Keep Your Motorcycle or Scooter From Being Stolen With These Helpful Tips

Lower Your Motorcycle Insurance Rates With Anti-Theft Protection Devices

One of the things you love about your motorcycle, the convenience and mobility of your machine compared to a car, is also the one thing that makes it relatively easy to steal. Lighter weight motorcycles and scooters are, by virtue of their size, much more likely to end up in the back of a van and long gone from your driveway.

How do you prevent your machine from being stolen? Start with some common sense action. When you park, make it somewhere where lifting your bike would be difficult if not impossible. If you have it as an option, take the time to lock the ignition or use the fork lock if your bike is in a particularly dodgy location.

If your bike lacks and alarm system or a LoJack, give some serious thought to buying one and putting it on post haste. Fitting your bike with and alarm system has the additional benefit of lowering the cost of your insurance if you have it fitted by a professional installer.

Don’t have the budget for an electronic system. Consider a decent, hardened steel disc lock you can attach to the brake disc. Thieves are opportunists and they’re much more likely to target a bike which gives them fewer headaches when they make their move. Locking the brake discs makes it impossible to turn the wheel, and disc brake locks are generally smaller and easy to carry with you and that makes it more likely that you’ll use them when the situation calls for additional security.

If you do have the budget, consider a tracking device like a LoJack which sends out a signal to lead the police to the bike’s location no matter where it may be stored. These devices can detect the location of your bike inside a van or inside a building, so they increase the chances that your bike will be recovered.

If you have the option, park your motorcycle in a garage. It may not seem like much, but a  good cover is just one more deterrent for thieves when they’re out looking for their next target. Having to take the time to remove a cover to see what model is underneath increases the chances that the thieves will be spotted, and they go to extreme lengths to avoid being spotted.

Motorcycle Anti-Theft Alarm Systems

• The Talon  motorcycle alarm and immobilizer may well be the top of the line.
• The Scorpio motorcycle alarm features an FM two-way system that sends and receives data up to half a mile away…
• The Cyclone 866F Motorcycle Alarm claims to be the “smallest ‘full-featured’ motorcycle security system in the world.”
• The Armed Guard system boasts a line of portable motorcycle alarms featuring perimeter sensors designed to be fitted to a wide variety of motorcycle brands.
• Acumen Electronics manufactures motorcycle alarms, immobilizers and individual alarm parts.
• Armed Guard Electronic Security puts out a line they call the the Sport and G-Force series, and the top of the line models include remote devices.

Motorcycle and Scooter Locks:

• RoadLok features a locking system  which permanently mounts to your frame to secure the bike.
• Abus in Germany; available in the U.S.; pretty good stuff
• Emgo is an Asian manufacturer of bike locks and a wide variety of motorcycle parts like velocity stacks
• Kryptonite Lock Company manufactures locks, chains and brake disc locks.

GPS Tracking Systems:

• Digital Guardian is a GPS anti-theft tracking device for motorcycles which  includes intrusion detection and perimeter sendsors
• LoJack makes a series of systems which are activated to transmit the location of a stolen motorcycle to police agencies.

Motorcycle Immobilizers:

• Target Technology sells the  Oxford, Meta and Taurus immobilizer lines. These devices interfere with the operation of the bike’s electronics.
• Phantom Tracking boasts a sophisticated ignition disabling technology and features a monitored tracking system.

The most important factor in deciding what kind of security you need for your motorcycle may well be the actual value of the machine itself. If you ride a $50,000 custom creation, you’d be plain loony to not make sure your machine is correctly insured and fitted with a top of the line security system.

For more helpful hints on how to protect your investment in your motorcycle and what you can do to make your riding experience safer and more fun, check us out at Motorcycleinsurance.com every day for more information about your obsession – riding.