Bike alarm

[bramfrank]

It occurs to me that there might be some interest in this product among the members of this board.

For the past 3 months I've been beta testing a bike alarm that a friend has been developing. He's got the first production lot ready to ship and I have access to it. The unit is a very high end device and is minimally invasive, both in terms of wiring and in terms of operation.

It comes with a separate transponder. You clip the transponder to your belt or hang it from the supplied lanyard around your neck or just stuff it in your pocket (I don't recommend attaching it to your key ring as that kind of defeats the purpose of the alarm in the first place).

When you are within about 10-15 feet of the bike the alarm function is automatically disabled - the alarm will still beep and the turn signals flash with status changes (moving the bike or turning the key in the ignition), but the siren will not sound.

You can't start the bike unless the transponder is in range.

From beyond the sensor range the alarm will sound if the bike is moved (it has a REAL lean angle sensor that is recalibrated with each arming) or if the bike is switched on.

- The siren will sound for about 30 seconds, then reset until the next event

- The transponder starts to beep - the pager has a much longer range (about 700 feet, they say) than the proximity sensor.

I managed to lose my first transponder and programmed the unit for emergency bypass. Took about a minute and it requires letting the siren cycle. Today, as I rode to the garage to store the bike I stopped off at their offices and had a new remote programmed up (so I could put the alarm to sleep). That took about 3 minutes.

You can apparently have multiple transponders for one bike and you can pair a transponder with more than one bike.

So in operation it is as simple as walking up to the bike you want to ride, turning the key and waiting a second for a confirming beep, then starting the bike.

The alarm itself is a sealed waterproof module with a connector/wiring harness at the rear. It has a built-in rechangeable battery so it keeps working even if the bike's battery is disconnected. You can put it into a 'sleep mode' for storage and there is a service mode for when you drop the bike at the dealer for service.

Installation took me about 2 hours - and I had no instructions beyond a description of the wire functions and colors. I've written up a document since. Connections are:

Ground

Battery Power

Switched Power

Left turn signal

Right turn signal

'Starter disable' (wired in series with the starter push button).

With the exception of the battery power, everything electrical needed is under the front left lower cowling at a single connector - and I suspect that I might have been able to find battery if I'd looked. But I took the negative and battery connections and ran them to the battery itself. On the FJR I tie wrapped the unit itself to the neck of the coolant cap plumbing, also on the left side.

This is not a cheap toy - I guess it competes with the Scorpio - it certainly does more and is completely transparent in it's operation.

Retail is $360, but obviously I can get them for less.

I'll have to take some pictures and post them, but it'll take a while for me to get that going - I have some not 'great' ones that I will post, but can't do better ones for a while because I just parked and covered the bike for the winter.

Any interest here?

 

[mdisher]

Interested yes, though I'm not sure how much I'd fork over for an alarm.

I typically hate such intrusive and pain in the ass products. They are usually anoying and going off in parking lots and seem to be installed on vehicles that usually don't need them.

While I'm not (so far as I know) in a high theft area for bikes, especially sport-tourers, I do live down the road from some mighty fine section-8 appartments, which have resulted in two vehicles getting lifted from my driveway in the last 7 years.

But this seems to be very easy to use since there are no buttons to push, etc right? No remote near by and it's armed.

I kind of like that, until you lose it.

 

[bramfrank]

You are right. Absolutely no buttons. All you need is the transponder.

I even managed to lose my remote - and that was one of the main points - that there is a way to do an emergency bypass of the alarm.

With alarms like the Scorpio you keep your keys and alarm control together. Lose your keys and your bike is gone. Lose the remote and you are waiting for a tow truck to carry your bike away - or you can just cut the backup battery to defeat the alarm to drag it off in a pickup truck or you can just unplug the wiring harness and ride away.

 

[yamahlr]

As some of you know, my L.E. background is in vehicle theft. I'm looking at a new product that will be in most of the new product sections of upcoming mags for Dec and Jan called Cycle Protect. Take a look. Uses r.f. to call you cell phone 24 hours within 1 minute if the bike has been moved 2 feet. Then allows you to track the bike if it's been stolen via gps mapping and will still transmit if main battery wire is cut. I hope to do real world testing in the future.

 

[bramfrank]

As some of you know, my L.E. background is in vehicle theft. I'm looking at a new product that will be in most of the new product sections of upcoming mags for Dec and Jan called Cycle Protect. Take a look. Uses r.f. to call you cell phone 24 hours within 1 minute if the bike has been moved 2 feet. Then allows you to track the bike if it's been stolen via gps mapping and will still transmit if main battery wire is cut. I hope to do real world testing in the future.

