Kill switch installation stories
 

Hello fellow enthusiasts

I have been keeping my head down and saving cash over the last few months so I could fund a move from Brandon Florida to downtown St Pete. I have finally reached my financial goal and am looking for the right place to come up, but here is my dilemma. I can reasonably afford up to $700 a month in rent which in downtown means I can either get a really nice apartment with no guarantee of secure parking or a rare but not as nice small house with an even rarer garage. My date to move is inching closer and closer and I cant seem to find one of these houses and I am beginning to fear that I will be forced into an apartment with on or off street parking. If this is the case I will have to cover my bike which I can do, but I would like to make it more difficult to push start.

What solutions have you all come across for preventing this? I supposed I could pull out some fuses when I park it, but has anybody had documented success installing a kill switch? Has anyone RECENTLY purchased an alarm with a kill switch that would fill the requirements?

ummmm push starting can only happen if you have no keyed ignition or you plan on them hotwiring it????


700 a mo ain't much. i'd say rent a room at a house with a garage.


oh and almost ALL bikes have a killswitch, it says "on" and "off" it's on the right handlebar's controls.

Yes I want to make it electronically difficult for them to start.

Yah 700 is not allot but I am trying to stick to the lower than 25% of net income rule and I am just a humble IT analyst 2. If I can find anything with a garage I will but alas the options are limited.

Maybe ya'll can help me look

HotPads.com - Real Estate, Apartments, Homes for Sale and for Rent, Rental Houses, Sublets, Roommates

I am looking to be as close as possible between those two highways. Bicycle distance is really m goal.

Get a disc brake lock. Can't push start it with one of those.

Ahh I didnt even think of that. I am headed to a zombie bike night tonight so maybe one of the vendors can fill me in. Any particular recommendations?

Well unless you chain it to the ground all it takes is 2 people to pick it up and walk away with it.....

So find something to chain it to or get a ground floor apt and out it in the living room.... ;)

Lol I can see it now, my historic downtown apartment with beautiful reconditioned hardwood floors and a piece of Japanese engineering where my coffee table should be.

Hey I have done it and it sure beats walking out and finding the bike gone.....

I used to have an immobiliser alarm fitted that used to be an efficient wind gauge. Took the system off when the immobiliser left me stranded.

Underneath the VTR's seat there's provision for a Honda OEM U-lock to fit.

U-lock 120/340 08M53-KAZ-800

http://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/g...Z800_large.jpg

Perfect!

And now you know what the funny looking notches in the undertail are for... ;)

I have wondered that since day one.

dam,is that what its for.hmmmmmmm maybe i should get one too.

+1
For about 13 years I didn't have a garage (after divorce). I used a super heavy duty chain and lock, secured to a steel post in the carport and a Kryptonite U-lock on the rear wheel. The best you can hope for is to slow them down or make them move on to easier prey.

If you have to leave it on the street use the biggest hardened chain you can find and leave it on the pole. The limiting factor of portability works against you. That cheesy u-lock is cute to carry around but useless for real security. ALWAYS cover it. They wont try to steal it if its never in sight.

I have a list of other tricks so let me know if you wind up in that situation.

it says so in the owners manual.

I'd say disk lock and maybe a cover with an alarm integrated into it. Just something with a lot of noise.

I don't remember where I saw one but I know that just having a cover on the bike reduces the probability of it getting stolen by a large margin.

As for a kill switch, installing one on the live wire to the ignition switch would be fine and you can find discrete and waterproof ones for not all that much moohla on ebay.

I was tempted to sink some anchors below the concrete when there was a string of car/motorcycle thefts a few months ago.

Granted, wouldn't have made the city happy, but hey, it was a recessed "U" bolt that I would have epoxied in wouldn't have been too obtrusive.

You are all aware that that is the type of lock that you can open with a BIC pen right? Here in Sweden, Honda was banned from selling it as a lock, since it didn't qualify as one according to the consumer rights people... And no, I'm not joking... That one is actually real... :rotf:

any lock can be broken if you know how/have the force...

Is that the one? I remember Kryptonite had to recall thousands of locks for the same reason.

I've heard of Kryptonite locks bad reputation - but if you can find and post anything that points at the specific fallibility of the Honda branded U-locks I'd be pleased to see it.

These vids shows the bic vulnerability on Kryptonite's but the Honda locks appear to have a different lock mechanism/placement.

http://www.bikeforums.net/video/

Yeah they recalled all of them around here & the disc lock also with that type of key. Yes all that it takes is a BIC pen.....:shock:

Now they still sell them but it has a "standard" straight key..... but they are still pretty worthless.

If they really want it, they will get it. Lucky for us, our bikes are pretty worthless on the "parts" market and are as unpopular as they are.

Chaining it to something solid (big chain and anchor bolt is best but anything soild that can't be easily cut through will work (see the above about if they "really" want it.... )

Then get a cover for it.

Those 2 are your best bet and about all you can really do. You can also see what theft coverage would cost you, but with the resale value of a Sh it usually isn't worth it.




Locks are to keep the honest people out....... ;)

Well, since the info on the sales and the ban on the Honda branded lock is in Swedish, I have no useful link to post... And after a couple attempts on other occasions using google translate to look at Swedish pages translated, where even I couldn't understand them, even after re-reading the Swedish text, I doubt it's useful, but if you wan't too, let me know and I'll look through the pages and find and link the one specific to that lock...

I did however verify it myself by trying it on my Honda branded lock... It took me a few tries, but once I learned the trick, I could open it easier with the BIC than with the key... Also worked on my Kryptonite for my MTB... I have since never used any of those... It's fairly pointless to have a lock that anyone can open...

As I understood it, it doesn't have anything to do with the U shape or the placement of the locking mechanism at all, it's basically that type of lock cylinder that's the culprit... It contains a number of "pins" around the circle, and the shape, allowing a BIC pen or similar makes it extremely easy to "pick"... That's why the newer Kryptonite's have a more "standard" cylinder...

Yep, the way I understood the story, Kryptonite just seemed to have a fluke design that could be opened with a common object. Diameter of the circle made it easy to figure out and easy for people to try. Hell, it was probably some bored kid in school pokin' the back end of his pen in his bike lock and the thing popped open.