Any tips to stop motorbike and push-bike thieves?

I use something very similar to <Broken link removed>. I put it through the van's ali wheel spokes. It can eventually be ground through but as I sleep just above the wheel I'm sure I'd hear them.:cautious:
 
My vans on the drive, any noise at all and I'm looking out the window. I also have 2 cameras overlooking it. If i see anyone taking an interest I take a photo of them and make sure they see me.
I had an irish sounding chap knock the door once, my wife answered, but I could hear him asking where he could buy a motorhome, I rushed to the door with my phone as he was walking away and called him and took a photo as he turned around. I may have been paranoid, but I still have my van and his picture. When we ran a pub, I got rid of the drug dealers that used to deliver there by taking their pictures.
If travellers take your stuff, even if you go there and ask for it back, you would have to buy it from them, they don't care if it's your word against theirs, but they probably won't take it if you get a picture of their face.
 
Mick Kennedy said:
thanks for the condolences. Yes, they could cut through the chain, but they'd have to use an angle grinder to cut through a monster lock and I'd hear them if it was attached to the motorhome. Whereas in this first case, they carried it all off far away enough so I couldn't hear the angle grinder.
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As others have said you are either going to have to front up the six of them or some will hold the hab door shut whilst others cut the chain.It has happened before.
Steve and Denise said:
Until we start executing thieves we have no deterant even if we just chopped their hands off, or a tattoo on the forhead would help.
Thieves should not be accepted in our communities ☹
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Exactly.
Onemanandhisdog said:
If someone is riding around on the missing property, what is going to happen?
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If it was mine I'd decide to trash it by driving over it & anyone who happened to be on it.

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Sorry to hear your problems. If claiming for the e-bike be careful what you say, bikes are normally only covered if locked to an imovable object.

Always keep our e-bikes in the Motorhome garage I would never leave them out overnight.

From people I've met theft from sites appears to be much more common than Aires & wild camping.
 
If thieves are determined they will take it regardless.
I had my BMW GS1200 Adventure stolen (which I won last November), on the night of 29th February. It was locked in my garage which is at the bottom of my back garden, at the bottom of our drive (10 metres). They dragged my wifes car back from the 2 metre high wooden gates, then climbed over and cut the padlock off. They then broke the lock on the up and over garage door and must have then carried the bike out. It had an alarm and immobiliser! This was in the early hours of the morning and pouring with rain and we never heard a thing! Called the police next morning who gave me a crime number and closed the case. Bike value £12500. Still waiting for the insurance company to pay out.
 
1. Make it more difficult to nick than the next one.
2. Make look as undesirable as possible. (Spray it badly in an outrageous colour.)
 
Mick Kennedy said:
I ask you, who keeps their bikes INSIDE their motorhomes?
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More people than you might think. We have 2 electric Bromptons and they are inside even though we only have a panel van conversion and it does mean that we cannot store anything else.
 
for future advice, Tredegar house backs onto the dufryn estate. The police rarely go there, but when they do it has to be a planned operation from what I have been told by locals over the years. Probably spotted you on the bike at asda and followed you back to the site.

as soon as the rangers repair the fences on the tredegar house estate, they get cut within a day or so

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Lenny HB said:
Sorry to hear your problems. If claiming for the e-bike be careful what you say, bikes are normally only covered if locked to an imovable object.
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A simple soloution available to nearly everybody, is to screw your front towing eye in, and then secure the bike to that. Preferably with a quality D lock.
 
We lose a load of bikes each year. Still havent lost one with a D lock so you are the exception to the rule.

I would definitely go looking round the local traveller site (which isnt a bad one to be fair) and council estate, but would not recommend it, but then again i know them.
 
Been giving this some thought (Can you hear either the echo or the grinding of the cogs?)

We have one of these;
It could be screwed into the ground immediately at the side of wherever you pitch up (assuming Green Field site.)
That would take away the opportunity of the scrotes to 'Get Around' your bikes, effectively only allowing access to one side.
Something substantial could be welded to it to aide the installation of chains, alarms etc.

