Modern Vespa

Hi,

I have been reading the forum intently and through the archives about how to secure my new bike (I say new but it is just new to me) it is an ET4 the problem I have come across is I know i need a heavy duty chain but when i have called bike and scooter shops they all say that vespas are really hard to secure because of the placing of the exhaust at the back and how small the space is on the front tyre to get a chain through. Could anyone recommend a place to get one from that will fit and be secure i travel in to London and where i live there are a number of vespas on the street not attached to anything just with the chains through the wheels however none seem branded so i have no idea which ones actually fit.

I wont be able to have it on my property at night but if the chain is a decent length as then i will be able to attach it to a solid concrete post/lamppost.

My worry is when i am at work there is a motorcycle bay just around the corner but everyone i have spoken to tells me horror stories about people lifting your bike up to put it out of the bay in order to fit theirs in!!!!

Have any of you Londoners found this happening and if so do you know of better places to park? I work near Old Street tube station and there is one guy who parks his vespa in the estate near my work but i couldn't dream of taking this risk however there is another guy with a motorbike who parks his on the pavement outside our office - is this legal or will my bike get a ticket or worse?? I do have a none branded cover for it which will be going on every time i park but i don't know if i need a front lock and back lock and if so which kind and where from.

I am sorry for the long thread as you can tell i am new and just want to get the best information so that i have the best chance of not getting my new baby stolen.

Many many thanks to any of you who take the time to read this.

Eryn

Live in the states so can't help you. But did want to say how pretty your scooter is. Love it.

Hi Eryn, it's a very important and valid worry you got there.
Been discussed a few times here and us londoners suffer the most out of the lot on this I have found!!!

On your questions:
- OXFORD Heavy Duty Chain fits the back wheel of an ET, I have one and it fits. You get the hang of it, you spin the wheel to expose the hole and it's fine. Buy them online as they're so much cheaper than shops! I got mine on eBay but there's shops on amazon.co.uk that do them too!
- Motorcycle Parking bays: yep, all these things happen. If someone parks a motorbike on the pavement from your office building find out who it is and talk to him. It is a very shady area but worth the finding out. I park on the pavement of my office and so do other 5 bikes. We have done for a while, but one day a &%$£ parking officer ticketed us all. Big malaki. 3 out of us 5 got let off and me and another ET owner are still appealing against it. We'll win though because on the estate plan it clearly shows that bit of pavement belongs to us and they already let the others off, hence we can do what we like there. It's just important to not let any bit of your wheel go over the actual pavement,that's enough of an offense.
- If your co-worker with the bike parks there and has never been ticketed you're alright. However I'd recommend you and this guy talk to the Estates manager in your company and agree to put up a sign on the pavement bit you use saying "private property", because the arguement of City of Westminster was that "even though that is our property, we have not 'stated clear intent of using the land'" (such bullsh&t!!!! I know!!) and hence they ticketed us out of fun. Though as I said, if this guy parks there fine then you'll be too, so long as both your wheels are within the line of your building..

I say all this because bays really are a pain. I park in bays in Central London but during peak hours where all people that work in the area park there to go to work it gets very crowded. And sometimes they do move it or just park so close to one another you can't even get out without moving a bike, or they get scratched. I find people move it carefully and gently though, there's a spirit of "community" there, I have moved bikes myself when they've been badly distributed but never dropped them or anything and am very careful with them. In twos you can easily move it nicely and no one gets hurt. Even so, I don't want my bike being moved.. Still not horror stories, just what you'd expect really. That's another good thing about not having a pristine bike in London

But bays are a safe bet that you won't get a ticket. Just be careful if you park at the end of the bay as this is the easiest spot to move out of the bay. No one will move your bike all the way from the middle out on the street!!!

So really, finding out about parking at your office pavement is so worth it. You're guaranteed to have a spot when you get to work and you benefit from the security of cameras (normally around office buildings) so chavs leave it alone, people moving it or scratching etc... so worth it.
It's ok to use bays when you go shopping or run an errant, but I'd hate to have to use them everyday. This is an important decision to me when jobs come up in companies I'd have to park on bays!! LOL seriously!

And yes, always lock your wheel as normal and put the chain on the back wheel. Absolutely everytime. They can so easily steal scooters without chains on. Here's another classic thread on this... ET4 attempted theft - assesing the damage all of us have heard the stories. Always when you neglect it and don't put a chain/lock on. I don't cover during the day when I'm out but I do over night, especially on Friday nights (official chav night out for stealing)

At home (don't know where you live but I'm sure it applies) make sure you get the long chain from Oxford and chain it to something.
This will avoid professionals lifting the scooter and putting it in a van to deal with the chain elsewhere. This way if they want to take it they'd have to deal with the chain right there and then and this attracts too much attention so they'll go for an easier target.
If you can park off-street, do all these things all the same.
Here's a thread I started when someone tried to nick my bf's bike from our front garden...
SECURITY - locks, chains, anchors, immobilisers...
There's pictures of the lock I mentioned and we also got the Brute Force Ground anchor there.

Don't be depressed by it though! It's the best thing to own to go about in London and this is just a quirk that you get used to it, just the same as helmets and all the rest of it. You'll make friends in bays too and get talking to people, other people at your work will get bikes too you'll see! The scooter community is a nice bunch, no one to be feared!!

Good luck and keep us posted of what you end up with!!

ps: your Belle is LOVELY!!! I love the chrome mirrors, are they painted on plastic? I really want chrome but don't like the small round ones!

I have to ask.....