I suspect that no one here knows what I do yet. But my background in property protection and data communications and RF gives me a bit of experience that can be applied to analysing a product like that of Cycle Protect. I suspect that the reviews will all be glowing - then again, the reviewers often are blinded by the technology because they see the positives and don't understand the weaknesses.

My particular specialty happens to be wide-area wireless data communications and AVL networks. I've also owned an alarm company for the past 32 years (started out as my main business, but is now relegated to being a sideline after selling it three times and having a large percentage of our clients slowly migrate back to us each time).

If you want to get into vehicle tracking feel free - there are many dozens of providers out there and most, such as Technocom, Vigil, AirIQ and others can provide the hardware and the notification and web tracking apps. Unfortunately, GPS doesn't have 2 foot resolution - in fact a rail project I'm delivering in West Australia has to use buried transponder tags to determine which of two parallel tracks (separated by about 15-20 feet) a train is on because they can't get the resolution they need autonomously - and heaven help them if an unmanned 3 kilometer long ore train is on the wrong track.

GPS doesn't work all that well if the antenna is hidden, nor in the skyscraper canyons of urban centers or if the machine doesn't have a sky view (as in sitting in the back of a 5 ton truck, in a garage or in a container) - and a device with a cell phone will need a subscription, so you're looking at monthly operating fees.

Cellular coverage isn't ubiquitous, so if you are travelling and are out of range of the network, forget it.

There's a reason that vehicles stolen by professionals aren't often recovered even if they have sophisticated alarm systems. I strongly believe that if a pro has targeted your property, then you'd better have your insurance paid up.

However, a siren/pager combination is probably your best value for protection against a spur of the moment theft or from a simple joy rider or to reduce the damage that a vandal can inflict.

I visited the Cycle Protect web site - unfortunately they seem to be unable to spell, but your information is not 100% accurate.

According to their blurb, 'the Liberator' will call in for movement outside a 100 foot (minimum) circle or when the unit is moving faster than 2 mph. Well, 100 feet is more than enough to move a bike out of sight and 2 mph is just about how fast you'd push a bike if you pushed it quickly. The device isn't an alarm, it is a tracking system with a couple of sensor inputs. It doesn't have a siren. It doesn't kill the ignition. So you may be able to figure out where they loaded it into the truck or pulled it from the vehicle and threw it away. It also sucks enough power to drain your battery - no different than a Lojack, which is why they sell battery tenders too.

I find it interesting that these guys have lots of text about how vulnerable our machines may be, but not a single article about how their devices helped with the recovery process. One of their issues was that the owners had a bike stolen at Daytona - and he was only offered Blue Book pricing in compensation - which makes a good case for 'replacement cost insurance', rather than a tracking system. I had replacement cost coverage on my '03 Concours (served me well after my head-on in October 2005 wrecked that bike) - I also have it for the first 3 years on my '06 FJR. By then I'll have another bike. Costs me about $30 a year.

And the Liberator is $595 plus a minimum of $18.95 per MONTH!! And you'd better not send more than 100 reports in a month or it gets more expensive.

 

[yamahlr]

You certainly have some impressive business ventures to your credit, however I might suggest some realworld experience before proffering an opinion on "professional" thieves who target motor vehicles. In fact, more vehicles are statistically recovered than not. Additionally, most "professionally thieves" are far from that, since they routinely sell the vehicles they have stolen for a mere fraction of the actual value. You also neglect to speak to the issue of owner involved theft schemes which are one of the most prevalent factors which hamper vehicle theft investigations in our society. That is coupled with a number of high line imports that deliver their vehicles with a valet key on the owners manual folder. Thus the increase in vehicles stolen with a key. Additionally, I led an investigation this year which landed a career "professional" thief in prison for 7 years and led to the recovery of over $250,000 worth of vehicles that had been part of a retitle / retag operation. Finally, given the overwhelming number of alarm sirens in our urban areas, few people pay attention to them. In fact in one case we had, the thief pulled it out and left the siren component with wires attached in the now vacant parking space which had been previously occupied by the car he was now driving.

You may want to familiarize yourself with protecting your vehicle in layers of protection, rather than one system.

 

[bramfrank]

Agreed - and Canadian and Euro bikes have immobilisers in them as standard. So the the alarm provides a layer of protection beyond that of the basic key/transponder.

Alarms *are* often ignored, which is why this system has the pager built in - this way the one person who is supposed to care will be notified that his machine is being tampered with.

