How to keep your motorcycle safe from theft over winter and beyond

SHORT days and long nights are not a motorcyclists’ best friend. Those same conditions can offer bike thieves some protection from capture – here’s how to keep your motorcycle safe, over winter and all years around.

For many riders, the winter months will mean packing their pride and joy away while they wait for warmer weather to arrive. There will of course be a hardy few (myself included) who have no other option but to ride it out through the winter months. Whether you are a year-round biker or a fair-weather friend, this article applies to you.

How to keep your motorcycle safe from theft

It goes without saying that your bike should be locked up when left on the street, but do you take the same precautions when parking your bike at home?

We’ve all arrived home, cold wet and in need of a hot drink. It’s at times like this that you should force yourself to secure your motorcycle before you head inside. Once you warmed up the prospect of heading back into the garage, shed, or garden to carry out the task is much less appealing.

Disc locks as a minimum measure

A disc lock should be a minimum level of security on a motorcycle, whether parked at home or on the street. They are fairly cheap, lightweight, and easy to stuff under your seat or in a rucksack. They take a couple of seconds to fit and offer a visible deterrent as much as a physical one.

If you’re parking your bike at home and using a disc lock, think about how and where you fit it. If your bike is parked against a wall, in the garage or garden, for instance, you are better off placing the lock on the side nearest the wall. Doing this will make it as difficult as possible for the would-be thief to cut or prise the lock from the bike.

Also, think about which wheel you place the lock on. The front wheel can be easily removed, and the bike carried off by two or three people. The rear wheel though is a much trickier proposition.

A good quality motorcycle security chain as a second layer of security

A motorcycle chain combined with a disc lock is a much tougher proposition for a thief – as long as it is used correctly and secured to something solid.

The chain will greatly increase the time it takes the thief to cut through and acts as an even bigger visible deterrent to a would-be thief.

As with the disc lock, think about how you use it. The rear wheel is better than the front, around the frame and then to a solid object is even better. Keep the lock off the ground (this makes it harder to attack with a sledgehammer) and also get the chain as tight as possible, and as above, make it as difficult as you can for the thief to get at the lock and chain.

Install a motorcycle tracking device

Motorcycle trackers used to be expensive, tricky to fit properly, and questionable in their accuracy. Advances in technology have turned the market on its head recently, and a good quality, easy to fit tracker like the Monimoto 7 can now be bought for less than £200.

It’s small, lightweight, super simple to fit and offers the user updates on where their motorcycle is and alerts the owner if their bike is tampered with or worse, if it is on the move.

Better still, unlike old-school trackers, that were powered off the bike’s battery, the Monimoto won’t drain the battery, and will even track and alert the owner of a movement event when the bike’s battery is flat or disconnected!

How to keep your motorcycle safe from theft

• Combine physical security with a standalone tracking system
• Review the security of your garden, shed, or garage
• Always lock your bike up as soon as you get home
• Use a bike cover while out and about
• Always use a disc lock as a minimum security measure
• Think about how you use your security and how effective it is