A bit of a tale of woe with this question.

Two months ago I sold the ever dependable silverwing 600 and bought a Kawasaki J300. Yesterday on my first visit to work (Stratford) since lockdown, it was stolen; from nice covered motorcyle bay with security walking around the area. Now the silverwing had been parked in the same place for 2 years (prior to COVID) without event.

Secuity saw the bike being stolen but chose not to, or could not intervene (which I don't blame them for, these guys usually come armed with hammers and its not worth someone getting their head bashed in). I know the silverwing had HISS, but I never even though went I bought the bike about whether the J300 had an immobiliser, I just assumed all modern bikes did.

I can't seem to find anything on the net, so wondered if anyone knew? I can't think how the thieves managed to ride the bike straight off, the U lock I understand can be cut straight through with an angle grinder, steering lock broken by twisting the bars; but the immobiliser (if it has one) ; can they be by-passed so quickly?

If they can go off with bikes this simply, might have to revert back to the train; with ULEZ now you need a reasonably young bike, so an old banger that has less theft appeal not much of an option.

Billy

Just looking at the handbook for mine......

Can't see any mention of an immobiliser, but it does have a "security shutter" you can close over the top of the ignition switch. i have used this occasionally but I have no idea how resistant to a determined effort it would be....

If I leave mine in a city centre (rarely!) I put a disc lock on the rear wheel, that might be slightly harder to defeat than a U lock.

But you can never protect against determined theft if nobody intervenes to stop them......

Pretty sure my one did. But the easiest way to take a bike is just to literally lift it and chuck into a Transit. Strip it for parts, never seen again...

Yes, it has an immobiliser. All bikes have them these days.

Ah ok, the thing that made me think, is that you see H.I.S.S on the silverwing and it has a big key fob (presumably with a chip in it ) but no K.I.S.S visible on the kawasaki and the key is much smaller/skinnier. However the kawasaki was 10yrs younger.

So if an immobiliser can't stop them riding off think will have to abandon the idea of riding a bike into work.

It depends on the attractiveness of each particular scoot to scrotes....little scoots are attractive to kids, big hefty scoots or big bikes aren't so attractive are they seem to big and heavy for yoof.....as you've seen, your Silverwing was unmolested for years!

It should be similar to my Kymco 300i in which case it would not have an electronic immobiliser. As far as I remember there wasn't even a deterrent in the form of a blinking red LED on the dash. If I was commuting I would be inclined to fit a hidden isolator switch at the least, but arguably that wouldn't stop the damage. If only there were enough police patrols less than 5 minutes away in the city that would be the best deterrent of all.

as @StephenC said, they lift and take it.

I saw a security cam footage. they come around a corner, bike is there, they come with a van, slide the door open, lift the front and the other pushing in the back and boom done 5-10 seconds at most. things to deter is to lock to some pole.

you can also get a nice alarm that has a 2 way beeper ( spy 5000 alarm) for around $60. or maybe a cheap tracking unit. if they dont already do fast surgery to search and find one.

I owned a 2019 J300, def no immobiliser, just a steering lock.

That's very interesting Peter. Are you sure? Just about every bike or scooter over 125cc has them now and it could even be a requirement under UK and EU type approval laws. I've not seen any bike over the last 5 years that doesn't have one. However, I confess I've been out of mainstream techy stuff for a while now and I've not looked at a 2019 J300. I find it surprising that it doesn't have one. Interesting though.