two lads tried to steal my bike - caught in the act

hurricanefloss

I moved house last week, city-ish, came home for 10 minutes at around 1am and walked back out to find two lads with a bolt cutters going at my lock. brief altercation and rapid garda response, still have my bike but im not sure its safe.

Is there a lock big enough?
any suggestions regarding alarms?
anyone else have a similar experience?


all/any opinions greatly appreciated!

CNTRLR

unfortunately if they want it they are going to get it, especially if its left out in the open, etc..
Best bet is park it where it can be seen either by a camera or next to a door, get a chain and lock from here
Whoever tries to take it will need a grinder as a bolt cutter will just break on this chain, they are the strongest chain around, but having a chain is one thing as they can just walk the thing away if its not locked to something, so if you can consider a ground anchor or at least chaining it around a pillar or something that can't be cut or broken

aaakev

Yeah if you don't already have one id get the almax chain amd ground anchor. It should delay them enough to make them feck off somewhere else.

Did you at least get a few slaps in?? Dirty bastards....

BrokenArrows

hurricanefloss wrote: »

I moved house last week, city-ish, came home for 10 minutes at around 1am and walked back out to find two lads with a bolt cutters going at my lock. brief altercation and rapid garda response, still have my bike but im not sure its safe.

Is there a lock big enough?
any suggestions regarding alarms?
anyone else have a similar experience?


all/any opinions greatly appreciated!

Did the cops catch them?

Tomohawk

Stick a bike cover over it too, if the can't see it in passing, they might not go after it next time (if its old and dirty on the outside this helps further too). Get a Grip lock or CrocLoc for your throttle and front brake, just another layer of security and cheap at 40 -70 euro...

Faith+1

^^^ That is so cool, never even heard of it!

blade1

Tomohawk wrote: »

Stick a bike cover over it too, if the can't see it in passing, they might not go after it next time (if its old and dirty on the outside this helps further too). Get a Grip lock or CrocLoc for your throttle and front brake, just another layer of security and cheap at 40 -70 euro...

Could the brake lever not be just snapped with that?

Max Headroom

blade1 wrote: »

Could the brake lever not be just snapped with that?

Exactly....Those type of locks are shyte...just look snazzy.....disclock or a padlock around the sprocket is more effective....but again, if they want it they'll get it....

Idleater

I have a series 4 almax and squire lock not being used any more if you're interested?

b_mac2

Idleater wrote: »

I have a series 4 almax and squire lock not being used any more if you're interested?

How much?

Idleater

b_mac2 wrote: »

How much?

€100?
I've found the spare key, but not the one that I mainly used.
I've also found my never installed hardie secure ground anchor. €50.

nerrad1983

Great price for the above snap up that offer quick!

I have the almax chain and lock combo and its worth every penny tbh

Tomohawk

Re: Griplock/Croclock, if they break the lever, how are they gonna use the throttle like normal, no room for the hand to grip comfortably. But I wouldn't recommend using this on its own, works well with a big chain and other ancillary locks and security. However it's a good visible deterent and chances are the opportunist thief will move on to the next bike in line when he spots this...

unattendedbag

http://www.secure-a-bike.com

If money and space are no object then this crowd do a rather nice looking shed.

Cienciano

That's the thing about almax chains, most bike thefts are done with bolt cutters, if you can cut out that type of theft, you've got a much better chance of them not bothering.
Obviously no bike is unstealable, but just make it as difficult as possible

Pugzilla

Should have cut their balls off....

Wonda-Boy

Sorry to hear that lad, nothing worse then having to worry about the bike at night it really ****s with the mind. Ground anchor is the best deterrent but thats all it is.....Almax is the way to go if you have the cash.

Wossack

Tomohawk wrote: »

Re: Griplock/Croclock, if they break the lever, how are they gonna use the throttle like normal, no room for the hand to grip comfortably. But I wouldn't recommend using this on its own, works well with a big chain and other ancillary locks and security. However it's a good visible deterent and chances are the opportunist thief will move on to the next bike in line when he spots this...

if they're turning up with bolt cutters - I imagine they just need to snip the ball off the end of the lever and the whole lot slides off

plus I'd say its a recipe for a warped disk


go with the trusted almax, alarm, security light, handgrenade under the seat combo...