Just a thought.
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Hi, what we do when o the road is remove the saddle an battery, and keep them inside the motorhome .the ebikes are on the rack on the back.
.so far, so good.
 
emjaiuk said:
A simple soloution available to nearly everybody, is to screw your front towing eye in, and then secure the bike to that. Preferably with a quality D lock.
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Towing eyes are not very strong, they are designed for pulling a vehicle onto a recovery vehicle, if you get towed using one unless you are in a straight line with the towing vehicle they often snap. A clout with a lump hammer will probably shear one.

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I hate to say it but we take cheapo bikes not worth nicking. No one wants an old banger worth £20. We don’t use ebikes for this reason.
We still chain them to the van though.
Phil
 
Mick Kennedy said:
I phoned the club to see if my van insurance would cover my leccy bike, but they said that only bikes INSIDE your van are covered and then only to the value of 500 pounds. I ask you, who keeps their bikes INSIDE their motorhomes? What a swiz.

The only thing I can think to do differently in the future is to somehow secure both bike and motorbike TO the actual motorhome itself, so they can't be physically carried away and any angle-grinder-type theft would involve noise right next to me.

Any suggestions, folks?

Cheers,

Mick
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Lots of people keep their bikes inside the motorhome garage, we used to when we had them. I suspect that is what the club was referring to. We now have a scooter which we also keep in the garage. It only takes 5 or 10 minutes to get it out or put it back in. On the very few occasions we leave it outside we use the accessory loop on our Growler alarm from eddievanbitz

I am afraid that the safest suggestion is probably to buy a motorhome with a decent sized garage and get a decent alarm with an accessory loop. I would never be comfortable with anything tasty to a thief hanging off the back of the motorhome.
 
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Mick Kennedy said:
Just wondering if anyone has any good tips to foil thieves of bikes and motorbikes?

I'm asking because I've just had my motorscooter and electric bike stolen from Tredegar House campsite in Newport, South Wales, where I am staying as a full-timer.

I never dreamt my bikes could be stolen. We are within a camping compound, surrounded by thick trees and a 2m wire fence and locked gates. The scooter had the steering lock engaged, a clamp lock on the front disc brake, a flat battery and also my e-bike was chained to it with an Oxford ‘’Monster Lock’’. I thought no way it could be taken. The only way to take it would be to pick it all up together and carry it away, all 200+ kgs of it - ha, ha! As if that could happen. But that is exactly what they did. The CCTV caught two of them coming onto the site, but they went for help and about six young men picked up the whole ensemble and silently carried it away - lifted a ranch fence out of the ground to get past it, then dragged it all across a field, cut through the wire fence and out into the woods. I followed the trail in the morning and found my motorbike and the remnants of the chain lock - cut through with an angle grinder with the remnants left on the ground. The e-bike was long gone, but the scooter had defeated them - they’d busted open the front fairing to get at the locking mechanism and broken it, but they went too far and snapped the steering column, so although the handle bars would turn, the front wheel would not turn in unison. And even if they hadn’t snapped the steering column, it wouldn’t have started with the flat battery. I’d only discovered the flat battery the day before and gone to ASDA to get a battery charger to sort it and it was only when I went to charge it early the next morning that I realised it was missing. Although the thing was covered in smudges and prints from six people carrying it, the local police felt it ''not worth'' doing any CSI on it and the insurance company said it sounds like they will write it off, which surprised me. They are sending an assessor to look at it, but she said it sounds like a goner. So I'm over two grand down - 700 quid excess on my motorbike insurance and total loss of 1350 quid on the brand-new leccy bike. I phoned the club to see if my van insurance would cover my leccy bike, but they said that only bikes INSIDE your van are covered and then only to the value of 500 pounds. I ask you, who keeps their bikes INSIDE their motorhomes? What a swiz.

