What is the best MC alarm for my V11 Le Mans?

[Emil Jensen]

First off, sorry if this question has been posted before (as I could imagine it has been) – but I could not find anything on MC alarm on this forum, so here goes:

 

I would like to buy an alarm for my 2002 Moto Guzzi V11 Le Mans, but I have no clue what to look for! Therefore, what are your experiences out there? Is the GPS tracker alarms any good and is a motion sensor a must have?

 

 

Also, what is the battery drain when you fit an alarm on the bike? I'm going to buy a new battery for my Guzzi anyway, so I might as well just buy one whit a lot of Ah.

[vuzzi]

All I know is what NOT to use, and what to take into account. I have a data tool 3 alarm, and it drains the battery in two weeks.

 

Also, it cannot be turned off. For maintenance (work on the starter, battery and so on) it can be put in a maintenance mode, which means it gives a 100 db beep every (app.) 15 seconds. I can tell  that's no fun when working on your bike. So look for a alarm that can be turned off all the way.

[pete roper]

Its a Moto Guzzi. Nobody steals Moto Guzzis! How many are there in Denmark? Twelve? Leave the keys in it and a sign on the clocks saying "I dare you!" Any normal thief will shit himself and run away.

 

 

Pete

 

 

PS. One of the big advantages of living where I do is that we rarely lock anything. I couldn't find the keys to my Aprilia yesterday. Two hours later I found the spare, went out and found the *Real* key in the bike. It had been there for five days! nobody steals 'Prillas' either..... Might be different if it was a TV-4 but probably not!

 

Pete

[Admin Jaap]

Many times an alarm system is required for insurance purposes.

[pete roper]

Really? What a weird, buggered up world we live in!

 

Pete

[PDoz]

No Pete, THEY live in. Touch wood....

[Emil Jensen]

Battery life is my concern as well! Any one have any opinion on Scorpio or SpyBall alarms? They seem pretty good - but they are really expensive - so if any one out there have some experience with Scorpio or SpyBall alarms that would be great :-)

[Skeeve]

No experience yay or nay, but am convinced the only useful bike alarm is one of the silent ones that sends an alert to your cell phone to let you know that someone's jacking your ride. Even if you spend most of your time running out to tell little kids to get off your bike, it'll at least save you from the nuisance lawsuit their parent files when they knock the bike over on themselves.

 

Other than that, the Lo-Jack style of homing beacon that the police can use to find your bike after some thief has carted it off to the chop-shop is the only useful style of "alarm" I would consider...

[Beuphonium]

Sorry to revive an old thread!

 

My MC alarm story goes like this:

 

I had installed a Scorpio alarm as it shaved a few dollars off my insurance premium as I lived at the time in an area where motorcycle theft was a very common occurance. The alarm apparently did have a feature in that it would disable itself if left armed for a certain amount of time so it would not discharge the battery too deeply.

 

The issue I had with mine was the key fob / remote. I attended an event at a very public venue (large shopping mall, plenty of people around) parked the bike, armed the alarm, and entered the mall for around two hours.

 

When I returned, I found the fob/remote display screen flashing... it had somehow lost sync with the alarm unit. As such, I was unable to disarm the alarm. I ended up uninstalling the alarm system in the parking lot with the siren going off, which was really quite an experience, but worth doing as I did have to get home that evening. Nobody seemed to notice that there was an alarm going off either, that or no one cared. The mall security drove by without a second thought. Once the alarm unit was removed from the bike's circuitry the siren continued to run on an internal battery for probably another 15-20 minutes. I ended up wrapping it in an extra shirt to try and quiet it down and stuffed the shirt in the saddle bag as I drove home. Nothing else I could have done short of smashing it but I wasn't about to destroy an expensive unit.

 

I still have the alarm unit, and the bike is still wired for it. I've tried hooking it back up and re-coding the remote/fob to the alarm, after about an hour or so the remote "forgets" what it's doing and I'm back at square one. It's a little more than $100 to replace the remote.

 

If you desire theft protection for the bike, about the best advice I can give is to make your bike more of a pain in the rear to steal than the next guy's. An audible alarm can in some instances serve that purpose; the proximity beep on mine certainly did. Then again, the alarm won't stop the bike from being wheeled into the back of a box truck. A disc or cable lock will provide better physical protection and not effect battery life whatsoever. The sad reality is that none of those options can completely prevent a possible theft.

 

As mentioned above, I was afforded some protection in that Moto Guzzi wasn't exactly common. For a would-be thief, ripping it off had considerably higher risks associated with it as it would be relatively difficult to move either the whole bike or the parts from it.

 

Here's to all of us never needing to worry about any of this!  

[Trevini]

All alarms are a waste of time and money.  At best, a breakdown waiting to happen.  I used to work in breakdown/recovery and other than flat batteries and tyre changes the most common reason for a call out was after market alarm/immobiliser malfunctions.  Better to spend the cash on physical security.  You can still get an insurance discount if you get the right ones and on the plus side, you'll have something to hit the thief with if you catch them in the act  - throwing an alarm fob won't do much! (other means of apprehending thieves are available). 

[AndyH]

With you there Trevini:

I had an alarm/immobiliser on my Ducati Monster. Nothing but trouble and several repair/replacements over 5 or 6 years (mainly beyond the warranty period of course). When I asked how much to remove the damn thing: same price as replacing the faulty board! Overall it cost me much much more than the saving I made on the insurance.

 

I was so glad when the V11 came along without an alarm fitted.

 

Doesn't take much to immobilise itself anyway...

[rayb24]

In some jurisdictions you can't get Fire and Theft unless you put an alarm on the bike. I've had that argument many times with ins co. Biggest waste of money too. Lets face it unless its outside your house, anyone who knows a little about bikes can immobilise an alarm. Yes it might go off, but from the sounds of it if you look like you're supposed to be with the bike. People ignore it thinking there goes another guy with a defective alarm.

 

Just my two cents

[gstallons]

You might have to have an alarm on the bike, but that doesn't mean it has to be connected.

[GuzziMoto]

I would just buy the cheapest one and defeat it. If it were to get stolen the assumption could be made that the thief defeated it.

A lock is more effective then an alarm, but owning a Guzzi is the best theft deterrent.

My favorite alarm story is my buddy with a nice collection of bikes, mostly Ducati's, loves alarms. Many of his Older Ducati's have that stupid suicide side stand that auto retracts. His bike was parked in a motorcycle parking area some time back at Daytona. Their security decided they needed to move the bikes. When they got to his they picked it up off the stand, the stand retracted and the alarm went off. They immediately let go of the bike, and it of course fell. Hundreds of dollars worth of damage, at least in part, due to the alarm. WOuld they have dropped the bike with out it? Possibly, but likely not.

I had an alarm on one of my bikes a long time ago, it was useless. Parking it in secure places like garages, using large locks, owning Guzzi's, all work better then an alarm. And none of those options will leave you stranded ( well, other then owning a Guzzi) like an alarm can.

[fotoguzzi]

a Pit Bull on a long chain?