chains being chopped

Should you be thinking about motorcycle locking...

http://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainCropper has a few vids of
boltcutters and chains.

Zebee

 

They all seem to be link-chains - anyone know how the high tensile
cable thingys stand up to bolt cutters ?

JL

 

better than chains because being multi-stranded, they crush under the
jaws of the boltcutters but remain intact rather than fracturing as a
chain link would.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:17:50 -0700 (PDT)

Moike said over on aus.bicycle that he chopped a 12mm cable with a set
of 8" cable cutters.

The Captain Cropper vids include one of a faily butch looking Abus
cable being very quickly cropped with your standard 42" bolt cutters.

There are also ones of butch looking armoured cable having the armour
torn with tinsnips! and then the cables being cut with cable cutters.

Like chains, I suspect you'd have to test the one you want to buy.
And decide whether the lowlifes who will try to steal it will ahve the
time and gear.

Just how different are cable cutters to bolt cutters, and how many
people would have same?

Zebee

 

So in short you're stuffed either way, oh well, it'll slow down the
average thief for 30-60secs it seems ;-(

JL

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:37:10 -0700 (PDT)

If they've got a clear run and a set of 42" boltcutters then yeah.

There is a vid of one chain brand resisting, partly because the links
are so thick that the boltcutters can't get leverage! BUt if you
wanted to tie a bike down it looks like you need this Armex chain and
to arrange the chain to make it really hard for the thief to get the
cutter jaws on it with one arm of the cutters on the ground. So lock
the bike up with big things either side of it so it's really hard to
get the cutters to the chain.

I have a fairly thick ABUS cable on the 'bent, looks like that's just
about decorative, but then it doesn't stay out in the open much and
when it does it is in the middle of town. You'd hope no one would try
cutters then.

Ah hell it is Sydney, who am I trying to fool, who would care?

Zebee

 

All it takes a smart one to claim repo and you're done

 

The cable cutters I have use a toothed gear thing and a ratchet to offer
more purchase enabling me to cut up to 34 mm cable
The bolt cutters have a similar ratchet allowing for easier purchase ,
most industrial cablers and sparkys would have the same

 

Better but remember the cordless grinder is becoming common and affordable

 

Affordable matters to the users?

P

 

When they were a grand each like cell phones yes , now being cheaper
every scumbag and it's friend can steal from you with a suitable
grinder.. but you knew that

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:38:57 +1000

Still takes time and noise.

Is a grinder cheaper than a set of 42" bolt cutters?

I think that if the bike is left where the thief knows it will be
there at a time when few people are about, then it is vulnerable and
all you can do is make it more difficult to steal.

So you attach the chain so it's hard to get to with cutters or a
grinder, have movement activated lights, an obvious camera, that sort
of thing.

If the bike's left in the city during the day or because you are
going to the movies of an evening then you hope you can find a park
that's reasonably well lit and has people passing by.

Zebee

 

It wont stop some , and claiming repo stops all but the most jaundiced
and suspicious viewer

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:54:56 +1000

I can see that.

Unlikely to make sense if the thing being "repossessed" is a bicycle,
but then chains/cables you can carry on a pushy are smaller than those
you can carry on a motorcycle.

Best a lock can do is to make the bike harder to steal than another
one.

Which won't help if the payoff is good - a friend of mine had his
Katana stolen from a locked garage. It was locked with a heavy chain
and was behind a car.

Plenty of stories about Harleys being stolen from garages.

Best bet I suspect is have a bike that isn't all that common, isn't a
cult collector bike with high prices, and isn't used in a major racing
class.

Of course they'll probably start racing postie bikes soon...

Zebee

 

http://www.postiebikes.com/future.htm

N/

 

You need a Guzzi, you do.

Oops!

Theo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:57:17 -0700 (PDT)

heh. Have you seen the prices loopframes are going for?

Zebee
- who appears to have acquired a cult collector bike with a high
price thinking she had bought a weird old truck...

 

Cash it in quick before they change their minds !!!

JL
(there's only so many people with too much money and a yen for 70's
bikes, they WILL get too old to ride and hence stop buying them...)

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:39:41 -0700 (PDT)

<snicker> tried to buy a cheap Vincent lately? Bods who wanted them
when they were new must all be on Zimmer frames by now.

THe point about 70s classics is that they are mostly very rideable and
maintainable. More so than 50s and 60s ones while still visually
distinctive from 80s bikes.


I don't really care if loopies drop in value. Means spares will be
cheaper. The Old Girl ain't for sale.

Zebee
- waiting for all those cheap Harleys people kept predicting because
"the next new fad will come along"

 

<shrug> The value of them is in real terms down on the peak of the
80's though - same with all the 40's - early 60's classic cars. While
there is still (and always will be) a market for classics, it's weaker
than it used to be.

It's also not a very reasonable comparison - there's a big difference
between a bike that's acknowledged as one of the top 10 greatest bikes
of all time, and a loopframe guzzi (or in fact all bar maybe one or
two bikes from the 70's). Realistically there's only ever one or two
vehicles like Vincent Black Shadow or Ferrari 250 or Jag Etype in each
generation, the rest will not (and don't) maintain their value the
same way. My Mk2 Jag is comparable to your loopframe I suspect -
considered a standout car of the era but it's just not got the halo
the Etype has, and hence while the market for them remains solid,
there's absolutely no doubt there was a bubble which is in the process
of deflating as the older guys who wanted one in their youth start
getting too old to want to fiddle with an old car.

Let's see, there's no longer waiting lists Harley's sales numbers
peaked 2 years ago (IIRC) and they had to release the VRod to try and
get the younger market (with limited success) same as BMW have had to
change tactics. Yeah the gloss is fading - taking longer than I'd have
suspected though

Ulysses members - how many on your ride days are still riding Harleys
and how many have swapped them for Beemers or Jappers ?

JL