And, because the alarm is internally powered, ripping it off the machine (always remembering that our FJRs would have it buried under the body plastic) would still leave you with a howling box.

Obviously, if someone tries to engineer his own machine's disappearance, it is all moot.

My point was, however that there isn't much point to spending double the money for a vehicle tracking system (plus 20 or more dollars per month) of dubious benefit (because it doesn;t have an immobiliser or a siren and has limited tracking capabilities) when a pro will not be deterred. But an alarm will put off many of the amateurs out there, the owener will be informed should his machine be tampered with.

 

[mdisher]

My experiences have been this:

1993 Honda Accord Wagon stolen from my driveway. Car recovered 3 days later 1/2 mile down the road in the conservency, where these 'professionals' tried to drive it into the river and it got hung up on the bank and didn't make it in.

Inside the car these 'professionals' left:

- My Valentine 1 still attached to the windsheild

- My golf clubs (worth about $1200 retail)

- an antique round table lazy susan thing from my grand mother that was worth more to me than the car as she had just passed.

- Everything in the car was as I left it for the most part. Nothing, not even tools of mine were taken.

Oh, they also left all the tools they had used to break in and steal the car, in the passenger floor board. Go figure.

No viable prints were found, and it was slightly wrecked but not beyond repair. However, the tow truck company proceded to total it getting it off the embankment.

Two years later (there abouts), a 1991 Nissan pickup with 50k original miles was removed from my property. Police say a vehicle fitting it's description and tag were used in multiple robberies that evening. It has never been recovered.

This little gem was our 'farm' truck. Neither of these vehicles to me would make anyone's top 100 list of cars to lift. But you never know.

The fact that is has never been recovered at all to me is amazing.

----

My grandparents had a 30 foot travel trailer and a mid 70's Ford LTD station wagon stolen too when I was a kid. They were packed and ready for a 2 week long trip out west. Or almost. They were leaving that weekend. The Friday night before, they woke up and both items were gone. The crooks hooked up the trailer and took off.

Both vehicles were eventually recovered 9 months later out west abandoned.

We have dogs, they had a dog, one of those yippy little bastards that never stops barking when people are around but it didn't make a peep that night.

Go figure.

Insurance is a wonderful thing.

-MD

 

[ock913]

You both have valid points and the debate on which system is better could go on forever. It all comes down to the owners wallet and how much he wants to spend. If you wana spend the big bucks, then get a system that combines it all, siren, engine disable, GPS tracking, etc.... Adjust downward as your budget allows.

However, as a 20 year LEO myself, I have been involved countless vehicle and bike thefts. I have also been directly involved in LoJack for the last 8 years. I have the latest in LoJack tracking equipment in my "work" vehicle and can give both positive and negative opinions to that system.

My FJR has a Scorpio system so that if someone tried to steal it, it will make noise and hopefully I will be close enough to get to them. Thats my reason...... I want to catch them. However, if they get it, then GPS or LoJack tracking is a huge tool for recovery. They may enter a garage or go in a tunnel or travel to mountain range in a remote area, but the fact is that tracking IS effective in real world, day in day out type thefts.

Me personally, I have replacement coverage on my insurance. If someone gets it then they either busted the steering lock and/or thru it in the back of a truck. They have abused it and I would rather buy a new one.

Just my .02

 

[bramfrank]

It isn't a debate - obviously the more, the better. But the Cycle Protect product is seriously lacking - it appears to be a simple, comventional tracking service being promoted as a protective device.

But the suggested alternative doesn't have any dissuasion features - no siren, no disabler and it comes with a high cost to purchase and to operate, not to mention it kills the vehicle's battery in relatively short order.

Tracking DOES aid in recovery. I already said that I have replacement cost insurance - and if someone grabs my ride I can honestly say I don't want to get it back - if it happens give me $$$ and let me get a new machine (maybe not even another FJR). So that's just another strike against the tracking systems in my opinion.

This reminds me of the age old disucssions about whether to put alarm company signage when you have a system installed in your home. Yes, it can be assumed that a large percentage of homes has an alarm. But does the sticker attract an attempt or turn the potential thief away?

The kids will be turned away. The pros will cut the phone line and break in.

I prefer to leave the signs off and to properly protect the premises with both perimeter and interior coverage. Installing a wireless backup link to the monitoring station and a couple of very loud sirens both inside and outside the home adds to the overall level of protection.

Oh, and one word to the wise - a residential alarm is like advice - it's only worth what you paid for it.