Stolen bike...how can I stop this??

[Wapping]

Datatool’s standard operating procedure seems to be:

Datatool's 24/7 monitoring team makes one immediate phone call to the owner the moment unauthorized movement or theft of the vehicle is detected.
Because Datatool operates 24/7/365, the team will attempt to call the primary phone number straight away. If they cannot reach the owner, they may call alternative emergency contacts (e.g., a spouse) if they are listed on the account.

The initial call comes in, apparently, within 1 to 5 minutes of the alert being raised at Datatool’s HQ, or wherever it is it pings up.

 

[siddo]

Get a monimoto. You can track it and got to it's location yourself.

 

[TechnoGSA]

Get a monimoto. You can track it and got to it's location yourself

The problem with any tracker is they work only as long as people react and they remain on the bike. And if they've got a signal, chances are in underground carparks there's little to no signal until near or exiting. Same thing happens with certain garages. Stating the obvious, bikes by definition have limited places to hide a unit. Unlike cars where units can be very well hidden. Most if not all current monitored trackers are retro fit, because of size limits where they can be located and on the skill of those fitting them. Fitting several smaller air tag type passive trackers would improve location.

I used to install alarms to bikes. Some, of the so called installations where utterly useless. Plus owners not told/explained/showed all the functions, how to use and their limitations, especially internal batteries. Which lead to many system failures/faults and wrongly in most cases giving them a bad rap.

To install something like Datatool/Meta/Spyball etc would take 5- 7 hours when done properly. Most where fitted in under an hour. The other big problem certainly with BMWs and most bikes made in the last 10 yrs or so is space. As mentioned previously by another, a good place is the airbox on a GS but as also mentioned is the faff it is to fit which would incur cost probably as much as the unit costs if not more.

Most trackers certainly Datatool are just that. They've got no self defence eg audible alarm, warning you its being tampered with. Not until it's either disconnected, ignition switched on with no tag present or moved 50m ish without it's tag being present and then it's by the monitoring company no audible alarm. I know of GSs that have had their trackers removed whilst parked especially in car parks. The scrots know where they're likely to be fitted, especially on a GS. With knowhow It don't take long to get at them, cut remove the unit and push the bike away.

People dressed in bike gear touching a bike isn't really going to attract attention. Until they start with the angle grinders and that's a maybe. Its takes seconds to get through a disc or non anti grinder U lock.

Until insurance companies start applying pressure to have trackers fitted during manufacture, intergrated as part of the ECU, things aren't really going to improve.

The police aren't really interested they're stretched too far as it is. Double the police force then maybe things will improve. Very unlikely to happen. The scrots know that even when caught not a lot will happen!

The best defence is, out of sight out of mind, don't park in the same place every day and physical locks.

Make things as difficult as possible, not easy for places of work without monitored inside the wire parking. Best advice in that situation, get a unattractive commuting bike.

None of the above is going to help this chap. Stable door and all that. But it might help others.

 

[Gee-]

The other option if money is no object, place an old van somewhere secure out of sight of most eyes complete with good security on it.
Fold out ramp at rear, drive bike inside, close doors, then drive to the underground parking, activate alarm and head off to your work place.
Or if a trusted secure site, leave the van there, and do just the same.

 

[Wapping]

Datatool/Meta/Spyball etc would take 5- 7 hours when done properly.

The installation of the MetaTracker on my car, took Sextons in Chelsea between five to six hours. A job well done, too.

 

[Wapping]

Until insurance companies start applying pressure to have trackers fitted during manufacture, intergrated as part of the ECU, things aren't really going to improve.

Then bods really will start to moan:

A. That it’s more stuff being added.

B. It’s put the cost up.

C. They don’t trust it.

D. Nobody steals anything in their quiet corner of UK plc.

Insurers are not policemen, nor should they be. Their solution is easier. Simply refuse to insure the vehicles, as they did with Jaguar vehicles and some expensive motorbikes in some post codes…. Or demand eye watering premiums….

 

[zerax9]

The police aren't really interested they're stretched too far as it is.

May I suggest that it's more a matter of priorities...

Report your bike stolen: No response, except a crime number.
Report a social media post that's upset you: Several police will be there within the hour.

 

[jetjock]

It just needs a clever, engineer minded bod to think of something similar.

BMW have already produced it

 

[Udders]

The other option if money is no object, place an old van somewhere secure out of sight of most eyes complete with good security on it.
Fold out ramp at rear, drive bike inside, close doors, then drive to the underground parking, activate alarm and head off to your work place.
Or if a trusted secure site, leave the van there, and do just the same.

The scrotes will just nick the van instead. You’ve already done half their job.

 

[Udders]

It’s London. It’s a well known problem. It’s gonna happen one day.
Yet people still take their pride and joy thinking it’ll never happen to them!
It puts all our insurance premiums up.

Yes, it’s a shame it happens, but it WILL happen.

The public WONT stop them if they’re seen cutting locks off.

The police aren’t interested.
The CPS less so.

