You can bolt, lock, chain and alarm your motorcycle to a faretheewell, you can tie rabid pit bulls to it, even booby trap it with poisonous vipers, but it won't make any difference. The cold, harsh truth is that if thieves really want your bike, they're gonna get it.
LoJack, however, offers an encouraging alternative to conventional (and unconventional) theft protection. The 21-year-old Massachusetts firm has made its name in vehicle recovery for cars and construction equipment, and recently extended its offerings to cover motorcycles. The company operates in 26 states (the most populated, naturally), and once you pay the one-time $595 fee, a bonded technician installs the LoJack transceiver somewhere on your bike. "It's very small and looks like an OEM part," said Ted Saraf, a LoJack law-enforcement liaison. Once triggered, it broadcasts on FM frequency, which can reach through buildings or dense foliage, unlike AM or GPS signals, and has an average range of 3 to 5 miles. If your bike gets stolen, you just need to file a police report.
When the police enter your bike's make, model and VIN number into the National Crime Information Center's Stolen Vehicle System, a LoJack computer picks up that information and automatically sends out a command to your bike's transceiver to activate. (LoJack is the only company so far that partners with police agencies, and also provides all of the necessary infrastructure, including training, receivers for police ground vehicles and aircraft, and transmitting towers.) With that, your bike's little transceiver swings into action, transmitting a unique five-digit signal equivalent to, "Help! Send the cavalry!" Then, when the closest police vehicle receiver gets a hit-that is, receives your bike's signal-the officers can track it directly to its location.
LoJack gave us a demonstration of the in-car police tracking system, and to say it's impressive is an understatement of huge proportion. The receiver has a readable display larger than that on a typical car stereo, and shows a compass, the five-digit number, a 20-segment signal-strength bar graph and 1 to 25 numerical readout of signal strength, to go along with an audible tone that gets louder and more frequent as you get closer. It's similar to the children's game of, "Warmer, warmer...colder...burning hot!" "A child could use it," Saraf says of the system, and he's right. It could hardly be easier.
The question, of course: Is LoJack's system worth it? Ultimately, you'll have to make that decision. But perhaps a couple of numbers can help. According to LoJack, a motorcycle is stolen every 7.5 minutes in the U.S., and bike theft has skyrocketed, up 135 percent from 2000 to 2005. Yet as Saraf told us, "Nation-wide, LoJack's recovery rate is more than 90 percent." His associate Tim Whisenhunt added that in the Los Angeles area, before LoJack came into the picture, "Bike recovery was 10 to 15 percent."
If you're still equivocating, you need to ask yourself this: How are you going to feed those pit bulls? And will you remember where you hid those vipers this time?
LoJack Recovery Program
Price: $595
Contact: LoJack Corp.
200 Lowder Brook Dr. #1000
Westwood, MA 02090
800.456.5225
www.lojack.com
Verdict
The best chance of recovering your motor-cycle. If you've ever had a bike stolen, you know what that's worth.
By Charles Everitt
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