“No Brainer”
Anti-Theft Precautions
We all know our pretty shiny bikes will catch the eye of other bike enthusiast. That is why we wash, wax and polish the chrome before a ride, right?
Unfortunately, as we are showing off our ride to other bike enthusiasts, we are also showing off our ride to the potential bad guys too.
Being married to a Law Enforcement Officer I have heard some of the stories of what the bad guys are willing to go through to steal your ride. Which have made me cautious and maybe a little paranoid when it comes to protecting my ride from theft.
I don’t want the potential theft of my ride to hamper the enjoyment of riding or of my travels so we take “No Brainer” Anti-Theft Precautions.
The first “No Brainer” precaution is to lock the fork lock, taking this simple step and making it part of your routine can save you thousands in headache and heartache.
When visiting a restaurant or bar we always try to park in front of the entrance, so even if we can’t see our bikes from where we are seated, it is highly visible from other patrons or employees of the restaurant/bar. If front row parking isn’t available as in most cases, and we have to park in a parking lot, we park under a light. When we are traveling extensively we book our hotels with bike friendly hotels with parking in front of our rooms. We also cluster park when we are in a group, so if one of the bikes doesn’t have an alarm system, we park the bikes with alarms behind it.
There are times when you just can’t park where you can keep an eye on your ride, which brings me back to ALARM SYSTEMS. We have had alarm systems on all our bikes. All of our bikes have had stock alarm systems, the latest bike came with Harley Davidson alarm system and we upgraded it with pager to alert us if the alarm goes off.
There are several aftermarket alarm systems available that are either hardwired or Plug & Play.
Some alarm systems have Text, GPS locating capabilities, and there are even alarm systems with perimeter capabilities. With the perimeter alarm model, you can program it for a set distance and should someone get too close the alarm will sound.
There are less complicated anti-theft devices that simply work because most bad guys are lazy and will move on to an easier target. Such as a cable and lock, or a less intrusive anti-theft device is hub locks with tilt sensors built-in which sounds an ear-piercing alarm when the bike is stood up off its stand. This type of anti-theft device are fairly inexpensive, easy to use, with no hard wire and are small enough to carry in your saddlebag.
With any of these anti-theft devices it is only effective if it is put into use. That being said if your alarm goes off, check on your bike. We have all heard alarms going off and the owner never shows up to check on their ride.
Last “No Brainer”, is INSURANCE….
One can put into action all the anti-theft precautions but all it takes is that one bad guy who is good at stealing bikes.
My brother had his and his wife’s bikes in an enclosed trailer hooked to his truck with a hitch lock. The bad guy in this case stole the trailer and the bikes.
As with most people my brother didn’t know the difference between ACV (Actual Cash Value) and RCV (Replacement Cash Value). They had ACV coverage, so they received pennies on the dollar for the theft of their bikes and trailer.
For me, I like to take several precautionary steps.
1.) Alarm system with pager notification and GPS locating (Lord help the bad guy if I find them before the cops do).
2.) Hub locks
3.) Safe parking location
4.) RCV (Replacement Cash Value) insurance policy.
Ride safe
Keep the ridea sa few
Bell
Bells Rides
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