The only thing I can think to do differently in the future is to somehow secure both bike and motorbike TO the actual motorhome itself, so they can't be physically carried away and any angle-grinder-type theft would involve noise right next to me.

Any suggestions, folks?

Cheers,

Mick
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Hi Mick,
Being a biker I really feel for you,
My suggestion would be if it is doable, to loop a heavy link stainless steel chain through a hole in the front wheel rim of the camper and through the rear wheel/swing arm of the bike,
I suggest stainless steel because in my working life, in maintenance in a chemical refinery, using lots of stainless, from experience I know it can be really tough to cut even with a grinder, (needs to be heavy links)
if you heard the scumbags grinding and as in your case there are 6 of them switch on the camper headlights the hazards and keep your horn blasting , plus if you can set off the vans alarm get that blasting as well,
all that racket and flashing lights should make them have a committee meeting and decide to move on,
#as for the local fuzz, have you thought about making a formal complaint, you had the evidence, and they took no action,
remember for evil to succeed, it only takes decent people to do nothing, and the evil will continue.
if your scoot is written off you can ask for a buy back, as it sounds repairable, but not viable for an insurance company paying full garage rates, and fitting all new, full priced parts,
(just a thought)
Good Luck
 
When we got our german electric bikes, we were full timers, so no insurance the bikes are on a rack, we have a couple of abus locks and a strike back alarm, but even with the bike loop it's only a deterrent, strip the wire and twist and they are gone, many years ago when we did the motorhome shows, an old guy was there annoying everyone with these padlocks with an alarm built in, if tempered it goes off, I have one of those and often set it off trying to unlock it, another deterrent, ? but to be honest if someone wants something 9 times out of 10 they get it. ?
Years ago we had a yard, to enter you went between a house and a bungalow, they broke in my car stole tools, they emptied 1200 litres of diesel from a tank, I spent many nights sleeping in a truck waiting to educate them, it stopped for a while, then one Sunday morning they had been tampering with a trailer and dropped a personal organiser under it, I went through it yes gypsies from about 10 miles away, called the police didn't want to know, park somewhere else or you will loose it. ?
At least Spanish shoot them. ? Bob.
 
