2nd bike nicked from H'row - immobiliser question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Keitht
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Keitht

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Hi all,

Just had my 2nd bike nicked in 4 months from Heathrow.:eek:

First was my 30th GSA in Jan this year, from T5. Then, last week my S1000RR from T1.
T5 was probably opportunist - I was only there for a couple of hours so bike was just on steering lock (yeah, bit nieve I know) and got pushed away by scooter riding scum.

S1000RR was a different matter - chained by with an Almax Series 3, about 15m away from the car park security hut. What was undoubtedly professional scum used an angle grinder to get through the chain then rode off on the bike - yep, rode off.

Without giving too much away in an open forum (PMs gratefully accepted), is anyone able to give me any insight into how this might have been done? Bike was left at 7:30am and spirited away at 9:30pm, and plenty of witnesses to confirm it was definitely ridden off, at speed. No chance it could just have been pushed.

I did have a tracker on the bike so at least police have a little more info to go on - although it was disabled 15 mins after bike was stolen so can't be used to recover it.

Be careful at Heathrow - security is not what you'd expect...

Keith
 
Sounds like Heathrow's Security are supplementing their wages by tipping off bike thieves.

:cool:
 
Sounds like they must have got a key cut and coded. I wonder if a crooked dealer (in Europe somewhere) can do this. Did you leave it there frequently because it would probably take a few days to get the key. Maybe the vehicle vin should be covered because may be that is the info they need to get the key.
 
After trawling the Internet there seem to be two possible ways.

1. Go to a dealer with the vin, key code (if available so not actually required) and title documents. Perhaps a dealer has to contact BMW to get the necessary info to program the key and lies about seeing the title docs. BMW might have a record of this.

2. I have seen companies offering a service where you send in your ecu and they will return it with two new working keys. The thief could use the same equipment at the bike if he can gain access to the ecu to create a new chip and then force the barrel.

This is supposition but it makes me wonder about how secure my immobiliser really is. Maybe we should put a tamper evident sticker over the vin to keep it secret.
 
GS_or_bust said:
..... Maybe we should put a tamper evident sticker over the vin to keep it secret.
Click to expand...


That sounds like a good idea, who else needs to see it apart from legit buyers or dealers?
 
The vin is easily obtainable anyway.just enter reg no on many vehicle data/garage software products and bingo.someone must have produced a key.sounds like a dodgy dealer or parts man
 
Sorry to hear about your bikes being taken.


Have you thought about having a tracker fitted to the bike. Gomez has got
one on his bike for his Europe travel. When he gets to a destination, he can geofence his bike via a computer. Then if the bike moves outside of the circle it sends a text to your phone. The tracker is always active and the vehicle can then be traced by computer.

I personally am very impressed with the system.

Hope you get sorted soon and have a copy of their CCTV cameras.

:beerjug:

Morticia
 
Morticia said:
Sorry to hear about your bikes being taken.


Have you thought about having a tracker fitted to the bike. Gomez has got
one on his bike for his Europe travel. When he gets to a destination, he can geofence his bike via a computer. Then if the bike moves outside of the circle it sends a text to your phone. The tracker is always active and the vehicle can then be traced by computer.

I personally am very impressed with the system.

Hope you get sorted soon and have a copy of their CCTV cameras.

:beerjug:

Morticia
Click to expand...

I think his point Oldcroc was that if the bike moves you are texted right away (not that you can do much if your not in the country). However if you are abroad and with the bike then you can run out in your scivies.

Sorry to hear about the loss of the bike Keitht. Perhaps taking a cover with you, a bashed up 250 or a minicab will save you some agro.
 
Keitht said:
Hi all,

Just had my 2nd bike nicked in 4 months from Heathrow.:eek:

First was my 30th GSA in Jan this year, from T5. Then, last week my S1000RR from T1.
T5 was probably opportunist - I was only there for a couple of hours so bike was just on steering lock (yeah, bit nieve I know) and got pushed away by scooter riding scum.