Tomohawk

If they did that that it still wont slide off, the grip is very tight...

hurricanefloss

that's all loads of help!

i got a loan of a better chain than I had and I'll definitely get an Almax when i get some bills together, I think a cover might help too. Just moved house so I'm skint!

I couldn't have been luckier tbh, I came home 10 minutes before this and had to go back out and they had just started with a big bolt cutters. I'm fairly handy so I tried to catch them but they had people waiting in a getaway car so if i caught them who knows what could happen.

Garda arrived in 30 seconds and burned off, I'll update once I get any information.

Anyone see the (i think it's) Clifford "alarmed" disk lock??? that seems fit for purpose.

Edit: anyone got an alarm??

hurricanefloss

Idleater wrote: »

I have a series 4 almax and squire lock not being used any more if you're interested?

I would most definitely, probably next month though so any lads here want it first fire away.

Cienciano

Idleater wrote: »

€100?
I've found the spare key, but not the one that I mainly used.
I've also found my never installed hardie secure ground anchor. €50.

hurricanefloss wrote: »

I would most definitely, probably next month though so any lads here want it first fire away.

Idleater, what lenght chain is it?

Idleater

Cienciano wrote: »

Idleater, what lenght chain is it?

1m I think.
It's really a portable chain. I left it attached to my ground anchor.
Collection (Lucan) is preferred if anyone is interested.

Vikings

I'm in Lucan and would take this off you... it's this one right?

Idleater

Vikings wrote: »

I'm in Lucan and would take this off you... it's this one right?

Yup,
this is what I bought

Cuddlesworth

Almax 3, Squire lock and Hardie Ground anchor user here. Its not going to stop them taking it. But it will cause them to make a lot of noise and take a couple of minutes to do it. Well worth it in my opinion.

I also went at the last link in the chain over 5 years ago with the 48" bolt cutter on site. It did break the bolt cutter. Then it took me 3 minutes to cut the link with a 2k watt angle grinder and metal disk.

Cienciano

Once it's bolt cutter proof, that's all you can do. Nothing is grinder proof. But bolt cutters are the tool of choice of the skangbag.

KT10

Vikings wrote: »

I'm in Lucan and would take this off you... it's this one right?

Idleater wrote: »

Yup,
this is what I bought

I'll take it if Vikings doesn't want it.

rat_race

You could get some disc lock alarms too. I have four disc lock alarms and two normal disc locks, two fairly chunky chains, two u-locks (one lightweight, one heavy weight), some other cable-style locks. As far as I know, nobody has tried to nick it, or been able, and I lived in a bad part of Dublin and had a small underground parking spot that scumbags seemed to be able to get into whenever they wanted. Bicycles went missing all the time. Not my motorbike though, was was very robbable (2013 bike, bought new).

Xena make the best alarmed disc lock. Find them the cheapest on e-bay.

Almax chains are great, sure, but are too heavy to carry around with you. Just using chain/one disc lock is going to leave you paranoid too. Use a variety of things.

Also, do try to lock to something fixed.

Cuddlesworth

rat_race wrote: »

I have four disc lock alarms and two normal disc locks, two fairly chunky chains, two u-locks (one lightweight, one heavy weight), some other cable-style locks.

Jesus, do you have a checklist to make sure you took them all off?

rat_race

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Jesus, do you have a checklist to make sure you took them all off?

I very rarely have them all on. I have two bicycles and two motorbikes, so they all get some use.

But my point was that if you make your bike look like it's not worth the hassle/risk to steal, you'll be pretty safe. Especially with a disc alarm...

Generally I would put a chain (Oxford chains, not great but not sh1te either), a u-lock and a disc alarm lock on one motorbike. If I was going away or particularly paranoid, maybe more.

Tried to get an Almax chain but they decided they didn't want my business by not wb to my mails.

Cienciano

After reading about that bike thief on Reddit, I now reverse my bike in and have the almax chain on the back wheel and the disc lock on the front. If I'm not using it for a few days, I'll put a cover on it too.

rat_race

Cienciano wrote: »

After reading about that bike thief on Reddit, I now reverse my bike in and have the almax chain on the back wheel and the disc lock on the front. If I'm not using it for a few days, I'll put a cover on it too.

Don't have my psychic hat charged today, can you tell me what bike thief you read about on reddit?

Cienciano

rat_race wrote: »

Don't have my psychic hat charged today, can you tell me what bike thief you read about on reddit?

