Love your bike, keep it safe: Lock, Chain Cover!

Over 9,000 scooters, motorcycles and mopeds were stolen in London in the last year. It takes a matter of seconds for a thief to steal a moped, scooter or motorcycle, especially if they are left either unsecured or with inadequate security. Lock, chain, cover - Reduce your risk of becoming a victim by taking steps to layer your security.

Lock

Use a disc lock to help secure the front brake disc, or a grip lock to secure the brake and throttle controls. You could also use a D lock on the front wheel to stop it being wheeled away.

Chain

Thieves often steal a bike by breaking the steering lock and wheeling it away. Use a chain lock through the back wheel (the front wheel can be removed). Secure your bike, with the lock taut to an immovable object such as a ground anchor or street furniture. This will stop thieves from cutting a lock trailing on the ground using an angle grinder. If this isn’t possible, thread the chain through your bike frame and back wheel.

Cover

Thieves often ‘shop’ for particular bike models. Using a cover instantly makes it less attractive to them. A cover also provides another time consuming obstacle for the thief.

Unfortunately security measures can’t guarantee your bike won’t be stolen but, by using multiple security measures, you can make it harder and less attractive for thieves.

www.met.police.uk

A steering lock is not enough to secure your motorbike!

There's an easy way to steal a motorcycle and it's gaining popularity in London and throughout cities across the UK.

Here's how it's done: A would-be thief checks out a motorcycling parking bay or sees a motorcycle on its own. He looks for any additional security but can't see any. The bike's got its steering lock on, so can't easily be wheeled away. He has a glance around, no-one's looking, he grabs the bars and violently smashes them left to right - within a few seconds the steering lock's broken. He walks away.

A few minutes later, he returns on the back of his mate's scooter. He hops off, wheels the bike into the road, hops on and his mate on the scooter puts his foot on the stolen bike's pillion peg and pushes the stolen bike down the road under the scooter's power.

Then they either wheel it into a van or down a side street and push it home. In just a few minutes, your bike's stolen. It's that easy.

A disc lock costs from £10 - £120, you can spend what you see fit. The fact you've got something stopping your bike from being easily wheeled away will massively cut the risk of your bike being a target. 

This is the model that we use: Oxford Boss, Disc Brake Lock and Alarm. 

It's strong, very obvious, Thatcham Approved & alarmed.

www.visordown.com

Like your bike? Lock your bike!

7 top tips to secure your bike

It’s essential to take every possible precaution when securing your bike – now more than ever. The number of stolen motorbikes in London increased by 50% between 2014 and 2016, and approximately 15,000 scooters, mopeds and motorbikes were stolen in the city between June 2016 and June 2017. To make matters worse, many of these were later used to commit crimes. Take our advice: brush up on these seven top tips, courtesy of the Metropolitan Police, to ensure that your bike remains precisely that – yours.

1) Secure a lock to the frame and/or rear wheel

2) Use more than one lock

3) Connect your lock to an immovable object

4) Park in plain sight

5) Use a cover to conceal your bike

6) Be especially vigilant in summer

7) Bar your garage windows.

www.hondaengineroom.co.uk

New material that cannot be cut would make the ultimate bike lock

A new artificial material effectively cannot be cut, holding out the promise of lightweight but cut-proof bike locks, security doors and protective clothing.

Its inventors embedded ceramic spheres in aluminium foam to create a material that couldn’t be cut with angle grinders, power drills or water jet cutters. They dubbed it Proteus after the shape-shifting Greek god, for the way the material metamorphosised in different ways to defend against attacks.

“It’s pretty amazing,” says Miranda Anderson at the University of Stirling, who worked on the project. Rather than just being a hard surface that resists external pressure, the material turns the force of the drill or cutting mechanism back on itself, as the ceramic spheres create vibrations that disrupt the external force. “It actually destroys the cutting blade through the sideways jerky vibrations that it creates, or it widens the water jet’s spray,” says Anderson.

www.newscientist.com

Motorcycle Security - Part 2

If you are parking your bike somewhere regularly (home, work, etc), a ground anchor is probably the way to go. You use this to literally chain your bike to the planet!

The thieving &5$@#'s that are about nowadays, have upgraded from bolt cutters to battery powered angle grinders, so a thin chain or cable lock just isn't beefy enough.

Try these:

Oxford Rota Force Ground Anchor

Oxford Monster XL Chain & Padlock

Both are tested & approved to Sold Secure Gold.

Good luck out there people, keep 'em peeled.

D30: the "Orange Goo" used in armor for soldiers, football players and motorcyclists

D3O specialises in impact protection and shock absorption. The company develops high performance impact protection technologies by combining advanced chemistry and specialist product design. D3O protective solutions are used by global brands in sports, electronics, motorcycle, defence and industrial workwear.

D3O uses unique patented and proprietary technologies to make rate-sensitive, soft, flexible materials with high shock absorbing properties that are used in impact protection products. Based on non-Newtonian principles, in its raw form, the material’s molecules flow freely, allowing it to be soft and flexible, but on impact, lock together to dissipate impact energy and reduce transmitted force.

Here is a great short video demonstrating the impact absorbing properties of D3O: D30 Impact resistance egg test hammering!

I have D3O armour in my Rukka & Rokker bike gear. It is light, thin and very flexible. D3O offers high levels of protection & great comfort when compared with alternative high quality bike armour. Click here to download D3O's latest copy of Impact Magazine: focused on all things two wheels!

https://www.d3o.com/