S1000RR was a different matter - chained by with an Almax Series 3, about 15m away from the car park security hut. What was undoubtedly professional scum used an angle grinder to get through the chain then rode off on the bike - yep, rode off.

Without giving too much away in an open forum (PMs gratefully accepted), is anyone able to give me any insight into how this might have been done? Bike was left at 7:30am and spirited away at 9:30pm, and plenty of witnesses to confirm it was definitely ridden off, at speed. No chance it could just have been pushed.

I did have a tracker on the bike so at least police have a little more info to go on - although it was disabled 15 mins after bike was stolen so can't be used to recover it.

Be careful at Heathrow - security is not what you'd expect...

Keith
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that - I don't even use a lock on my GSA, just the steering lock.

To be honest, while we do hear about bikes being stolen on here, I don't recall hearing about 12's getting stolen... or have I just missed the reports?
 
Park at the entrance to terminal 4, along the slope with all the heathrow workers bikes.
The police use that area as a resting/meeting point. :augie

ALL bmw's are far to easy to ride away on in a matter of seconds if you know what you're doing. Whenever you read of someones steering/ignition lock being smashed/damaged then it's a chancer who doesn't know BMW's.

But then again if you know what you're doing you can immobilse a bmw in seconds without getting your hands dirty and no one will be able to ride it away. :D

But not much you can do about someone picking it up and putting it in a van.

And the S1000RR will be sought for parts due to ones being raced having crank problems :augie
 
Hi Steptoe,

Good tip about the T4 ramp - thanks. Will do that next time.

Morticia - the tracker I had was a Tramigo which does about the same thing. Excellent bit of kit, would definately recommend one to anyone. Mine did its job, let me know there was a problem and enabled me to point the police in the right direction. Just a shame that the scum knew where to look!
 
Years ago a Bike shop in Ealing was selling bikes advising on security then going round nicking them again. Small Honda dealer got quite big over the space of a year. They had lock ups in Hounslow where the bikes were dismantled
 
Keitht said:
S1000RR was a different matter - chained by with an Almax Series 3, about 15m away from the car park security hut. What was undoubtedly professional scum used an angle grinder to get through the chain then rode off on the bike - yep, rode off.
Click to expand...

Some fecking security hut that is. Could the lazy bastids not hear an angle grinder going off???
 
The problem with trackers is that there are few places to hide them on bikes so they can easily be found and defeated.

Also once the bike starts to move there is little chance of catching it on foot. The warning would have to come as soon as a security device was touched.
 
To stop a ride away, a cutoff switch can be hidden on the bike. This could be wired in to the side stand safety circuit. Wouldn't stop the scooter scum though.
 
Like the idea of a cut-off switch - I think a trip to Maplin and a couple of hours with a soldering iron is likely for next bike.

Tramigo was good in that it had a motion detector so did get a text as soon as scum started bothering bike. Difficulty was that I was about 1000 miles away so didn't know if it was scum or someone just accidentally knocking it. Need a camera (and flame thrower option) too.

Totally unimpressed with security at Heathrow - angle grinding my chain could so easily have been something far worse and yet nothing despite being right in the middle of the UKs main airport...
 
GS_or_bust said:
Maybe the vehicle vin should be covered because may be that is the info they need to get the key.
Click to expand...

Taking that a bit further on, I've spent all afternoon taking the vin plate off, grinding off the frame and the engine numbers. They should have trouble getting a key cut and coded now. However after doing it I'm now having a few reservations, do you think it will affect the resale value?
 
LOLGEOFF said:
Taking that a bit further on, I've spent all afternoon taking the vin plate off, grinding off the frame and the engine numbers. They should have trouble getting a key cut and coded now. However after doing it I'm now having a few reservations, do you think it will affect the resale value?
Click to expand...

Hmmm... I wouldn't buy a used bike with no VIN... Too many questions and then your in the same position when you want to shift it. I'm not an expert though but I imagine no dealer would want it either.

What about putting a fake VIN over the top of the original one that you could remove. Imagine the fu*kers going to all that trouble to getting a key that doesn't work.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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