Parking overnight in central London streets?

Question

How safe to leave a new £2.5k scooter regularly (on street) overnight in central London? Any areas worse than others. Any tips. Has an alarm but not steering lock.

Answer 1

Erm depends on your area, id suggest putting chains on the wheels as they are alot harder to remove than on bicycles.  

Answer 2

You'd have to be mad unless you use a huge chain & lock it through both wheels & the frame to something very solid, like a car or lamp post.

Answer 3

your local police dept would have stats on stolen motorcycles, they sell short range alarms (on key chain fobs, will beep if someone tampers with your bike) and other types of locks that will help prevent a stolen bike.

Answer 4

Some areas are definitely worse than others. Park it near something solid, in a well-lit, public area, that you can wrap a chain round and attach your scooter to, best to use a part of the frame rather than a wheel, but a wheel will do at a pinch. If you can get a Thatcham-approved chain it will reduce your insurance bill.

http://www.thatcham.org/security/index.j...

http://www.elitesecuritysupplies.com/com...

Cover it with a rainproof cover, not just to keep the rain off, but to make it more difficult for a potential thief to see it. Steering locks are almost totally ineffective so be grateful yours doesn't have one. Since you cannot totally prevent theft the idea is to make it as unattractive to a thief as possible.

Answer 5

I would say it is very unsafe.

A 50cc scooter is very light and is very easy for someone to bundle into the back of a lorry.

There was a very good article on it on last month's issue of ride. Basically they found that most of the bikes on the market can be stolen easily.

Get the heaviest chain and padlock you can, make sure it wrapped around the front wheel and front forks and is secured to something substantial. And make sure the padlock is not lying on the ground as it is more vulnerable to being hit with a hammer.

Things like brake locks are fine, but don't use them on their own. One favourite trick is to take some scaffolding posts, stick them through the wheels and carry the bike into a waiting van.

If you make it hard for thieves then they will move onto an easier target so the more substantial your security, the less likely it is for a thief to try and crack it. Most bikes have little or no security so they know they can find easier targets

Answer 6

It really depends on the scooter and the exact location you park it. Most scooters come with steering locks as standard but they shouldn't be solely relied upon as they are fairly easy to compromise. Always put a good lock on the bike and lock it to an unmovable object if possible (some motorcycle bays now have railings so you can lock your bike to them). You've already got an alarm which is a great deterrent! If it's a popular scooter like a Vespa ET4/LX then you should be okay as there are loads of them around so I doubt a thief would bother trying to steal yours if it has an alarm and lock, when he/she could find one up the road with no alarm (and maybe even no lock).