It’s the middle of the night, dark and late – a lone figure silently approaches an apartment’s parking lot. Inside is a recently purchased Triumph Daytona 675 which doesn’t have any extra security chains or locks on it – a particularly easy target. The man first checks if the coast is clear and then immediately takes out some tools and starts to cut into the ignition and rip into the seat. This is a nightmare situation for any bike owner, a precious defenseless motorcycle about to disappear into the night forever with a thief.
For Rob of Saint Louis, Missouri this nightmare was very real and could have ended badly had he not hidden a Monimoto GPS tracking system on his bike.
“My Monimoto gave me a phone call and my app said it detected movement. When I got the notification, I opened my window to see if my bike was there, and it wasn’t. The app showed my motorcycle a little ways down the street so I put on shoes thinking it was being towed or something. I see it at the bottom of the hill with its lights on and a guy standing next to it with some tools. I called 911 at that point and the police showed up but the man jumped in a car and drove away when they saw the lights.”
Thankfully the police were able to respond quickly and scare the thief away before he could have the chance to hotwire the motorcycle and escape. Within 30 minutes the motorcycle was back in Rob’s hands, safe and sound inside his apartment.
Rob was able to receive the alarm call from the tracker and notifications on his phone even at 1am. If you have a new Monimoto tracker make sure to test out the alarm and check it’s able to get through to you. Every phone has different Silent/Do Not Disturb settings which could block calls and notifications.
After helping Rob get the bike back into his apartment the police needed some help identifying the thief:
“The police recovered the man’s tools and showed me photos asking if he looked like the individual, which he did. I believe they found the individual and charged him with grand theft, as the motorcycle was technically stolen property at that point. Unfortunately cables were cut and the ignition jammed, though without the Monimoto I would have lost the motorcycle forever, it saved my $10,000 bike I had just bought.”
Even if a thief attempts to cut cables inside the vehicle to disable trackers the Monimoto will still work as it is completely autonomous and powered by its own battery. This also means it can be hidden more easily in different locations on a vehicle which arouse less suspicion from thieves.
It was particularly lucky in this case Rob had installed the Monimoto as he explained there was no other security on the bike. “The steering lock was already broken from the previous owner. The Monimoto is 100% the reason my motorcycle was recovered.”
As always in motorcycle theft prevention it’s important to have multiple layers of security – disc locks, chains, steering locks, immobilizers, and trackers are all important devices which help prevent theft, and even then it’s not 100% guaranteed protection with today’s thieves becoming increasingly aggressive and tech savvy.
In Rob’s case the Monimoto was there as his only line of defense and worked as intended, alerting him to the unusual movement on his vehicle by calling him and sending notifications with locations. With a quick reaction from Rob and a speedy response from the Police his new Triumph motorcycle was saved, and the thief was even caught! A satisfying end with justice being served and stopping the thief from stealing other bikes in the future!
Wondering how YOU can protect your bike?
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