Motorcycle security: 9 tips to keep your bike safe

Whether you already own a motorcycle or you’re looking to buy one soon, one of the biggest worries most people have is how to keep their motorcycle safe from thieves. It’s an issue that all motorcycle owners face.

This is because motorcycles are a popular target for criminals. Motorcycles can be fairly easy to access for them, and they can sell their parts for quite a lot of money.

For this reason, many motorcycle insurance providers view bikes as high-risk and will often ask you to install security devices to deter thieves, but that alone won’t be enough to prevent your motorcycle from being stolen.

That’s why we’ve detailed nine tips you can follow to ensure your bike remains safe at all times.

How to keep a motorcycle safe

To keep your motorcycle safe from thieves, you can store your bike in a garage or shed, use multiple different locks, install an immobiliser, and cover it up. These are some of the best anti-theft measures you can take to avoid it being stolen in the first place.

However, there are also things you can do to increase the chances of recovering your bike if it gets stolen. These include fixing a tracking device on it, tagging the individual parts, and registering your motorcycle on a database.

9 top tips for keeping your motorcycle safe

The actions you can take to keep your motorcycle safe will typically fall into two categories: preventing thieves from stealing it in the first place and increasing the likelihood of your bike being found if it does get stolen. The nine tips outlined in this article will cover both. Let’s dive in.

1. Store it in a garage or shed

The best motorcycle security tips involve hiding your bike from view; if nobody knows it exists, it can’t be stolen. That’s why it’s important to park your motorcycle in a garage.

To maximise security, you also want to have a sturdy and secure garage door. If you have a door that rolls up, you can install a garage door defender. It has a steel base that anchors to the floor and lets you padlock your garage door to it. This means that it can’t be pried open from the side or bottom, adding an extra layer of security to your motorcycle.

Suppose you live in a property that does not have a garage. In that case, you can purchase a small shed or motorcycle locker and place it in your back garden – the basic aim is to get it out of sight from potential thieves.

2. Park your motorcycle wisely

Storing your bike in a garage will be possible at home or work but may not be an option if you’re riding it out and about in public. In these cases, always park your bike in a well-lit area that’s out in the open and ideally in the line of sight of CCTV cameras. This ensures any theft attempts are caught on camera, deterring thieves from even trying.

3. Cover your motorcycle

You may be thinking, “how does a motorcycle cover keep my bike safe?”. In terms of security, it doesn’t. But what it does do is hide what kind of motorcycle you have.

Motorcycle thieves typically look to sell your bike’s components, and they want to ensure they’re getting the most bang for their buck. Therefore, they tend to target new, expensive, top-of-the-range models to get the most money for their efforts. But by keeping your motorcycle under a cover, you won’t be advertising your bike to them. If they can’t see the bike’s model, they’ll be less inclined to steal it.

Plus, a bike cover’s added benefit is that it keeps your motorcycle protected from the elements. The UK is known for its unpredictable weather, regardless of the seasons. It can be a struggle to stay safe when riding your bike in winter, and the last thing you want is to make it worse by exposing your bike to rain, hail, and storms.

4. Take the keys with you

Removing the keys from the bike ignition is one of the simplest steps you can take to keep your bike secure. This may seem like common sense, but it’s surprising how many people forget to do this.

Regardless of whether you’re popping into a shop for a quick second or back into your house because you forgot something, never leave the key in the motorcycle’s ignition. It’s a surefire way to ensure your motorcycle gets stolen by bike thieves.

5. Use more than one lock

Another simple tip to deter a bike thief from stealing your motorcycle is to ensure it’s securely locked. There are a variety of locks you can choose from. Instead of picking one, it’s a good idea to use multiple locks as various layers of protection.

The most common type of lock you can get is a chain lock. Much like on a regular bike, a chain lock can be tied around your front wheel or rear wheel and to something sturdy such as lamp posts or ground anchors. This ensures that your bike can’t be moved.

It’s important to note that you don’t want your chain lock to be too long to where there is excess chain dangling around your bike. Ideally, it should fit snug to your bike and its anchor point, with little or no room for a thief to use their tools.

Chain locks can be quite heavy, so it’s not always suitable for taking out and about with you. However, it’s a perfect solution if you need a secure lock for your home or work location. An alternative to a heavy chain lock is a U-shackle lock. They both serve the same purpose but are much more lightweight, making them more suited to being transported around.

Tying a chain and U shackle locks to a ground anchor fixed to a concrete floor or wall can make it almost impossible to steal and should be a staple for your bike security.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t invest in another bike lock. Brake disc locks are also incredibly popular with bike owners due to their ability to make your bike immovable. Since a disc lock goes straight through the hole in the brakes, the bike will move neither forward nor backward.

The final motorcycle lock to consider is a handlebar lock. Handlebar locks secure the handlebars to the throttle, which means you won’t be able to steer the bike. Since they are so small, they make an excellent companion to take with you on the road.

While just one of these locks may not keep your bike safe from thieves, a combination of all will prove to be the best security measure you can take. It’s also crucial to invest in a quality lock. They not only make it harder for thieves to break them, but they also discourage them from even trying.

6. Install an immobiliser and alarm

If locks don’t work, your last lines of defence are an immobiliser and alarm. The immobiliser will prevent the engine from starting without the key, making it incredibly difficult to transport the bike.

If an immobiliser doesn’t prevent your bike from being stolen, then a loud alarm could be the solution. For obvious reasons, thieves want to be as silent and inconspicuous as possible. A loud alarm that attracts attention to the theft of your motorcycle could be the difference between them thinking it’s not worth it or following through with robbing it.

7. Fix a tracking device onto your bike

Trackers won’t help prevent your bike’s theft, but they can help you track it down if it’s ever taken.

Trackers these days come in various different sizes, with some being so small that they are hardly noticeable on your bike frame. This is perfect since you don’t want the thief to know it’s there – or else they will simply remove it – which allows you to inform the police of your motorcycle’s exact location.

The ability to track your motorcycle not only helps you recover it, but it can assist with catching the culprit. It can also significantly reduce your insurance premiums. Many insurance providers heavily factor in the risk of theft to the cost of their motorcycle insurance.

A professional tracker shows insurance providers that even though your bike may get stolen, the chance of recovering it is increased. This reduces the risk of a payout on their end which can lower your premiums.

8. Tag your bike’s components

In addition to tracking your entire motorcycle, you can also data tag the various parts of your bike. Each individual part will receive a unique electronic ‘fingerprint’ which can be traced back to you, regardless of whether the serial numbers and standard identification numbers have been removed or altered.

This is useful if your bike gets broken down into parts in order to be sold separately, as the police will be able to identify you as the owner.

9. Register your motorcycle on a database

Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of motorcycle anti-theft is not registering it on an SBD-approved, secure, and national database. These registers help police identify the rightful owner of a motorcycle and can even flag stolen bikes to the authorities.

To reduce the likelihood of it being stolen, you can add a sticker or stamp to your bike to show that it’s registered. This is because a registered bike is a less appealing target since thieves know if they’re caught with it, they can be immediately identified as someone who’s not the owner of the bike.

Summary

The best way to keep your bike safe from thieves is to prevent it from happening in the first place. One way to do this is to use multiple locks such as chain locks, U shackle locks, and brake disc locks to discourage them. If they manage to break through your various locks, you can install immobilisers and alarms to prevent them from getting away with your bike.

It’s also a good idea to add a tracking device to your motorcycle and its individual parts, as this can help track them down and also reduce your overall insurance costs.

Also read:
#BeSafe: riding your motorbike in winter