Motorcycle Lock for your Commando

[Saber]

What motorcycle lock do you use for your commando (if you use one)? My steering lock works fine but seems too easy to knock out. I see some disc locks that look effective and convenient but I dont have vent holes in my disc.

 

[ashman]

Steering locks are useless as for disc locks well most thieves will pick the bike up and put in the back of a ute (pick up to you yanks), in fact if they want to steal your bike they will whether its locked or not, the best thing is don't leave it anywhere where it can be stolen, I have the best protection for my bikes at home and that's 2 Aussie cattle dogs, no one get into my yard without me known, and if I park anywhere I am close by, if you use a harden lock and chain most bike thieves have cordless grinders with cut off wheel that is quick and easy to cut any chain, you can slow them down but they will win in the end if they want your bike.

Ashley

 

[mean gene]

Disc locks are great until you have had a few and forget to take it out!! Ashman is correct, with modern battery operated drill and cut-off wheels, if they want it they are going to get it. Locks keep honest people out!

 

[MexicoMike]

I wouldn't (don't) bother with locks. I have had one bike stolen. As Ashley pointed out - guys (or gals? - don't want to be politically incorrect) and a pickup truck or van. If I had locked it they would have also gotten a free lock!

The only lock I use at all on a motorcycles is a cable lock that I can lock a helmet/jacket/whatever to the bike when we are stopped at a bar/pub/attraction during daylight hours. At night I carry whatever with me into the establishment. But the Bike is on its own.

Heck, if somebody takes it I figure that's what insurance is for!

OTOH, I would say, "Do what you are comfortable with!!!" If you would be UNcomfortable leaving the bike unlocked, there are an assortment of various styles. The easiest to use/carry is a disc lock but I can't tell you how many times I have seen folks forget it and try to ride off with the disk lock in place! There are some chain/lock systems around and I think they would be much better BUT we're talking about 6ft or more of very large, heavy chain that would be awkward to carry unless you have some sort of luggage setup. Some of the various locks have built in audio alarms if anything is moved. That MIGHT be a deterrent to the guys/gals and-a-van thieves EXCEPT that the ones I've seen aren't very loud and can be muffled with your hand. And when you consider that nowadays nobody pays any attention vehicle alarms anyway, I don't think it's as useful as the marketing claims. When was the last time you heard a vehicle alarm activate and saw anyone walk over to investigate?

 

[cyclegeezer]

What motorcycle lock do you use for your commando (if you use one)? My steering lock works fine but seems too easy to knock out. I see some disc locks that look effective and convenient but I dont have vent holes in my disc.

Go over to YouTube and search for Lock Picking Lawyer. He's found a few bicycle locks that offer pick resistance and cutting resistance. Nothing is perfect, but if your bike is locked and the next one isn't, well thieves will choose the easiest target.

 

[kommando]

As with a hungry Lion where you just have to run faster than the other guy you just need to make yours more difficult to steal than the one beside it. Trouble is with battery powered cutters that takes some doing.

 

[RoadScholar]

I don't think that old motorcycles are high on the list of stolen bikes, exceptions no doubt. I would think that most thieves would be after relatively new machines, although Harley's, regardless of age seem to be the most desirable.

If a thief really wants a Norton my assumption is that they know what they want and how to get it; not saying you are defenseless, but I'd put these thieves in the same (close) category as those that would steal art/high end sports car/jewels.

My biggest concern is when mamma or poppa decides to put their kid on your motorcycle and the child decides to kick the paint or throw up all over the machine. I have come upon this scene twice and was able to dissuade the parents by sternly reminding them of what it will cost them to repair and damage or the burn their kid will get if it connects with a hot exhaust/engine.

Best.

 

[Saber]

Thanks for all the replies. Good perspectives. Yes, I'd just like to do a somewhat easy to carry and easy to use deterrant to help my chances against the amateurs.

 

[ashman]

Go over to YouTube and search for Lock Picking Lawyer. He's found a few bicycle locks that offer pick resistance and cutting resistance. Nothing is perfect, but if your bike is locked and the next one isn't, well thieves will choose the easiest target.

If they are cut resistance then how do they make them.

 

[Time Warp]

Back in the late 1970's all you had to do is turn left out of the structural shop (Boilermakers) and walk down the midway until the ground would thump (power hammers) and you were at the Blacksmith shop where they did the buffers for the rail wagons etc.
It was the place to get a chain case hardened for your Triumph.
Back at the Structural you could then fabricate and weld a box to go around the shackle of a large padlock so it was near impossible to cut with bolt cutters.
Those days are all but gone. (for the reasons already posted)

Perhaps an alarm is better these days in view of the bike.
Locks only stop honest people. (Like a house with three deadlocks on the front door that has windows each side of it)

 

[gortnipper]

In the early 90s I was living in a rental house with a carport, and early on living there one night someone tried to steal the Commando by rolling it down the hill and forcing the fork lock. They didnt get that the ignition was down on the side. Next morning I found the bike 100 yards down the road.

