Alarming you ride

[TCGS]

So no matter what bike you've got, its probably a good idea to get an alarm - generally speaking anyway.


From what I've looked at, it seems like two options.

You can get one of these cheapo alarms that will do all sorts from speak to a thief to remote starting, and everything inbetween.

I'm sure these alarms are very good, but I also know that you've just got to disconnect it from the battery and job done, no alarm.


The next option is to get an expensive alarm, but I don't know how these cope with the battery disconnection issue.


So, what to do?


Any ways to make life hard for your would-be thief to disconnect the battery?

What happens with these more expensive systems when you disconnect the battery?

[prawny1]

not many bike alarms work independent of the battery anyway tbh

[That_Hornet]

Don't get one. more hassle that its worth.

Mine is not working. I beat it to death with a rather large flat bladed screwdriver and a hammer when it fucked up. But still on there for insurance.

Most will just fail on your and leave you stranded miles from home.

I say get some decent security (chains etc) No one cares about alarms anymore. I stuck one on the garage just for my attention. So i know there's some thieving toad in my domain.

But yea, alarms = bad. (my experience)

[prawny1]

not many bike alarms work independent of the battery anyway tbh

[prawny1]

bcf server playing silly buggers again

double post sorry

[Walloper]

[Ingah]

I think if you want an alarm not so trivially disabled, you could consider looking at something like an alarmed Disc-Lock (not for me, i don't like them), or an alarmed chain or suchlike?

I wouldn't be at all surprised (indeed i would welcome) a product you can attach to your existing chain / bike, that acts as an all-in-one-unit alarm (as immobilisation is such a waste of time on bikes anyway).

I don't like the idea of cutting wires, and having my bike's electrics completely disableable by yet another failure-prone device.
____________________
-- Ingah

[panrider_uk]

Never had a problem with my alarm (Veto) in the 13 years its been on my bike.

It also reduces my insurance.

Will definitely have one on my next bike.

Mark
____________________
Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel

[Paxovasa]

I have a Datatool system 3 on the bandit and apart from when a indicator bulb blew and so caused the alarm fuse to blow, I have never had a problem with it.

In fact it has been very useful, especially when some scroats tried to have the bike away.
____________________
Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[Ingah]

The problem i have with alarms, is that they don't really do anything much to enhance a bike's security by themselves. The "professionals" can get around them all too easily (either by silencing it very swiftly or just lifting the bike into a van and driving away to play with the alarm as the van goes along some quiet roads). And the casual teenage scrotums (the ones who can't sort the high-tech alarm out quickly), they would be just as easily deterred by a half decent chain or alarmed disc-lock (in fact, possibly more so as they may miss a small flashing LED easier than a big chain, and once they've started they'll probably make a mess). I'd also take a stab that these are the same people that will be scared off by the noise, and so the extra time to disable the system is again unnecessary.

They way i look at alarms is that the only person they're really there to alert is me. I only need it to chime once to wake me up / grab my attention, if i'm around. Everyone else will in all probability ignore it. This means that there is no real advantage to something that takes extra seconds to silence, as i've already heard it, and this extra "security" is what's going to leave me stranded at the side of the road some day.

I feel that motorbike alarms have a way to develop yet.
____________________
-- Ingah

[metalangel]

Be more interested in something that stops them taking it away than just making a big fuss.

Did see a good alarm many many years ago, an obnoxious recording of 'NEE NAAW NEE NAW THIS BIKE IS BEING STOLEN, HELP! NEE NAW NEE NAAAAW'
____________________
Previous: 2002 Honda CB500 (sold), 2007 Suzuki SV650SK6 (crashed), 2005 Yamaha FZ6 Fazer (sold). Currently bikeless
"A faired bike will get you 10x more clunge than a unfaired one." -Marlboro Matt

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

[JP7]

Both of my bikes have had alarms on them. My old one had a Datatool on it which was capable of draining my battery within days. I hated it.

I've now got a Meta System alarm on my new bike which is set up a lot better. It drains a lot less power and only arms when I want it to, instead of every damn 30 seconds like the Datatool.

It does make a difference to my insurance, so I'm happy to have one. I'd quite like to keep my bike, so every little helps.

[Bendy]

I've always considered the point of an alarm to be that it alerts me to the fact that someone's tampering.

They can pick it up and put it in a van, but I'd like to hear that they're doing it. I could have it chained up, but if I'm asleep the thieves have got all night to work their way through the chain without waking me up.

At least with an alarm, I'm gonna hear someone's fucking about. What exactly I do about it is another matter, but I'd like to know at the time, not in the morning.

I guess I'm fairly 'pro' alarm because the one time people tried to nick my bike, the alarm did scare them off. Someone had been watching it, as this was the single night I wasn't able to chain it up (car had blocked 'my' lampost). 1am in the morning I hear a diesel outside, didn't think anything of it as this was on-street in London and it was probably a cab. Then my bike alarm goes off and there's a screech of tyres. Leg it outside to find bike cover half off, alarm screaming away and quite a few people in other flats looking out of their windows. Paid for itself in one go, there.

The motion sensor was also useful when parked on street and a couple of times someone in a car nudged it. No damage was ever done, but again I knew it happened at the time, not later when I'd go outside and find the bike on its side.

[The Artist]

If money wasn't an issue, I would buy a bright yellow big fvck off chain.

