Wed, 06 May 1998 12:32:08 +0100 - Message No. 2868
From: Pete

Subject: Re: disc locks...




Martin Franz wrote:

> Hi @ riders,
> just one more word about disc locks:
> when someone want's to steal your bike, he will lift it up.
> Two "nice" stories: son of my collegua had xrv750 with disc lock in
> front wheel, abus lock rear wheel. In the morning he had no xrv750, no
> disk lock and no abus...
> My friend with cbr900 equiped with high price alarm system wondered in
> the morning, why his
> direction light was opened. He kicked the bike to check, if the alarm is
> active: no sound !!!??!!!  The guys deactiveted the alarm system with
> "glue foam" (first the tried to shortcut the system by a "bridge" in the
> direction light...)...fortuntaly, they probably got disturbed and so the
> bike was not
> stolen.
>
> As we say here: most of those locks/alarm systems are just for the
> fishes... :-(
>
> regards, martin

Being an ex alarm installer Martin I feel I am able to comment somewhat on
your points
most DECENT alarm systems nowadays will have inline fuses to protect the
indicator circuits alone and if they are tampered with it will not affect
the performance of the alarm, and they will also have a battery backup
system which will trigger the alarm in the event of total power failure
anyway.
2nd point we can only protect our bikes against around 95% of thefts which
are casual or opportunist thieves, you will never stop a determined pro no
matter what you have, which is why its important to also have backups such
as disk loks, chain the bike to a solid obstacle such as a lamp post, and
always park it in a clearly visible area where lots of eyes can see it,

a thief hates noise and people watching, if you hide your bike somewhere
quiet they will love that., if it looks like its gonna be too much hassle
they will move on to the next bike. another good idea is to fit a cheap
motion sensor alarm unit in the side panel compartment which runs off its
own batteries and even if the bike is lifted the siren will keep going off,
hopefully enough to make them scarper,

I am selling some of these cheap units on a web site
http:\\www.netcomuk.co.uk\~philz\cycle which I could let you have at cost
+postage n packing if anyone wants one, they come with a handlebar mount but
I would put them in the side panels or any luggage on board if I were you.

remember no one system is foolproof, given time I could steal anything, so
the trick is to fit a few devices and don't give them the time.

hope this helps Y'all.

Pete







dipper@normans.isd.uni-stuttgart.de