheel locked up as opposed to the light front end. Helpful to put a little brightly colored reminder flag on it so you can see it when you pull the cover off so you don't wreck your rear rotor.

 

Out of sight, out of mind. If it looks like a P.O.S. nobody is going to want to steal it.

Locks and chains will stop a dumb thief, and slow down a good one. There was a bike theft ring last summer in Toronto, mostly aimed at condo underground parking. All it takes is a couple guys and a van...

 

Six-foot chain link with triple barb on top will discourage most. For those that want to scope us, the first thing they find is a very young pitbull. 2yo. Spayed female and she is proud of her fences. Then there's the Armory. We hang our targets up from the range on our fences occasionally. The last time we got ripped off for $1800 in small engines I told APD, "Next time we won't be calling to report a robery - we'll be calling for bodybags." They cleaned up the neighborhood and everything has been cool since. Do everthing you can to **** them up. Post warnings that you will.

 

Move to the rural midwest and you can leave the key in it, overnight, in the front drive. My girl did that a couple of times last year.

 

Up there people leave cars running - unlocked - while shopping for groceries so that the car stays warm..

 

What you are doing is very good. Cover is the #1 form of security since no one desires a bike they cant see. It also looks shady for them to look under it and thieves hate that,

I also use an alarm (gorilla) its cheap and has worked for like 9 years thru rain & winter. I use a disc lock too.

Also have many chains and modified my underseat to hold a 4 ft chain and armored padlock. HIGH SECURITY MUL T LOCK ABLOY MEDECO PADLOCK SHED GATE TRUCK VAN DOOR HASP LOCK | eBay

Usually its hard to lock to something but if you can thats a huge deterrent. Luckily, few want to steal a VTR, so all you have to do is discourage them.

 

I live on the California coast and don't worry about it. I put a cover on to keep the salted mist mostly off, but other than that it sits 10 feet from the road. I do put a chain and padlock through the frame going to my porch if I'm leaving it for a few days.

 

I know it's obviously not practical for someone who rides everyday but I usually don't park at say work or a restaurant, etc unless I can see the bike from where I'm sitting/working. I just don't trust people. And as far as the garage goes in addition to the alarm in the house the garage door gets latched and padlocked (in a very tight spot that would made cutting the lock pretty difficult) from inside as well. They can have my tv and my sofa they're not getting anything out of the garage. But in addition to the various locking methods available I believe a cover helps to draw alot less attention to a bike sitting out in the open.

 

Haha, I'll have to move out of the city a bit before I can start employing any "castle law".

I like that handcuff idea... really fits the streetfighter thing I've got going on too. CHAIN THE WILD BEAST! And I've started putting the lock on the rear caliper.

Not sure what'd they'd do with the bike if they got it anyway... they'll have a helluva time figuring out where all the pieces came from.

 

One note about rear wheel placement.

These bikes have easily enough HP to snap a disc lock on the rear wheel. If they start the bike and drop the clutch that lock is gone.

I know a guy who lost his bike that way. That is the reason for using the front wheel.

I had someone hotwire my bike and a crappy padlock on the front saved it.

 

It would be an uncomfortable ride cruising around with a broken rotor. The reason you use the lock on the rear is to slow down the guys who throw them in the back of pickups which is probably the majority of bike thefts. The guys that go through the trouble of hot wiring will cruise them around for a while before dumping them. The padlock on the front saved your bike as much as padlock on the rear would have, it made it undesireable to the thief.

 

Uh, no, the bike was started and the $2 padlock wouldve easily been sheered by the rear wheel. Believe what you want but hotwiring is very common.

At least thats what the crue in the south bronx told me. Oh and the guys in Brooklyn and Queens and the 15 or so friends I have who came to find their bikes gone and ignition parts on the ground.

All they need is a hammer and screwdriver. BYO helmet.

The guy who had his bike stolen with the lock on the back parked in front of his apartment building. He heard the motor rev so ran to the window to see the guy reving and dumping the clutch to bread the lock.

But if you fell safe I guess thats whats important. I just wanted to share the knowledge