We’ll talk today about one of these measures to protect your motorcycle: anti-theft devices and their pros and cons.

Electronic anti-theft systems

These are, first of all, motorcycle alarms. You can find many different models on the market, but they all fall into 3 categories:

  • With siren. These are the cheapest, but also the most stupid “signalling systems”. They are able, at most, to scare away very inexperienced thieves, but for the professionals they are not a problem.
  • With feedback. They are a little better: at least you will know that something is happening to your bike when the key fob starts beeping. The disadvantage of this alarm is that it will not interfere with quickly loading a motorcycle into a van or trailer.
  • Satellite alarms. Their feature is the transfer of the location of the bike to its owner or to the remote control of a security company. Moreover, the coordinates are sent in real time and without delay. Such “signals” are great for catching most thieves red-handed if you or law enforcement agencies quickly respond to stealing. The downside is that the signal transmitter can be clogged with the help of “jammers” that are in the arsenals of super professionals. But in the most cases you can be afraid of such “specialists” only when you have a very expensive bike and they want to steal it on order. Of course such satellite devices will not be cheap.

When deciding on the purchase of a particular alarm, it is useful to ask if it has the ability to work autonomously if suddenly the hijackers decide to cut it off from the motorcycle’s electrical network; how many sensors and what they respond to (the more, the better); what is the radius within which the signal can be transmitted to your key fob.

Electronic anti-theft systems

In addition to the “alarms” it makes sense to put an immobilizer in order to prevent the hijackers from starting the engine. The principle of its operation is as follows: there is a central device on the bike and a key fob that is programmed for the central device (in new models you can link your smartphone to the central device). When the key fob enters the zone of visibility of the central device, the immobilizer allows the engine to be started. The disadvantages of the immobilizer are obvious: a thief can simply steal or take away the key fob from the owner, or use special equipment to record the signal exchanged between the central unit and the key fob.

And, of course, the main disadvantage of any electronic devices is that they do not protect your bike at all from the banal loading onto a trailer or van by several hijackers or from theft with a crane or a mechanized arm.

Mechanical anti-theft devices

The first thing to mention is the chain. It will reliably secure your motorcycle with the obligatory observance of several conditions:

  1. The object to which you will attach the bike must be stationary and stable, it must be difficult or impossible to take it away with the motorcycle, for example, a metal stand or lamppost.
  2. The chain is threaded through the frame, but never through the wheel, because there were such cases when the owner in the parking lot in the morning instead of the bike found only the wheel and the chain.
  3. It is best to find a chain made of heavy-duty metal and with thick links. It will be very difficult to cut it down.
  4. The chain should be fixed as high as possible from the ground so that it dangles and it is inconvenient for intruders to cut it.

chain will reliably secure your motorcycle with the obligatory observance of several conditions

The advantages of the chain include its extreme effectiveness against the arsenal of most hijackers. The downside is the need to carry it with you, since the chain is inconvenient to transport due to its large weight.

Instead of a chain you can use a lock for brake discs. It is threaded through the holes in the disc and makes it impossible for the wheel to spin, so that criminals cannot roll your bike away or ride it away. Almost useless against professionals. In addition there were cases when the owners forgot about the lock and broke the brake discs when trying to start.

Instead of a chain, you can use a lock for brake discs

In general one of the reliable and at the same time relatively inexpensive ways to protect your “iron friend” is a motorcycle cover. It has a lot of advantages: it will hide your bike from prying eyes, an attacker will not be able to understand the cost of your motorcycle and find out what anti-theft devices are on it. In addition the cover will hide your property from adverse weather conditions.

one of the reliable and, at the same time, relatively inexpensive ways to protect your iron friend is a moto cover

After learning the pros and cons of anti-theft devices you may want to consider getting more information about buying an anti-theft device, or looking for a service to install it. To solve this kind of problem we created the CryptoMoto app for motorcyclists. It’s easy to sign up and completely free!

With CryptoMoto you will not only solve your problems, have fun and chat with other bikers, but also get a chance to make money. How exactly? Read the details in our article Experience points.

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