Alarm would have to be so loud e.g. hurt ears to even make me think about paying for it.

[TCGS]

Actually I used to have a Gilera Runner 125.

That had a Datatool Thatcham 2 alarm system that cost in excess of £200 inc fitting (I don't remember exactly as it was on there when I bought it but I saw the receipt for the work etc)

My bike was "hot" according to the chavs/joy riders. I would get my alarm going off roughly every week or so, when I look out the window I would see some yobs sitting on the bike or something, so I would shout and they would run away.

I had the bike for about 6 months and then I was awoken at 3am by the alarm.

Looked out the window to see it been lifted into the back of van.

I then phoned the police etc and that was that.


About a month later I got a call from the police saying they found the bike.

So I went to pick it up and they had changed the barrel on the bike and done away with most of the wiring to remove the alarm I presume.


Nevertheless, the bike was road worthy (just) and I drove it home.


It then got stolen by chavs about two weeks later. I didn't even know until the police turned up telling me they found my bike.

I got it back and then sold it quickly lol.






Eitherway, the moral of the story IMO such:

I believe it is worth getting an alarm. If someone professional wants to steal it then they will and no amount of alarms and chains will stop them because they know a way around everything.

If a chav wants to steal it to do some wheelies and then set it on fire, they will - unless you shout at them it would appear lol




so, as there are virtually no alarms that run independently of the battery, a cheap alarm is just as good as an expensive alarm one assumes...



Some chavs are very good at what they do. My new area has virtually no chavs but I would still like to be safe than sorry.

[tsmith]

Datatool System 3 on my bike.

Any bike I've owned has had an alarm. I prefer Datatool models, but I also had a bike with a Meta.

The System 3 has its own battery (9v I think) that charges from the main bike battery and keeps it going. Sure, eventually it will drain if you leave the main battery off for a week or so.

I haven't had any problems with the alarms. The biggest ball ache is the fact that maintenance mode keeps beeping at me and when you are working on the bike those beeps are damn loud. Small price to pay for piece of mind.

When it comes to security, I do everything I can. Alarm, immobiliser, big fat chain and disc locks.

I hate the breeding chav scum that are infesting this country and if one of them attempts to nick my bike I want to hear it and delay the chav long enough for me to grab the baseball bat, pop outside and play some baseball.

[Ingah]

I've posted this previously, but i want to disagree with all of you that are discounting the value of proper security, this is what i've wrote previously:

"[What you're all saying] sounds almost too much like "meh, may as well not bother as it won't really make a difference - it won't stop theft" (or at least gives that impression).

Obviously anything human made can be beaten by other humans - so any security can theoretically be beaten, given TIME, but it's TIME that you can deprive a thief of to the extent where they either simply won't try (the best security ), or where they'll give in or get caught before they're done beating it.

Example for you: Living in a town/city. If you use an Almax Series 4 chain (as an example of the "best" imo, chain) through the frame of your bike, to a lamp post near your house (or better yet, a decent ground anchor) - i can pretty much guarantee you no one will steal your bike. If you combine this with a motion-sensing alarm that covers the area around your bike (i got my fully-featured system for £70 and i'm sure you can use a baby monitor or something cheaper if desired) then you're laughing as not only will attacking the chain be making a *loud* noise, but the alarm is sure to be blaring too. No one is going to be able to steal the bike, especially if you're in (unless you prefer to cower under the bed than go out there and hit the attempted-thieves) - or of course unless you leave your keys somewhere they can easily get to if they break in to your house (*facepalm*). They won't have it away in time via the standard means - it'll take too many minutes to break the chain with their loud power tools. And they can't use silent tools like bolt croppers - as even the Almax Series 3 guarantees you can't break them with croppers, and there's independently verified videos floating around proving it. [Compare this with the "up and away" end-result of having a bike "secured" with only an alarm.] It's for that reason i personally won't use any other chain than Almax, because if it can be silently bolt-cropped/similar [as with almost every other chain on the market], then what's the point in bothering, as yes, it will just "slow them down" rather than stop them.

My point is that with low-grade security i think it's more of a deterrant and a slow-them-down, but with properly thought out security, you can pretty much (as in nearly but not quite) prevent theft of your bikes. Unless you've peed off the British secret services or equivalent (or are trying to protect a £40K bike..), of course
____________________
-- Ingah

[colin1]

I'd never buy a bike with an alarm fitted.

I've been put off by bikes that either drain their battery quickly, or that suffer from intermittant electrical fualts due to having their wiring loom butchered when the alarm was fitted.

I think a disc lock with an alarm in it is a far better.
____________________
colin1 is officially faster than god

[Paxovasa]

At home I have a ground anchor and a big fuck off chain that I got from work. I also have a big padlock for the chain, disc lock and the datatool 3 alarm on the bandit. And still some scroats had a poke around the bike. It was the alarm bleeping that tipped me the wink.

I now have a second fuck off chain I got from work and I now chain the bandit and the XT together, both bikes have disc locks and with the bandit alarm if anyone moves the XT the bandit alarm is triggered.

I can not recommend a motorcycle alarm highly enough, but you can not just rely on an alarm.

I read somewhere where a guy had an R1 parked outside a shop with just the steering lock and alarm set. Someone broke the steering lock and then they towed the R1 away with a scooter.

A simple disc lock may well have stopped them.
____________________
Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).