I'm looking at getting a Thatcham cat.1 alarm/immobiliser and was wondering if anyone has one they'd recommend or if they know of any that are good and compatible with/recommended for Honda VFR400s

Sorry if this is an existing topic, but it's half 12am and I gotta be up at 7 so I cba to sift through and find an existing one.

Thanks,

ant_v4r

I have a Acumen tempest cat 1 alarm on my nc30, works great and doesn't draw much power.

Piece of mind when parking it in town for only £270 off eBay including fitting

bikemonkey wrote:I have a Acumen tempest cat 1 alarm on my nc30, works great and doesn't draw much power.

Piece of mind when parking it in town for only £270 off eBay including fitting

If somebody wants to steal your bike they will just come along with a van and shove it in the back and drive off

Like so.



Any half decent cheap imobiliser that makes noise, wired correctly should make it a pain for the casual joy rider theif to steal which is probably the biggest threat to these bikes.

Best thing you can do is get an almax or the protector 19mm chain and a ground anchor for at home and affix it to something difficult to move out and about.

You won't cut it by hand croppers.. even those giant 42" ones.



Note how quikly he cuts some of the other 100 plus chains.

We have a local product known as TACS. It's for cars and motorcycle. I don't know if they sell this abroad. Maybe you can send a query if they do ship abroad.

I don’t know if there is any similar anti-theft alarms like to TACS, I hope there is since the features are great.

Here’s what it do….

1.When someone tried to move/steal your bike, the bike will alarm and will try to call your mobile phone. This is great way if you really want to get those thieves red handed tried stealing your bike.

2.The sensor can be adjusted based on your preferences so small movements will not trigger the alarm.

3.If someone successfully able to stole your bike by riding it, you can immobilize it using your mobile phone. Just call the number (TACS SIM Card) and the bike will stop running. The thief might leave your bike on the road rather than tried to start it over and over again or attempt to fix it.

4.Since the TACS is based via mobile phone signal and uses prepaid SIM cards, im not sure if in other countries there are some capable of tracing its location by GPS map. If it can, then there’s a great chances your bike will be recovered once stolen and parked somewhere you don’t know.

Here’s the link to TACS….

http://tacs-alarm.webs.com/

Neosophist wrote:

bikemonkey wrote:I have a Acumen tempest cat 1 alarm on my nc30, works great and doesn't draw much power.

Piece of mind when parking it in town for only £270 off eBay including fitting

If somebody wants to steal your bike they will just come along with a van and shove it in the back and drive off

Like so.



Any half decent cheap imobiliser that makes noise, wired correctly should make it a pain for the casual joy rider theif to steal which is probably the biggest threat to these bikes.

Best thing you can do is get an almax or the protector 19mm chain and a ground anchor for at home and affix it to something difficult to move out and about.

You won't cut it by hand croppers.. even those giant 42" ones.



Note how quikly he cuts some of the other 100 plus chains.

I do use a disc lock and big fat cable lock round the back wheel too, but where I park in town is a busy shopping street, right infront of a shop with CCTV. If its middle of the day and I'm only popping into town I don't even bother with the locks. To be fair I don't see why anyone would want to steal my bike, it's extremely tatty other than the exhaust....,

bikemonkey wrote: I do use a disc lock and big fat cable lock round the back wheel too, but where I park in town is a busy shopping street, right infront of a shop with CCTV. If its middle of the day and I'm only popping into town I don't even bother with the locks. To be fair I don't see why anyone would want to steal my bike, it's extremely tatty other than the exhaust....,

Neosophist wrote:Any half decent cheap imobiliser that makes noise, wired correctly should make it a pain for the casual joy rider theif to steal which is probably the biggest threat to these bikes.

The point was that no bike is ever completly safe, and that having some security shouldnt replace common sense (park in well light arears, CCTV etc)

If your not going to chain it up with a massive chain then providing its wired up somewhat covertly then you dont need to spend 270 on an alarm to imobilse and deter that biggest threat to older bikes that is the pikey joy rider.

They dont usually bring a van as they dont care about parts, just something to ride about on, so making it difficult to start and make a lot of noise is good prevention.

The almax / protector chain and ground anchor are good for home were somebodt might be eyeing up the bike, especally with the prices going up they have much more time to plan a steal, if its bolted to the ground with somthing that doesnt cut easily they will target something less hassle

It's slightly disturbing that chains sold as being impervious for at least five minutes can be broken using hand tools in a matter of seconds. Assuming that Almax haven't fudged the tests for their own benefit, surely they're effectively using false advertising? Also, you'd think the insurers wouldn't approve such stuff if it's really so easy to break, or is it simply the deterrent factor they go by, rather than the effort (or lack of) to actually defeat the things?

Neosophist wrote: Best thing you can do is get an almax or the protector 19mm chain and a ground anchor for at home and affix it to something difficult to move out and about.

You won't cut it by hand croppers.. even those giant 42" ones.

Reckon?

Allegedly there's a video somewhere of someone trying and actually breaking the croppers. Personally, I'd like to see a truly independent video of such tests. The Almax chain certainly looks the business, but don't they have a vested interest in making the competition look bad too? I don't doubt that there are some expensive yet crap chains out there, however I'd be more comfortable if someone like an insurer or even the rozzers was conducting the test.

Edit:

found it!

i wouldn't bother with an alarm personally - took it off my RVF400 as it was a pain in the proverbial.

i don't leave my bike anywhere without it being chained up though - if they want to break the chain to steal it, good luck to them, not much else you can do.

wrt thatcham and other approved lock testing systems - these are based on a known set of tools that the average thief is expected to have, so yes, a super duper gold lock can indeed be beaten in less than 5 mins with other tools.

as one new york bicycle owner proved - people aren't bothered - he used power tools to steal his own bike in public, broad daylight in new york and noone batted an eyelid...