best ways to prevent bike theft?.

[fatfreddy000]

Any ideas on this title.
i live in hackney, london and its full of thieving little shites in hoods.
yesterday i hopped on my old GPZ750 (the firestorm is in pieces again for work) only to find the ignition barrel and steering lock and top yolk all damaged and the wiring burnt out where some scumbags have tried with zero knowledge of electrics to hotwire it.. I'm hoping the main fuse went before much damage was done to loom..
anyway, i can't afford the theft insurance in london for my VTR especially as the excess is over £1000!
for this reason i have an alarm and gps tracker on it- the problem with this is the battery drains at about 0.2a constantly which means my 20ah battery only holds out unused for around 4 or 5 days before it won't start the bike..
i also have a couple of heavy duty chains and padlocks which go on every time its parked.
i live on a narrow boat and hence a lot of stuff gets left outside and although locked I've still had so much nicked the last year or so including 3 pushbikes, my sons wheelchair, gardening tools, the blue (disability) badge stolen from our car and the window smashed! and lots more.
its making me MAD!!!
was considering booby trapping an old motorcycle so the brakes would fail, handle bars detach and finally burst into flames if ridden away without consent..
god knows,
but any ides on improving security please let me know..

p.s
in truth the real reason for this post was to vent my frustration after the GPZ got butchered by these imbeciles..

[fabiostar]

move outa London .. all you can do is make whatever you lock the bike with as visable as possible to put scumbags off so they dont bother trying to steal it. big feck of ugly chain and lock is about the safest way.

[MacV2]

A big ugly dog chained to the bike...Or offer Fabio beer money to be chained to the bike...He fails on the 'big' part of the job discription but wins hands down on the other part...


Not a lot you can do given the location other than chains a cover & maybe keep the battery on a charger...

[alanfjones1411]

I have a sticker on my tank saying that it's got a tracker fitted and an alarmed disc lock. When ever I go into town I always park it next to a far newer and better bike,but Watford isn't quite as bad as London for bike theft.The little scumbags are often seen riding round Watford with no visible number plate and police don't seem to do anything about it.

[xeris]

The little scumbags are often seen riding round Watford with no visible number plate and police don't seem to do anything about it.

One would hope that there is some sort of happy medium between in the US a driver getting murdered by police for a burned out tail light and the free-for-all that seems to going on in London.

[StuartWags]

Combine some of these with some CCTV. You can also get the blank cartridges from the same dealer. No licence requireed


Then you will get some satisfaction of being able to see the would be thief crap them self when trying to nick your goods.

I would also imagine that in the current climate you would get some rapid attention from the plod if there was the sound of a shoot gun going off

http://www.henrykrank.com/index.php?mai ... ts_id=2964

[Kev L]

Follow the river Lea toward Ware/Hertford mate

[VTRDark]

Scumbag thieves. TBH in London the best prevention is to not have it parked on the street especially if tucked away down a quite area and / or at least have the bike within site. It's all down to where your park. If you do have to park in the street then one of the best preventions is a good quality bike cover. If they can't see the goods then it does not attract so much attention especially if it a shitty grubby looking cover. Most thieves are opportunist's. Camera's are a good idea but home cctv is not really worth it unless your sitting in front of the screen watching 24/7. They will simply cover themselves up so unrecognisable when doing the deed and don't think that plod will do much to chase things up when you give them the recoding. You will get a crime number and then It comes down to insurance. Better off parking on a busy main street with monitored CCTV in action. At least they have direct link to police if they see anything suspicious. Not only that but their footage will hold in court better than a home setup. London is getting worse

[Loo Kahs]

The key is to have the ugliest bike in the street - just like me.

[lloydie]

Sell it before it gets nicked

[tony.mon]

The little scumbags are often seen riding round Watford with no visible number plate and police don't seem to do anything about it.

One would hope that there is some sort of happy medium between in the US a driver getting murdered by police for a burned out tail light and the free-for-all that seems to going on in London.

Could the happy medium not ask the spirits where the stolen stuff is?

[Swampy]

The little scumbags are often seen riding round Watford with no visible number plate and police don't seem to do anything about it.

One would hope that there is some sort of happy medium between in the US a driver getting murdered by police for a burned out tail light and the free-for-all that seems to going on in London.

Could the happy medium not ask the spirits where the stolen stuff is?

[cheekykev]

A big thick chain seems to be most peoples choice, but this is only as good as the lock or whatever you attach it too.
A big thick chain may look the part, but I think a thick Bowden Cable is a better option, im an engineer and I'd much rather cut through a chain than a Bowden Cable.
When I say Bowden Cable, I don't mean the thin stuff on clutches etc, I mean proper industrial stuff like 12 to 15 mm diameter.
Try cutting it and you'll find you're wasting your time, bolt cutters no chance, hack saw no chance, hammer and chisel no chance, the only way to get through it is with an angle grinder with a thin cutting wheel, which in turn will make a lot of noise, plus it's a bugger to hold while you're trying to cut it.
In most opatunists cases this will put them off, so they just move on to something else.
To be honest these days if someone really wants it they'll get it no matter what, all you can do is make it more difficult for them .

[KermitLeFrog]

I have a bowden cable one. Very old now but still good. Doubles up to a reasonable size, not too heavy, covered with interlocking rotating sleeves and then clear PVC. Not sure if they are still available.

[norry rc8]

get an electric fence unit ,clip positive to bike negative to earth ,and switch on.
it pulses 50,000 volts but only 0.oo5 amps, so when bike is touched they get big shock but not killed
it hurts like hell ,but probably will use more power than an alarm .

but you will hear them screeeeeeeeeeeem