 

[Engineer]

I do something similar... I leave the bike on the bike lift in the garage, so it's about 3ft from the ground... then take the lever indoors. How many scrotes are going to come equipped with a spare bike life lever ??

They are now.

 

[Steptoe]

I do something similar... I leave the bike on the bike lift in the garage, so it's about 3ft from the ground... then take the lever indoors. How many scrotes are going to come equipped with a spare bike life lever ??

I have electric bike lifts in my garage.
I leave the bike on the lift 4ft off the ground, lock it in place and disconnect power to the garage

 

[richh]

Gotta think outside the box. Stuff they aren’t expecting. The lockable centre stand is a good idea.

I made one for my 2014. Sold it to my mate now so gotta make one for new bike.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Neil W]

If we got a Tracker activation we would bust a gut trying to trace it using Tracker equipped traffic cars and dogs would always attend with a view to allowing the dogs a good meal !
By the time I retired non of the traffic cars had Tracker equipment fitted .
The other monitored systems that gave the Police a live time update were great and almost always resulted in a vehicle recovery and usually arrests .
Nowadays with very limited Police resources and prioritising of mental health issues, vulnerable persons and other such sh#t who the f#ck knows if many Forces would even attend a stolen vehicle with a tracker activation.
If ,however, the owner catches the thieving bastards in the act and kicks the shit out of them then they would turn out en masse to arrest the bike owner for cruelly treating the poor miscreants

 

[Gee-]

The scrotes will just nick the van instead. You’ve already done half their job.

Bugga* never thought of that!, back to the drawing board....design van to look like a police dog van?

 

[TechnoGSA]

May I suggest that it's more a matter of priorities...

Report your bike stolen: No response, except a crime number.
Report a social media post that's upset you: Several police will be there within the hour.

Because of decades of cuts, those that are left are looking after those with all the money. Plus more terrorism, gang crime, soft approach to anti social crime etc etc and policing what people say rather than do. It's as you say, priorities but not ours, the masses the great unwashed the so called elite!

 

[Wapping]

If we got a Tracker activation we would bust a gut trying to trace it using Tracker equipped traffic cars

My last motorhome had a tracker, but not an immobiliser. One night, around two AM, roughly three years ago, I received a call from the tracker company that the vehicle was moving up the A1 in Hertfordshire, without the tracker fob.. Knowing that I was in Southend and that the vehicle should be sitting in north west London, the tracker company alerted the police.

Whilst I waited, the tracker company called me again, to say that it was now appearing in a field, in Cambridgeshire. Whilst this call was in place, a traffic cop called me from his car, asking for a description of the vehicle, as he was on the A1 heading towards where he’d been told in Hertfordshire. Five minutes passed, then the tracker company called me to say the vehicle was back on the A1, doing about 90 mph.

By now the light was coming on in my head…. The vehicle can’t have got to a field in Cambridgeshire from NW London that quickly and was very unlikely to then be doing 90 plus, back on the A1. It was a very stormy night. I put it to the tracker company that it all sounded a lot like a tracker malfunction, maybe caused by a poor signal from the device. As I said this, the fellow in the tracker office said, it’s now stationary but some way off the A1, back towards London. This confirmed my theory, at least to my satisfaction. I asked them to stand everything down and NOT to forget to call the police car. This they promised to do.

10 minutes later, the same police officer called me, seeking confirmation from me that all was well. I confirmed that, in my opinion, it was and apologised for his time being wasted. He said no worries and that was that.

All in all, an interesting experience in the dark hours of a stormy night. And, the motorhome…. Yup, stood in NW London, when I called the farm and asked them to check the next day.

PS In between times, I remember receiving a call from a control room from the Met police, as they had been alerted that the vehicle was heading back towards their patch. It was all go. They too called me later, seeking confirmation that all was well.

 

[Guru Gora]

Well done cops on that one

 

[Wapping]

Well done cops on that one

Indeed.

There was nothing I could do, beyond take the calls, as I was a long way away in Southend, with a ruptured Achilles at 02:30 in the dark hours. It was though impressive how responsive the police in Hertfordshire and the Met were. Maybe I was just lucky that a police car was on the A1 in roughly the right place? Maybe I was lucky that the Met took the job over, when the vehicle seemed to be heading back into their area? Maybe it was just a quiet night and they were pleased to be out, chasing a motorhome and (supposed) thieves…. Who knows?

 

[DING-DONG]

Gotta think outside the box. Stuff they aren’t expecting. The lockable centre stand is a good idea.

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My route for the impossible push away solution is..

Locking Centre stand and they would not get a grinder in to attack the lock.

Also if you have mags there an area on the inside that’s housed in the final drive body, you can get a disc lock on and it’s impossible to turn the wheel because it’s trapped inside the final drive housing and they cannot access the area with a grinder.

If you set both alarms off together it’s really loud and noticeable.

The weakest link is the front disc lock, this cost the most and offers very little security against a grinder.

The weakest link is the below one.