Modern Buddy

So, moving to a sweet condo in August! Unfortunately, this place has assigned spots, and I don't have anywhere to secure my Buddy. I'm thinking about putting a large eyebolt into the front of the parking space and chaining it to the frame somehow. I was using a heavy duty motorcycle chain lock and looping it through my front fork, but have since heard of people unscrewing the bolt holding the tire on and stealing them that way. Where is the best place on the frame to secure it with a chain type cycle lock?

I know some of you use disk locks/alarms, do you like them? Are they loud enough to garner attention? maybe I'm overly paranoid, but when I bought this scooter in Kentucky, a bunch of hillbillies were going around campus with vans/trucks and lifting the front wheels off the ground and defeating the purpose of the disk lock.

I'm also interested in an alarm of some sort because had issues with people sitting on it, are they decently sensitive and do they drain the battery?

Suggestions and links are appreciated!!!

mhardgrove wrote:So, moving to a sweet condo in August! Unfortunately, this place has assigned spots, and I don't have anywhere to secure my Buddy. I'm thinking about putting a large eyebolt into the front of the parking space and chaining it to the frame somehow. I was using a heavy duty motorcycle chain lock and looping it through my front fork, but have since heard of people unscrewing the bolt holding the tire on and stealing them that way. Where is the best place on the frame to secure it with a chain type cycle lock?

I know some of you use disk locks/alarms, do you like them? Are they loud enough to garner attention? maybe I'm overly paranoid, but when I bought this scooter in Kentucky, a bunch of hillbillies were going around campus with vans/trucks and lifting the front wheels off the ground and defeating the purpose of the disk lock.

I'm also interested in an alarm of some sort because had issues with people sitting on it, are they decently sensitive and do they drain the battery?

Suggestions and links are appreciated!!!

Remember that a chain is only as safe as the bits it is connected to, on both sides. Is the eye-bolt as tough as the chain? If not, they will just cut through that. That said, the safest way to attach a chain to the scooter is wrapped right around the entire base of the scooter, as long as there isn't enough slack to slip it around and over the front. I use 4 chains to get enough length, and to have one wrapped around it, where I have it parked in my back yard.

I had a disc lock alarm, and I didn't hear it when my scooter was stolen right out of my back yard, what was most likely in the middle of the night. Don't trust other people to react to your alarm. How many times have you gone to look because of a car alarm? Nope. Only if it is your own alarm will you care.

Where the scooter will be sitting for long periods of time is there it is most likely to be stolen. Keeping it from the casual walk-ups is easy, and a chain around the front fork, or back shock is fine if it is parked for a couple hours somewhere, because thieves have to plan to bring tools to cut through chains. For a quick run into a store? The disc lock or a grip-lock is probably okay, because in that short time, you only have to worry about the casual "Hey, a scooter. I think I'll try to walk away with it".

So, it really all depends on the situation.

The two most secure options I've found:

-Sitting guard with a Mossberg 500 next to the scooter

-Right next to the DVD rack in the living room

Otherwise, the rest is simply doing the best you can with what you got, and keeping the flashy bits from being noticed. Invisible and as much as you can are the mantras.

You might consider something like this if management will let you drill a bolt hole in the concrete.

http://www.amazon.com/Kryptonite-LK4075 ... B000LF903M

I'd just encourage you to run your plans for for physically securing the scooter past the petty tyrants of the condo owners association, to make sure you're not going to get anyone's nose out of joint for being different and innovative.

The Gorilla 8017 Alarm has a pager built into it's remote, If you used that alarm you'd be able to hear it since it'd be with you in your condo.

Awesome John!!! I will look into that!!!

I gotta say after reading this thread I might be looking into securing my bikes better.

Maybe parking on my unenclosed front porch isn't the safest place for my scooter after all.

JohnKiniston wrote:I gotta say after reading this thread I might be looking into securing my bikes better.

Maybe parking on my unenclosed front porch isn't the safest place for my scooter after all.

Maybe do the Gorilla alarm bit.

Mine is just the plain Jane Gorilla model 8007), and I can vouch for how extremely loud they are. I try to disarm mine from a distance when ever possible...and I wait for people walking by to go a little distance before I do that also.

An alarm may not be the right solution for everyone, but if it's sitting on your front porch, and you are in the house, there's no way you can miss NOT hearing it....

michelle_7728 wrote: Maybe do the Gorilla alarm bit.

Mine is just the plain Jane Gorilla model 8007), and I can vouch for how extremely loud they are. I try to disarm mine from a distance when ever possible...and I wait for people walking by to go a little distance before I do that also.

An alarm may not be the right solution for everyone, but if it's sitting on your front porch, and you are in the house, there's no way you can miss NOT hearing it....

My Atomic Fireball came with one of the non paging Gorilla Alarms, I wonder where I put it when I took it off.

Only problem is I have more bikes than alarms

The other thing is that'd only help when I'm home. I doubt my neighbors would do anything about the alarm going off. Even the people who have the other part of the house I'm renting a piece of.

I agree that nobody will probably notice an alarm that isn't theirs.

Not sure how helpful this will be, but I also use a bright yellow grip lock. Of course, this won't stop someone from picking up your scooter and loading into a van, but as an added precaution, I love it. Also great for really quick errands.

JohnKiniston wrote:The Gorilla 8017 Alarm has a pager built into it's remote, If you used that alarm you'd be able to hear it since it'd be with you in your condo.

I manage an apartment complex. Your better off just having a friend show up to your parking spot and anchor something in the concrete curb. Be quick about it. Do it on a saturday or sunday. Might not even get noticed. I'd use a cover for overnight parking, a chain around the frame, and an alarm. The cover prevents people from knowing what tools they'll need to steal your scoot. The more unknowns and aggravation for the thieves the safer your scoot will be.

For my dad's riding lawn mower we measured 20" from the rear of the shed and burried a chain with 3/8" diameter links in 240 lbs of concrete 3 feet below ground. We then backed the mower in over the chain and tightly locked it down. The pad lock was hidden behind the frame of the mower and was a forged lock. You could not use bolt cutters because there was no room. Besides that it took 3 people with 48" bolt cutters on a concrete floor to cut it anyway. Electric grinder was the only option for removal and he kept the power turned off in the barn, make that cordless grinder only option.

Most of the time when an alarm goes off, it's a false alarm. If your alarm goes off, and you are not around to respond to it, the only thing your neighbors are going to do about it is blame you for the annoyance.

FWIW, got a Xena XX6 yellow alarmed disc lock with a bracket that connects it to a supplied cable. The cable is ok, but luckily I believe the bracket looks sized to be able to be used with, say, a Kryptonite chain, so I plan to get a noose chain so I can loop it around whatever and secure it to the Xena alarmed disc lock.

I figure this is a good combination...