I immediately bought a long Kryptonite U-lock. It was long enough to go around the forks thru the front spokes and be a great deterrent. When riding, I would loop it around the carb intakes in front of the large KN double filter I had instead of the ham cans. Worked great, and didnt rattle around.

Yes, now we know that these aren't always safe, but at the time it worked and no one ever moved my bike again. Plus, as noted, if you are somewhere short term it is an adequate deterrent for an opportunist thief.

Now that I have a vented disc, I use a disc lock when out and about and I have a large Kryptonite New York Fahgettaboudit Chain and Padlock that I use for the garage when I am away. Again, someone could simply take the grinder off my tool shelf to deal with that, but I am looking to slow people down. Insurance is for the dedicated thief.

 

[Knucles]

Likely hard to stop a smart thief?
just check the internet for best ways to steal stuff .

what about some kind of a tracking device ?
at least you may get it back or the guy caught ?

I guess to be socially correct , I should have said person ?
I don’t want the girls getting mad that I would assume only a guy can steal a bike .

 

[Torontonian]

Likely hard to stop a smart thief?
just check the internet for best ways to steal stuff .

what about some kind of a tracking device ?
at least you may get it back or the guy caught ?

I guess to be socially correct , I should have said person ?
I don’t want the girls getting mad that I would assume only a guy can steal a bike .

Drunks. Found my Norton upside down one Sunday morning. I lived downtown in a party strip area. Ask the Police or the insurance people who steals what. I'm sure it's new superbikes ( mostly ).

 

[Knucles]

In 1971 my norton was stolen in Toronto .
I left it parked on the curb outside my house in Rexdale.
it was found a week later in field by klienburg .
worked out ok , the insurance company gave me car allowance for a month . My buddy gave me his norton for the month .
insurance paid to replace every scratched part on the bike.
still have that bike.

 

[Dellis]

I was in the South West of Ireland a few years ago and was staying at a small pub, to give you some idea of the type of place the choice for dinner was would you like dinner or not. Anyway I was meeting an Irish pal of mine, he walked into the bar and after greeting one another the first thing he said to me was "that lock of yours will keep an honest man honest" and of course he pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Dave

 

[Bernhard]

I don't think that old motorcycles are high on the list of stolen bikes, exceptions no doubt. I would think that most thieves would be after relatively new machines, although Harley's, regardless of age seem to be the most desirable.

If a thief really wants a Norton my assumption is that they know what they want and how to get it; not saying you are defenseless, but I'd put these thieves in the same (close) category as those that would steal art/high end sports car/jewels.

My biggest concern is when mamma or poppa decides to put their kid on your motorcycle and the child decides to kick the paint or throw up all over the machine. I have come upon this scene twice and was able to dissuade the parents by sternly reminding them of what it will cost them to repair and damage or the burn their kid will get if it connects with a hot exhaust/engine.

Best.

Good point. It's surprising how many parents pop their kids on someone else's machine as if it was their own property.
They certainly know how to teach their kiks don't they?

 

[SteveBorland]

My theory is just park next to a Hardly Dangerous, the anti theft is the large lever on the right hand side and the lack of a little push button

Seriously, I do try not to park somewhere too open where the bike attracts unwelcome eyes, with a (largly symbolic) cable lock.
That way I feel I've tried to avoid problems, but really, here in Denmark it's not the old stuff that get nicked.
Usually.
I hope....

 

[ludwig]

Whenever I want to lock my bike(s), I use this tiny homemade lock :

Basically an M6 bolt, protected by a steel cage.
The keyhole is fake. There is a trick to undo the bolt.
Cutting off won't be easy, because the cage spins, and even then, the bolt sticks out just far enough on the other side to still lock the wheel.
Several holes in the disk are threaded for this purpose.
Not bulletproof, but it will keep a potential thief busy for a while..

 

[RoadScholar]

As mentioned previously, any locking device that involves the motorcycle only is not immune to a couple of gorillas with a truck, however, parking near a gaggle of new sport bikes or HDs will give the opportunistic thieves sufficient choice to ignore your English antique...

Best.

 

[oldmikew]

a cover is a good psychological deterent and if you have a stand alone alarm that is triggered by cover being moved and then there is a robust lock to cut through , that will taketime .
Bike thefts go in fashions .. Harleys everywhere and in UK so called peds and crossers are high onthe teenage agenda..