My Multi was stolen last month and recovered the next day, thanks to the tracker on it. No damage done except for the steering lock, which was smashed. I took the bike to Acropolis bikes in London, which is asking about £1,500 for the repair. Which begs the question: Given that the steering lock on the Multi is so flimsy to begin with and so expensive to replace, is worth using in the first place?
Never use mine, had one that jammed on my RD 250 30 years ago and the chap I bought my 600 SS off reckoned that it could be a bit temperamental.
Dont bother in the garage, as its chained anyway and if they get thru that they will get thru anything. But do use centre stand and steering lock if I'm out and leaving bike and walking away say shopping, just so it takes more than simply wheeling it away. Funny tho, I NEVER used it on my 848
For that repair price I'd say no. If no chance of getting one off a crashed written off bike i'd use a decent disk lock when it's parked up when out and about. Just don't make it easy for the plankton. Other marine life are available!
Mine has been playing up recently and it's booked in to be looked at, I'm glad I have an extended warranty!
Been using mine since I got the bike, after 3 years using it at least twice everyday its been fine. bugs
I'd always use it. Nothing worse than having security and not using it. Imagine if you'd not used it when it was stolen. I guarantee you'd be cursing the rest of your life that if the steering lock was on it might never have been taken. We now know it would've gone anyway, but nice to know you used all you had to stop the thieving baskets. As other members have said, disk locks or brake lever locks do the same job but a whole heap cheaper than £1500. Glad you got it back quick.
insurance .. if you have not locked it they may not pay .. how would they know , cctv? The lock itself will do nothing to prevent it being taken except by some school kid and the damage done always is not cost effective for the amount of protection they offer but i wouldnt give the insurance any excuse. I had fireblade taken and the steering lock broken and it wrote off the frame got it back with tracker. Second time it had almax chain , steering lock and tracker and was stolen from cctv in under 1.5mins never to be see again , lifted straight into van. After interview from ex copper for insurance , they tried everything not to pay / blame me . on the plus side they caught the gang doing it , they were doing upto 5 a week in london and a year later they had the full weight of the law thrown at them , one got small fine and suspended sentence , other got 6 months a real deterrent . :-( so my view is steering lock is pointless as a security device , but invaluable to make sure you get paid out , the checks insurance companies do , well in my case were very extensive and appeared solely aimed at not paying me . bitter , you bet ya!
There's the new software code workaround. Works perfectly. It's literally a 2 minute flash of the system.
1st time it was found 6hrs after the theft in a garage in cambridge so its had gone from london to cambridge. Amazingly the bloke got off with that , how my stolen bike ends up in his garage and its not a crime is beyond me. The key here was I activated the tracker less than 20mins after it going. The 2nd time although it was witnessed and police were on scene 3 mins after it went but i wasnt and the witness got the reg wrong so they had to wait 4hrs for me to turn up. By then its either in an underground garage , or in bits and its gone, that said they caught these people but the bike was never seen again. In my experience tracker is great but it isnt 100% and it depends who knicks it and what they know.
Tracker signals can be blocked with frequency jammers bought from fallen eastern block military surplus stores etc. The car world has had this problem with high end car thefts for years. Any security measure is better than nothing though. DO NOT put the stickers from any alarm or tracker bought for your pride and joy on your bike. It just tells the plankton what device is fitted and gives them a head start in countering said device.
Or display stickers from an entirely different anti-theft device from the one you have actually fitted.
