How to secure a motorbike – 5 techie ways to beat thieves!
First things first, this video is sponsored by Blink and their XT2 Camera system – stick around to find out how you can use them to keep your bike safe and sound! Now, I’m a happy owner of this Suzuki SV650S but ever since I got it I’ve been mildly paranoid about it getting nicked and especially for those in cities, I can only imagine how you guys feel, so lets run you through some ways you can protect your machines.
Starting with the least techie way possibly really, it’s putting a cover on it. I know, I know, it sounds obvious and pointless, but it makes a lot of sense. Putting a cover over your bike – especially if you can only keep it out on the street – means that any would-be thieves don’t know what bike it is that’s under there, and unless they want to stop and take the cover off, which might draw attention to themselves, they don’t know if it’s a tiny 50cc scooter or a 1000cc superbike, if its protected with locks or not, so they’ll (generally) look elsewhere for easier pickings. Think of a bike cover as an invisibility cloak! A decent cover also protects the bike from the elements, so it makes sense for a number of reasons. t’s also just a good idea to keep the elements from it too.
Next is slightly more techie and that’s to lock it. I’ve got an Oxford Disk Lock here, which uses a Disk-Detainer core and the shackle is made from a steel alloy, and stops roll-away theft, aka someone picking the key or hot wiring it and riding it away. It’s not perfect, it can still be just lifted up and put in a van – every bikers worst nightmare – but that’s where the next tip comes in.
And that is to physically secure it wherever possible – for me I keep it in my garden with a locked fence, meaning someone would have to break into my garden, remove the lock from the fence, then remove the disk lock to get it out. If you can’t move it anywhere, securing it to a ground mount, lamp post or even garden furniture with a nice thick chain is the next best thing. Of course, none of these guarantee a perfectly safe bike, but they are all deterrents. The more of them you can use the less likely it is a thief will even bother with your bike.
Now, moving up the tech scale is an alarm and tracker. Now on the alarm side, my bike is fitted with one. It wasn’t my choice, and it’s wired in properly which means it’s a massive pain to get it removed. My experience with it has been nothing but trouble, and those who I’ve spoken to agree, it’s not worth it. What can be worth it though is a well placed tracker – so if your bike does get stolen, you have some information to give to the police for where they should be heading. It’s not perfect, but can be handy.
And then there is the most techie, getting a camera system like these Blink XT2s. See, this works two-fold. First, it’s a deterrent. If a thief sees you are recording their every move, they are a lot, lot less likely to try anything. They aren’t looking to be famous. And second, if it does get stolen, you have video evidence for both the police to help track them, and your insurance who can be a pain to deal with sometimes. You get HD video clips saved to the cloud whenever it’s customisable motion detection triggers, meaning you can access them anywhere from their android or iOS apps and download them to give copies to both the police and your insurer.
It also gives you peace of mind, as you can check in on your bike if you are away, you can see if you forgot to put your cover on when it starts raining or, of course, spot would be thieves just like this…
And of course, these XT2 cameras use just 2 AA batteries and can get up to 2 years of battery life, meaning you don’t need to worry about them at all. Oh and they are outdoor safe too, so mount them wherever you like and will be plenty fine! If you keep your bike down the side of the house, fine, it can be covered with the Blink. If you keep it by the back door, likewise, its covered as the cameras go anywhere on your property in range.
So, that’s my 5 tips for you, let me know if you have any more you think I should add to this list in the comments below, and of course thank you to blink for sponsoring this video. If you want to learn more about the Blink XT2 cameras and check out pricing click the link in the description below!
Video Sponsored by Blink
Check out the Blink XT2 Cameras here: https://amzn.to/3aQZJcq
