Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!noc.near.net!uunet!mdisea!mothost!white!rtsg.mot.com!svoboda
From: svoboda@rtsg.mot.com (David Svoboda)
Subject: Locks and security (was Re: Yamaha Locks)
Message-ID: <1993Apr23.150858.6144@rtsg.mot.com>
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References: <1993Apr21.152327.7651@hemlock.cray.com> <C5uxrp.5F8@news2.cis.umn.edu>
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1993 15:08:58 GMT
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This is maybe not a Pet Peeve, but definitely a Playmate Peeve:

In article <C5uxrp.5F8@news2.cis.umn.edu> wfk@lynx.spa.umn.edu (Bill Ketzeback) writes:
|Any lock including the Kyptonite utypes are EASY to break into if the person has
|the proper supplies and/or motivation. 3 minutes and your bike is gone!
|I would be glad to explain but I dont want to contribute to any unlawful
|activities. 

Does this make anyone's Skeptic Alarm (tm) go off?  No offense, Bill, I
don't mean to say that you're not being straight, but I wonder how you
know about this?  Have you actually every used your secret method to break
all the different kinds of bike locks?  Or are you taking someone's word
for it?

The fact is, it is unlikely that someone reading anything here is going to
go into a successful bike-stealing business because they read anything in
rec.motorcycles.  So please tell us what you are talking about.  We can't
even protect against an assault, or discuss methods, if you don't come out
with it.

See, I have heard the ones about the pipes, and the liquid nitrogen, and the
cordless Dremel tools, and a bunch of other ones.  The most plausable method
(I am not a bike thief, so I really don't know for certain) is just to put
a rod through each wheel, and use four guys to just lift the bike into a
truck.  This works because most people don't lock their bikes TO anything.
Since that method is so childishly easy, I figure a nice, visible chain or
cable locking the bike to something is likely to make a lazy thief go on
to the next bike.

(Hey, finally an advantage to the weight and high CG of the Concours!  :-)

|Especially since I have a bike that I would hate to see ripped off
|by such a trival tactic. WARNING NO lock alone is a safe deterent against theft,
|the thief doesnt need to be a locksmith or a lock-picker to walk away with your
|property!  I personally think motion alarms in combination to a lock
|of this type is the way to go if in fact you are that concerned.

What tactic are you referring to?  If we don't know what you are talking about,
we can't very well guard against it, can we?

For my money (literally) I rely on a combination of a motion-detector alarm
with pager when I'm out of earshot of the bike in a questionable area, C&C
insurance, and I try to park in obvious, visible areas with lots of people
about.  (See, if someone just plays with the bike without intention of
stealing it, at least some eyes are on it, and if they get too rambunctious,
they'll set off the alarm.)

That's for a nice bike.  For a ratbike, the trick is to always keep its
actual value well below blue-book, so that it looks so crappy nobody would
WANT to steal it, and even if they were stupid enough to, you would make
a profit on the deal.  :-)

Seriously, if I (for instance) need to go on a business trip for a week,
and (sadly) have to leave the bikes sitting, they both get a shitty-looking,
but useable cover, locked on, and both bikes locked to each other and a
curb bumper in the parking lot under the light.  I usually rig the cable
locks I use (aircraft cable) so that if anyone pulls on either bike or
the cable joining them, the Concours alarm goes off.  And I have a friend
come buy every day to have a look and make sure they're still there.  The
only thing I have ever had stolen was a $60 cover, and that was over 
winter storage, with the battery out of the bike (and thus no alarm).

Oh, put your own eyelets into the cover for the locks to pass through, and
place them so that they have to absolutely destroy the cover to get it off.

That's the best that I can think of.  Most of the locks I see people put
on bikes look, well, not too mechanically sound.  I like ABUS, since I have
personally removed Master locks from lockers with my boot.

Dave Svoboda (svoboda@void.rtsg.mot.com)    | "I'm getting tired of
90 Concours 1000 (Mmmmmmmmmm!)              |  beating you up, Dave.
84 RZ 350 (Ring Ding) (Woops!)              |  You never learn."
AMA 583905  DoD #0330  COG 939  (Chicago)   |  -- Beth "Bruiser" Dixon
