I’m sure, like every other biker in the world, you have some deep-seated emotional attachment to your motorcycle. To many of us, it’s a part of the family and to some even more cherished than the wife, if only because you can get a ride without that pretense of the headache or the bribe of new shoes.

With that devotion comes a level of paranoia. Just what do you do to keep your bikes safe?

Having owned my first bike in the UK where theft is rampant and something like 30% of the bikes on the road are stolen I’ll admit I am a little paranoid on this subject. Of the four bikes I own, two of them (KTM dirt bikes) don’t even have an ignition switch so stealing them would be as simple as thumbing (or kicking) the starter and riding off. Sure, I could fit a hidden secondary kill switch to them, but that’s just security through obscurity. As a result, when they are not ridden they are shackled both together and to a hydraulic lift and then further secured with a 110db disc brake lock/alarm thing.

The Daytona is similarly treated. Normally, it lives on it’s paddock stands and is chained to both them and to the wall. It’s further protected by a Scorpio alarm which I will admit gives me great peace of mind when I ride it out and stop somewhere. It also makes it a pain in the ass if I want to go out for a quick flick around town.

Oh and they’re all in my garage, which while not lockable, soon will be and usually has my dirty big truck in front of the door too.

And that brings me to the Tiger: Right now, I have no security system for it, aside from the ignition key which we all know isn’t exactly a security feature as it is a minor hindrance. At least the Tiger is somewhat large so hopefully I’m somewhat protected from what happened to EvilMonkey who one day woke to find his beloved GSXR-750 had been removed from his parking lot. The prevailing theory is that it was picked up and put on a truck so perhaps even a disk-lock wouldn’t have helped. And bear in mind this was from a supposedly CCTV protected condo parking lot…

So anyway, I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Should I go with a disk-lock knowing it’s little more than a deterrent and perhaps even an amusing YouTube moment for anyone close by when I forget to remove it before heading off. At least it can go with me though. What about a big chain, but then how do I carry is around and even find somewhere to chain it to? Or what about a Scorpio or other alarm system? Is it worth the possible battery drain and do people even acknowledge them when they go off? Did I miss anything besides encasing it in Lucite and just displaying it in my front room? Or I just being paranoid? Would love some ideas and feedback on your security setup and how vulnerable you feel.

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