THANKS EVERYONE FOR SOME USEFUL AND THOUGHTFUL COMMENTS. I WILL ADAPT SOME OF THEM TO FIT OUR CASE IN THE FUTURE. AS FOR STORING BIKES INSIDE THE VAN, OUR GARAGE ISN’T BIG ENOUGH TO TAKE 2X E-BIKES, SO ALTHOUGH MY WIFE’S BROMPTON CAN GO INSIDE, MY RALEIGH HAS TO LIVE ON THE BACK WITH THE SCOOTER. SO TO ME, ‘’INSIDE’’ THE VAN WOULD MEAN INSIDE THE HABITATION PART OF THE VAN - JUST NOT FEASIBLE. ALSO, TO ANSWER ANOTHER POINT - I CERTAINLY WOULDN’T WANT TO TAKE ON SIX LADS (OR EVEN ONE, FOR THAT MATTER) BUT LIKE WAS SUGGESTED, IF I COULD MAKE THINGS SUCH THAT AT LEAST I WOULD HEAR THEM TRYING TO TAKE THE STUFF, THEN I COULD RAISE A ROW AND CALL THE POLICE, ETC. MY MISTAKE WAS IN NOT SECURING IT TO THE VAN SO THEY COULD CARRY IT OFF QUIETLY. BUT THEN, I DIDN’T THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT SOMEONE COULD CARRY OFF 200+ KGS OF GEAR. I WAS THINKING IN TERMS OF A LONE THIEF OR TWO AND CERTAINLY NEVER ENVISAGED A SCENARIO WHERE SIX OF THEM WOULD ACT IN CONCERT. I’M STILL BEMUSED BY IT ALL REALLY AND NOW FIND MYSELF FEELING NAIVE FOR NOT ENVISAGING THIS AS A POSSIBILITY. SHAME, REALLY. TO ANSWER ANOTHER POINT - NO, I’M NOT GOING TO MAKE A COMPLAINT TO THE POLICE. I JUST FEEL IT IS DRAGGING OUT MY UPSET AND WILL ACHIEVE NOTHING EXCEPT TO GENERATE MORE FRUSTRATION AND ANGER ON MY PART. I SPOKE WITH THE CSI OFFICER INVOLVED AND EXPLAINED THAT IT WAS COVERED IN FINGERPRINTS AND VARIOUS SMUDGES AND TOLD HIM THAT THE CAMP HAD CCTV FOOTAGE OF AT LEAST TWO OF THEM, BUT IT DIDN’T MERIT FURTHER ACTION. BUDGETS TO BE MET, I SUPPOSE. LIKELIHOOD (OR NOT) OF A CONVICTION, I SUPPOSE. ALL THE NORMAL GUFF. IT JUST SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE DON’T CARE ANYMORE. IT’S SAD. EVEN THE TWO WARDENS OF THE CAMP SITE - THEY DIDN’T EVEN COME TO SEE ME, OR PHONE ME TO COMMISERATE, OR SAY THEY WERE SORRY IT HAD HAPPENED. NOR DID THEY EVEN GO AROUND THE OTHER OCCUPANTS OF THE SITE TO WARN THEM THAT THERE’D BEEN A BREAK IN. IT WAS LEFT TO US RESIDENTS TO DO THAT. THAT SHOWED A GREAT LACK OF NOT ONLY PROFESSIONAL CARE, IN MY OPINION, BUT ALSO OF SIMPLE HUMANITY. I CAN’T IMAGINE BEING WARDEN, OR ‘’SITE MANAGER’’ AS THEY LIKE TO CALL THEMSELVES, AND NOT VISITING ONE OF MY GUESTS WHO’D SUFFERED SUCH A LOSS ON MY TURF. AWFUL, REALLY. ANYWAY, AGAIN, THANKS EVERYBODY, VERY MUCH INDEED. IT WAS SOMEHOW REASSURING TO READ YOUR KIND AND CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS. MICK.

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Just as an aside, you can cover the ebike on house contents insurance. Under 'contents away from the home'

I used to have all our motorbike clobber insured. Felt much safer if we left them in the tent and went out for the night.
About 2 grands worth in total.
 
Having worked in a bike shop my advice is that the best way to deter theft of ebikes is to remove the battery from the bike before locking it up - rationale is that the batteries can cost £600 plus and without them the rest of the bike is close to just being scrap metal. No one in their right mind is going to buy a battery-less ebike from and a small time thief isn’t going to want to have to spend out To replace the battery before they can offload the bike. Also some ebike systems have removable head units on the handle bars - again take this with you when leaving the bike for all the same reasons as above.
 
Like Yorick I have used my home insurance, in this case for my two new electric bikes, I got it in writing from LV that they are covered for theft if locked to a vehicle bike rack, luckily mine is chassis mounted so they just aren’t going to unbolt it from the back and take the lot! Also agree about taking out the batteries and head unit to be kept in the van, which also makes it easier to load/unload from the rack. In addition I have a Vanbitz growler with accessory loop and I use an expensive Abus D lock so......?
 
Steve and Denise said:
Until we start executing thieves we have no deterant even if we just chopped their hands off, or a tattoo on the forhead would help.
Thieves should not be accepted in our communities ☹
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Woah. Execution is wrong.
Why not execute every prisoner in UK?
Most have committed crimes more serious than theft.
 
What do people think of locking up a non electric bike with the front wheels and possibly seat removed?

Do you think that would be a suitable deterrent or would they just try and break into the motorhome to retrieve the wheels?

Graydo
 
I also like the idea of securing them to the towing eye as opposed to my tow bar, theory being the front of my motorhome is (usually) much more visible to pedestrian traffic than the rear.

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