GET STARTED
“THINK ABOUT ADDING LAYERS OF SECURITY TO YOUR BIKE. A GOOD LOCK IS JUST THE START. CONSIDER WHERE YOU PARK, FIT A TRACKING DEVICE AND ADD SECURITY MARKING AS WELL. EVERY EXTRA LAYER OF SECURITY HELPS BEAT THE THIEVES.“ Gold standards will be among the best you can buy.
3: IMMOBILISE IT
Use an alarm and immobiliser (your insurer may insist on this). Look for devices with Thatcham approval. Just don’t think an immobiliser will stop a determined criminal. Many stolen bikes are pushed away then loaded into a van.
4: PARK CAREFULLY Whenever possible, use a dedicated motorcycle parking bay with fixed locking points. Look on parkmark.co.uk to find a car park near your destination which is highly rated by the police for its security.
5: USE A LOCK WHEN YOU’RE OUT AND ABOUT A good quality chain or D-lock will slow down a thief or persuade them to pinch another bike that’s less well protected. A disc-lock is a good lightweight option.
28 firstcar.co.uk
6: DON’T FORGET YOUR LID
Helmets are much cheaper than a bike but they’re also a lot easier to nick. Take your helmet with you when you park your bike or buy a lockable helmet bag. The best bags will protect your lid from bad weather as well as theft, and only cost £30 or so.
7: FIT A TRACKER
There are dedicated tracking devices from the likes of Tracker (tracker.co.uk). These use satellite, mobile phone, or VHF signals to keep tabs on your machine. Some high-end tracking devices use a combination of all three. A hidden Apple AirTag or Galaxy SmartTag are budget alternatives, but won’t offer all the features of a dedicated motorbike tracking device.
UNDERSTANDING
8: MARK IT
Wrong. The various categories are for different types of security product, so one isn’t better than the other – just different.
Security marks and tags from companies like Datatag (datatag.co.uk) aren’t just about recovering your bike if it’s stolen. Security marking systems that use a variety of different measures also act as a deterrent. If a thief sees that a bike is marked, the chances are they’ll move on to another. Even if they do steal the bike, there’s a much better chance of having your pride and joy back if it’s been security marked. Yes, a criminal will try to find and remove all the tags, but they’ll struggle if the package includes etching that’s only visible under UV light, tiny data dots, and hidden transponders. Datatag will register your bike or moped with a database that can be accessed by the police, making it easy for the authorities to find you once the bike has been recovered.
THATCHAM Thatcham is the insurance industry’s research body, so they know a thing or two about bike security. It’s easy to be confused by Thatcham security ratings. Category 1 must be better than Category 2, right?
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: CAT 1: Alarm and immobiliser CAT 2: Immobiliser only CAT 2.1: A retrofit alarm upgrade meeting the requirements of Cat 1 CAT 3: No longer available CAT 4: Locking wheelnuts S5: Stolen vehicle recovery products with a ‘Driver ID’ fob S7: Stolen vehicle recovery products
