Hey,
I am starting work in central london soon and I will parking in a city centre where there are a lot of tourists around,
what would you suggest for security, i already have a alarmed disc lock and a chain (even though there is no where to chain it to)
Should I get an alarm?
Regards
Where about in central london - street name?
I wouldn’t bother with an alarmed disc lock in a London bike bay, it’d be going off all the time!
Is it a big scoot? If not be prepared for people to shunt it around in the bay so they can squeeze theirs in, someone done this with my Gixer a little while ago and dented my can so on that note I hope your not too precious about it?
I park my big scoot in a London bike bay mon-fri with nothing on it, obviously not going to say where it is but I can see the bay from my window.
If you really want to use something a normal disc lock or chain through the wheel will be enough of a deterant but if they want it, they will take it whatever you have on there!
Why would the tourists be a problem?
If you’re near an NCP or a Q-park you may be able to park for free in there - worth a check if you’re worried.
Thanks Tiggi for your response, I have heard a lot of bad reviews on alarms, I may get a better disc lock then, I have seen a scooter parked in the same place for a while now without any problems, it is about a 5 minute walk from my office but it is in a tourist location so always plenty of people around, my bike is a small 125cc scooter
@MonkiMark There is a NCP car park but they charge 5 pound a day to park a motorcycle
Get an Almax chain www.almax-security-chains.co.uk . Say I sent you (Aceman) and you’ll get a discount.
There’s no real benefit to a chain if you’ve nothing to chain it to - may as well stick with the disc lock or D-lock, something portable.
That said, it’s worth having a scout out to see if there’s a bay nearby with something to chain the bike to. I work in Southwark and they’re pretty good at providing locking points, the 3 nearest me all have rails. When I worked in Westminster there were only about 3 of them in the whole borough.
Alarm wise I had a thatcham series 3 which played up. brought a hawk x-50 £30 which has been fantastic except took a lot of wire sniping to transform it into a two wite system which is all I wanted and it is nice an sensitive enough plus you can lower the sens if needed. Alarm plus cheap disc lock front and back then a cover over it. no one will want to lift the cover setting the alarm off. bikes get stolen all the time in London. one lady was moaning about security after hers got nicked but she had only d locked the front wheel beatable with a £20 circular pick.
So for about £90 you should be fine. once home I would lock with an almax all the way
