stealing a motorbike

[motorpsycho]

Sheesh! For the "don`t let it out of your sight" crew, what do you use your MABs for? Just joyride around town, then back home and lock them into a vault? I don`t like to sound snarky, but how much of your transportation needs don`t require parking and leaving the area? Do you not use them for shopping, barber shop, movies, night out to dinner, etc?

Hopefully I haven`t ruffled any feathers, since I was kind of wondering the same thing as the OP, but my plans for a future MAB include a lot of situations where I`ll have to lock up and cross my fingers. I`m still in the research stages, and hope to be motoring some time towards the end of this year. Any construction or design tips that I should be keeping in mind to make security a little easier, or just build first, then figure out the details?

actually, no i don't use my bike for anything other than scooting around the neighborhood, and putting around at car shows. I go to a lot of custom car shows with my car, and using the bike allows me to putter around at the shows and show off my bike at the same time. I built my bike just for fun, not for riding it to work or to the grocery store.
I have a car to do those sort of things.

I don't lock my bike in a vault, it gets parked in my garage, right next to my '55 pontiac, my '66 triumph bonneville,and my '74 kawasaki . all of my vehicles includng my m.b. get used, and used often in the summer.

 

[hacheemaster]

I am building this bike because my piston rings in my car fried and I need a mode of transportation. I also powerlift and have noticed that my squats are going down because I ride my bike around so much. I need to give my legs a rest.

Also, while working at meijer, I am not allowed to bring any belongings that cannot fit on a coat rack or a small locker. Therefore, I will not be able to keep my eye on the bike. We get 15 min breaks every 2 hours and that is barely enough time to run to the deli, grab a meal, and stuff it down my throat. What I am looking for is some sort of weather proof cover that you can lock onto the bike. I park my bike right next to the front entrance. A lot of people go by so I doubt anybody will try anything too shady.

Moreover, if I am looking for a bike that can be ridden in all sorts of weather, would the $199 GRUBEE SkyHawk GT5 66cc/80cc Bicycle Engine Kit (Black Finish) 2 stroke kit from kingsmotorbikes.com be a good pick or could I get a kit that is a better bang for my buck?

 

[give me vtec]

I use a kryptonite combination bike lock that is a 3/8 in or so steel braided cable, covered in an armadillo like steel sleeve made out of flexible interlocking rings.

I figure if they can get through that before I come out of home depot, without drawing attention to themselves... they deserve the bike.

 

[happycheapskate]

If you have a skilled hand at welding, you can weld a couple of U bolts to the fins somewhere to give a place to run a cable through them or padlocks and chain.

The best thing you can do is park it somewhere it will be on surveillance video, with passersby occasionally.

The dealtime 3 button vibration alarm works, but its overly sensitive and you'll probably set it off sometimes just trying to activated it. Other people locking bikes to the same rack will set it off. You have to glue the battery in and take it out with pliers, or they will just pop the battery out.

There is a chain at walmart by Brinks that looks like the Kryptonite chain. Its not as hard, but more discouraging than a cable for sure. Someone stole my pocketbike from my front yard by cutting the cable and throwing it in a truck. I know it was a truck theft because they peeled out through my yard coming and going.

Also, get an ugly looking blanket like an old comforter or packing blanket. Wax it good so it will repel rain. It will keep the sun from fading everything including your gas (evaporation), and keep most people from bothering it.

Anything you do is a deterrent.
An ordinary looking bike (better yet- a junk looking bike) with the engine hidden would be a good start. Then the anti-theft measures.
I guess a friction drive with a basket over the engine would be the most easily hidden set-up.
I did that same idea with a push-mower I keep at a house to do the grass- it looks like garbage- apparent oil leaks / dirty/ missing air filter cover. Not something you would want to steal.
You just have to live with the idea that underneath all that crud is a heart of gold.

 

[happycheapskate]

re: looks like junk.

There is some primer made by Krylon that looks like actual rust. I used to use it on my best mower. It looked like a rotten piece of ****, but ran like a pro.

Maybe the best bike would be a BMX with a friction drive, something small and kept very clean. You may be able to talk the boss into letting you cram it in your office or some backroom or a corner of the warehouse etc. A folding bike would be even more utilitarian and maybe more PC.

 

[Fabian]

I completely agree with Motorpsycho

A. never let the bike out of your site.
B. never let the bike out of your site.
C. never let the bike out of your site.
D. All of the above.

If you ride it to work, why not ask if you can chain the damm thing to your office desk so you can keep your eye on it?


My motored bike and custom trailer combo, now with a whole heap of upgrades and more to come is worth around $4,000 and i haven't even started on the electric start/generator system yet.

Every time i go somewhere i carry about 15 heavy duty bicycle locks and spend 20 minutes chaining the bike and trailer up to three independent points of attachment, much to the total bewilderment of onlooking bystanders.
20% of my trip times are devoted to locking up the bike and trailer.

Fabian

 

[rodar y rodar]

I can understand that some folks do use their motored rides for recreation or only to go places where they can secure them well, but I have no doubt I`ll be in plenty of company using mine for a lot of utility purposes where security will be at least some issue. Those are the riders whose brains I was hoping to pick, and probably the ones the OP was addressing, also. Of course, I do welcome suggestions by all and I did take note that a lot of those suggestions were to not let it out of sight- will comply to the extent possible.

And FWIW, not everybody has a desk at work.

 

[Fabian]

You can always chain the bike to the staffroom kitchen sink

 

[happycheapskate]

They are probably bewildered that for 4 grand, it can't take to the highway.

Sounds neat, but I would ride that one for weekends and buy a $200 happytime bike to drive to work.

 

[Fabian]

It's not that the onlookers are bewildered that the bike cant take to the highway, it is "i" that's bewildered the bike cant to the highway for something that's cost 4 grand (so far) and doesn't even have electric start, indicators, brake lights or a proper lighting system and struggles to maintain 5 miles an hour on hills with a loaded trailer.

Some might call that insanity, but they aren't living in my reality.

Fabian