Parking on the street

[spillsoup]

I have a couple questions about parking my bike on the street. Up until now, I have kept my Speed Triple in either a garage or shed, but over the winter I moved to downtown Philadelphia. I have decided I want to take my Triumph downtown as well so I can ride as much as possible. During winter months, I will put the bike back into storage.

My neighborhood is safe and full of motorcycles parked on the sidewalk. Within 4-5 blocks are a Triumph 955i Tiger, two Bonnevilles, a Ducati Monster, a BMW cruiser, a half dozen Vespas, and a couple other bikes, so I feel that I can be careful and hopefully avoid theft.

I have budgeted about $400 to outfit the bike for its new life on the streets.

I found a decent chain, the OnGuard Beast 5016L Bicycle Chain Lock (5 ft long, $100)

I'm also considering getting some kind of vibration-sensing alarm, which seem to cost about $100, but require some wiring. There's also a Dowco alarm for about $20. Any advice on alarms would be appreciated.

Finally, I am shopping around for covers for the bike. Most of the advice on these forums is "get a cover," but little in the way of reviews from users.

Has anyone had a positive experience with a particular cover? Is there anything I should avoid? My instinct is to get the most expensive cover I can afford, but is it worth it?

Many thanks!

[JohnD]

If you google, "Motorcycle Cover Reviews", you will find some good information such as:

http://www.superstreetbike.com/hotpr...ews/index.html

http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/acc...ers/index.html


Personally, I garage my bike and use a KwiKover from Laminarlip when on trips with my Kawasaki Concours 14. It is not meant as a full-time cover, but I like how it folds into a very small bag that is always attached to the seat.

http://www.laminarlip.com/

So I don't have experience with a larger cover, but if I was to buy one I would favor the Tour Master brand. They seem to sell good, practical, and price-competitive products. I use their raingear pull-over top and bottom for touring in the rain.

[KitNYC]

I stopped locking my bike when I forgot abut the chain around the front wheel one morning...

A homeless person will steal your cover unless you get one with locking grommets.

A homeless person with a knife will steal your cover with locking grommets.

Before your cover is stolen, it will act as a sail in a windy storm and pull your bike over.

(That Laminar Lip Kwikover actually looks good to me. Big enough to keep hot sun and nasty bird poop off the seat, but not big enough to be very useful as a blanket or a tent, or to act as a wind-catcher.)

A vibration-sensing alarm will go off when trucks go by. It will also go off when your bike gets knocked over. The alarm going off will do nothing to prevent the bike from falling over.

Any alarm with an ignition cutout will inevitably fail due to moisture, dead battery, etc., at the most inconvenient possible time.

In Brooklyn, parking on the sidewalk is a $115 fine. You might want to ask some of those other bikers what enforcement is like where you are.

Professional thieves know not to steal our bikes- resale value is way too low.

Cheers,
-Kit

[Flying Custard]

For years my bikes lived on the street in London, always covered. I liked the proper material, non-plastic ones, because they would get grotted up pretty soon... a dirty worn cover maybe a bit less likely to attract attention than a shiney plush one. Leastways I never had one nicked but neighbours did.
Used to sit kerbside under the cover in snow & rain to work on them too, po'boys garage Thankfully those days are past...

[Lion_Shaver]

Originally Posted by KitNYC

I stopped locking my bike when I forgot abut the chain around the front wheel one morning...

A homeless person will steal your cover unless you get one with locking grommets.

A homeless person with a knife will steal your cover with locking grommets.

Before your cover is stolen, it will act as a sail in a windy storm and pull your bike over.

(That Laminar Lip Kwikover actually looks good to me. Big enough to keep hot sun and nasty bird poop off the seat, but not big enough to be very useful as a blanket or a tent, or to act as a wind-catcher.)

A vibration-sensing alarm will go off when trucks go by. It will also go off when your bike gets knocked over. The alarm going off will do nothing to prevent the bike from falling over.

Any alarm with an ignition cutout will inevitably fail due to moisture, dead battery, etc., at the most inconvenient possible time.

In Brooklyn, parking on the sidewalk is a $115 fine. You might want to ask some of those other bikers what enforcement is like where you are.

Professional thieves know not to steal our bikes- resale value is way too low.

Cheers,
-Kit

lmfao!! Not a big fan of covers then?

[KitNYC]

Let's just say they've not done me a lot of good!

Cheers,
-Kit