I'll link you the post:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=90908464&postcount=317

It's a good read

Greenmachine

Thieving baxtards.

PLUG71

Put CCTV up!

I would try and get it into the house if at all possible.

hurricanefloss

I'm not sure cctv would do benficial, except get a video of them stealing it. I'll definitely be getting an almax chain and some form of alarm.


Anyone have an alarm/immob on they're bike? I had a beast of a clifford alarm on an old 180SX with proximity sensors and coded start, that i think would be awesome.

BrokenArrows

hurricanefloss wrote: »

I'm not sure cctv would do benficial, except get a video of them stealing it. I'll definitely be getting an almax chain and some form of alarm.


Anyone have an alarm/immob on they're bike? I had a beast of a clifford alarm on an old 180SX with proximity sensors and coded start, that i think would be awesome.

My bike has a factory immobiliser which gets disabled when you insert the key.
You don't need to spend mad money when just getting an alarm. Just get something that makes a lot of noise when it goes off. Mine is about 130db if I remember.
It does a short 2 second burst when its disturbed initially and if any movement occurs within 5 seconds of the initial disturbance then the alarm goes off fully.

The initial short burst is good because there are always kids playing on my street so the occasional ball rolls into the bike. When its windy you don't want the full alarm going off. Plenty of cats around so they jump on the bike from time to time. The initial burst sends them running. lol.

hurricanefloss

BrokenArrows wrote: »

It does a short 2 second burst when its disturbed initially and if any movement occurs within 5 seconds of the initial disturbance then the alarm goes off fully.
.

what alarm is it?

did you have it installed?

BrokenArrows

hurricanefloss wrote: »

what alarm is it?

did you have it installed?

Cant remember. Ill try and find the package when I get home.

I installed it myself but I didn't do anything fancy. Basically stuck the alarm under the seat and connected it to the battery.
It comes with loads of connecters so it flashes the indicators etc but I didn't hook any of that up.

neamhspleachi

I have one of these on my bike http://www.datatool.co.uk/home/products/S4C1, cannot fault it, Thatcham approved as well

You can pick them up a lot cheaper than retail on eBay

Dorsanty

I had an attempt on mine a year ago or so. They popped the seat and ripped out the alarm (DataTool S4). I assume this was done very quickly to prevent disturbance and in reverse engineering how they did that it is clear now how bad seat locks are. So alarms have very little protection if installed under the seat.

They also popped the ignition barrel to disable the steering lock and then tried to bypass the immobiliser. They failed to hot wire it (8 or more identical black cables in the loom so best of luck with that) and I ended up needing a new wiring loom which wasn't pleasant for my wallet.

I've come the the conclusion that out of sight and out of reach are the best options. Don't let anyone know if you have a banger or a brand new machine and then have layers of security that ideally keep them hands off the bike while an alarm is going off. I'm renting currently but if/when I buy a place I'll definitely be adding a bike shed, probably inside a normal shed to further keep it out of sight.

flutered

jeeze the trouble you guy have to go to, in order to hold on to your property.

KT10

Dorsanty wrote: »

I'm renting currently but if/when I buy a place I'll definitely be adding a bike shed, probably inside a normal shed to further keep it out of sight.

Bah hahahaha! I'm sitting here laughing at the mental image of the face of a scrote breaking into your garden shed to rob a lawnmower or something, only to be faced with a steel door once past the wood one! :D

BrokenArrows

Dorsanty wrote: »

So alarms have very little protection if installed under the seat.

That's true.
You can get alarms with an internal battery so it will keep ringing even after it has been disconnected from the main battery.

hurricanefloss

Kind of forgot about this post,

all very helpful. bloody nerve racking, I'm forever looking out my window and expecting to see it gone or almost anytime i come home, it's like PTSD or something.

Almost payday, locks and alarms on the way.

cerastes

BrokenArrows wrote: »

That's true.
You can get alarms with an internal battery so it will keep ringing even after it has been disconnected from the main battery.

Isnt the problem that the seat locks aren't up to much so an alarm can be gotten at and deactivated? damaged or removed as much as that it doesnt have its own power supply?
Its just one thing after another, but maybe seat locks can be upgraded? although even then if someone wanted to access an alarm located there, a crowbar is going to be more resilient than the tabs and lock that hold a seat in place.

Wossack

best if you can get the alarm under the tank (or even deeper) if at all possible - you can get under the seat very easily Im afraid