I would love to see a picture of one of these parking bays you are talking about.

Wow, long replies there.

Just to chip in, in the Old Street area (where I am and have been for a few years and move to Cowper Street just by the roundabout in a few weeks) you can normally park on the pavement. This does depend on which borough you are in. Islington is quite relaxed about it so long as you are on some pavement lights or similar and do not obstruct. If you are in the City of London then I suspect it is a bit no no.

Certainly no need to cover the bike during the day either. I just use a grip lock which is much easier than a full chain.

Charles.

when i first started taking my scooters downtown, i dragged an enormous length of heavy chain with me and spent a lot of time fruitlessly searching for something to secure it to. i don't bother any more - i lock the steering, and put a disc lock on the front wheel. soooo much simpler - and it deters opportunist thieves, which is really all you can do. if somebody has taken the trouble to bring a van to load your scooter onto, then they'll likely have a pair of bolt cutters with them - if thieves really want your scooter they will get it.

at home, it's another matter. both scooters live in the front garden, and i secure them with a bloody great chain around their waists - i hate piddling about with the back wheel, especially in the dark near a hot exhaust.

Erin

Don't know about the ET4 but on the GTS there is a metal ring under the scooter that is for securing chains etc might be worth just having a look, it's on th opposite side to the stand

the ETs have that metal loop too - it's just that bit too small to get most standard locks and chains through. a cable might work, but the links on the oxford chains are too wide to go through, and i've never had any luck getting a padlock in there either. you'd have to try a variety of lock/chain combos to find one that fits. i hope they improved the design on the GTS.

I'll take a snapshot next time i'm in one with my phone for you!!!

WOW, thanks so much to you all, I will be looking into the oxford chain today for using outside my house, i did come across a disc lock which has an alarm and I was wondering if any of you would suggest it, i will be able to park the bike right outside my office (thank you I spoke the guy next door and he said the same as you that if it is over the pavement lightwells it is ok. My office is on the ground floor you can't actually see out to street level unless you go right up to the window but I would be able to hear the alarm if someone did tamper with it.

I did take a look today in the solo bays and most of the ET4's just had D locks through the back, I couldn't even dream of leaving mine like that i'd be sure it would be gone in a flash.

Would most of you agree that it is less likely to be stolen during the day by someone with bolt cutters/van etc than it would be at night?

If so then I think for my peace of mind some sort of disc lock and alarm would make me feel happier if there are ones that fit that is, as there are a lot of kids who walk past on the street our office is on and i am sure they will just try and mess with her

thanks again.

I wouldn't bother with an alarm for that kind of situation, unless you want it for home. That alarm is just going to go off all the time and wear down the battery in the scooter bay. The other locks though, certainly use those.

the Xena disc locks are motion sensitive, so i'd never dream of using one if i was parking up in a bay - you'd just end up pissing people off. if your parking spot is located somewhere where people aren't likely to jostle the scooter by accident, then by all means use the Xena - I don't have one but a mate does and she's very pleased with it. You know, i've got no statistics on this, but i suspect that more thefts/tampering/etc. take place when the scooter is parked up at home than in a busy commercial area. I've never heard of anybody having their scooter nicked from a parking bay during work hours (though i 'm sure it's happened), but I've heard of a lot of people having them nicked or tampered with when they're parked up in their own neighbourhood.

If a thief really wants your scooter I don't think day or night makes much difference - we've caught kids trying to break into our neighbour's top case in broad daylight. i think they count on people being too scared to intervene, and know that they'll be long gone by the time the police arrive (if they turn up at all).

I know it's difficult with a beautiful new scooter but try not to worry too much - make sure you've got good insurance, fit a good lock, and hope for the best!

As the others say, you are really worrying too much. Do what you can and what is convenient and simple. I like the grip lock as a daytime deterent and there is no bending down etc to fit it and also no chance of forgetting it.

I will keep an eye out for the bike though when in the area.

Charles.

yeah I agree that alarm is a pain during the day... I hate it when I'm parking and I barely brushed my gloves by a bike and it goes off like I'm some thief and I just have to stand there looking NOT GUILTY.

If it's by your office and you're on the ground floor there's little chance of anyone going for it... still put a lock on your wheel etc, but you'll be ok.

in bays like others say, as long as you have some sort of lock on your wheel it's as safe as you are going to get.

It's just that where there are 10 scooters, 7 have whatever lock on and 3 don't, they'll pick the nicest one of the 3, IF they go for a busy parking bay in a busy street, which like genie said, I've never heard of them being nicked from there actually!

I just got in the habit of putting the chain on as I find it easier than the disc lock and I can see it so I don't drive off with it still on, but whatever good lock you get will be fine.

in my opinion it is in your neighbourhood that you should watch out for. ANY neighbourhood. I live 6 houses from the Police Station and a kid came into my front garden for our bike like I said.
So at home DO lock it well, lock it onTO SOMETHING, ground anchor, pipe, fence, if you want to be really good cover it every night... as it camouflages it, does not attract as much attention and it's something else for the guy to remove...also protects the paint and the seat from the elements

and maybe the alarm over night can be good, I thought about it as the bikes are by our bedroom window, so if someone touched it and it went off we'd hear.

but I hate alarms, they tend to go off when a leaf blows, or the cat, whatever and annoy everyone. They also drain your battery (unless they are alarmed locks?)

my chain is very noisy as it is and I think it'd wake me up again, when the kid tried for our bike it was not locked in anyway, it was just about connecting the wires and driving it off. hence the opportunist took... the.. opportunity

so there you, you'll be fine!