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Motorbike theft is on the rise in England for the first time in 5 years, in 2014 alone 22,500 bikes were stolen and only 40% of them were recovered by the owner, and it’s starting to look like any bike can be a target of theft whether it’s new, old, and popular, worth a fortune or worth buttons – here are our tips for keeping your motorcycle safe. Now I’m not saying you need to start keeping your ride by your bed at night or use an MI5 grade security system but it’s probably for the best if you put a couple of things in place to keep your baby as safe as you can. Even though thieves are getting better and any motorbike seems to be a target that heart drop feeling every motorbiker dreads of walking out of your house to jump onto your pride and joy to find it’s just not there is completely preventable. With thieves always finding new ways to disable alarms, get into locked garages and swiping motorbikes in minutes it kind of feels like there’s nothing we can do stop our motorbikes being taken which might be true. The only sure fire way to prevent a stolen bike is by making it less desirable to the thief because to be honest there isn’t really a chain a thief can’t cut or a lock they can’t pick. First things first if a thief can’t see a motorbike they want to begin with they won’t try to steal it, if you’re lucky enough to have a garage to keep your ride that’s an advantage off the bat, but like I said an experienced thief can really get into any garage if they want the motorbike bad enough. You should get yourself a simple cover for your ride for two reasons number one if you park your motorbike outside or indoors a thief won’t be able to tell if it’s a bike they want and might not find it worth the risk and number two all of the security you are using is completely hidden so being armed to break your specific locks will be extremely difficult. It might seem like stating the obvious but using locks on your motorbike effectively is one of the best ways to protect it from theft. However a lot of bikers don’t their lock consistently or adequately, the best way you can use locks and chains is by making it as complicated as possible for someone to get to your bike, ideally you will have both your back and front wheel chained to sturdy object when parked up but we all know that this isn’t always possible. So what do you have to do lock your bike up in the most effective way possible? Try to make the bike as difficult to move as possible even if there are two strong men trying to steal it if the wheels can’t spin how well they can awkwardly manoeuvre it into the back of a van, the answer, tricky. So as a basic line of defence against bike thieves a pack lock and chin around both wheels and/or a disc lock. So now you have the right locks and chains for your bike and you’re pretty pleased with the job but the question now is where you can anchor it down. At home you can get in ground or wall anchors that are concreted into place along with a solid lock and chain and a cover this makes it a lot more difficult for a bike thief. Some people obviously can’t afford to get an anchor installed or they live on rented property a great tip for them is to get a large bin and fill it with concrete this cheaper and easier option should keep your ride safe and sound. When you’re out and about this can be a bit trickier, in a car park you can usually fit a couple of sturdy enough structures to chain your bike up to but as an overall rule its important to find an anchor that is both secure and convenient. The last bit of security that is pretty such essential to keeping your bike safe is an alarm, a lot of bikers opt for a simple cheap alarm on your bike but realistically they aren’t that reliable I mean in one night how many car alarms and bike alarms do you hear going off for no reason? Instead of a fragile on board alarm a disk lock alarm is a great device to use. In the end keeping your bike safe comes down to a couple of basic points, common sense, security and preparation, once you have that down its relatively easy to prevent a theft. If you can get a balance of all 3 your pride and joy will stay with you until the scrap heap.