MOPED ARMY

kryptonite ulocks is the best way to go. only kryptonite will do (ok, others also, but get the best). lock to something solid. if you have to leave it out overnight, and you only have one moped, lock the front wheel to something solid. lock another ulock through the back wheel and part of the frame (this is also a good way to lock up if you run for a few seconds to a corner store).

where can you put your moped? my apartment is very moped friendly. i have a shed out back in the parking lot. i have a key to it (thank you landlord!) and i put my moped in there. i still put a ulock through the back wheel and frame, of course. but it's not visible.

i wouldn't bring a moped into an apartment. it's a huge hassle. and i'm not a big fan of having something w/ lots of flamable materials inside my living space. it's a nice thing to do for wintertime perhaps ... but drain all the fluids first if you bring it indoors.

Hi,WackyJacky! I use a screamin' motion sensor that has a cable built in which detects only if the bike is moved or the cable is separated in any way.If it's accidentally bumped it resets in 30 secs. or so.It's really loud and you can get one at most bike stores.BYE!

Yeah, and if you check back about stolen 'peds...you'll see I posted a list of more estoric protection gadgets...

I would also take Ben's suggestion, but instead of slugs...use rock salt.

It works.

-Ree

Be careful about locking your moped up in a place that is <b>too</b> isolated and private --it just gives thieves a nice secure place to work.

When I'm not locking my moped at home (where it's locked inside a yard with a locked gate), I prefer to lock my moped somewhere where there are lots of people around. No thief is going to take a chance trying to cut the lock if he doesn't know if one of the people nearby is the owner.

Chris.

the best defense is a moped army swarm. tonight, we had the report of a possible stolen moped. someone saw a moped that looked like the moped a friend of ours rides. while seeking for confirmation, about a dozen of us were already swarming the area and zeroed in on ther suspects. it ended up that the moped spotted did not, in fact, belong to our friend (who's not even a moped army member). but we all basically just left a party in less than 5 minutes, were out the door hitting the streets. that's why we have a 98 percent recovery rate of stolen mopeds, usually in the first 24 hrs.

Miguel,

Did you have 50 peds stolen and recover 49, or is this recovery ratio based on only some parts of peds being recovered, or on some partial peds being stolen? :-)

Ron

we've had all but one moped recovered that was stolen from a moped army member. the 98 percent is an estimate, so it's probably like 90 percent? we've had a lot of mopeds stolen. just last week we had two stolen. we recovered the first w/in an hour. the second member bike was recovered by the police. but army members will scour the street to find a moped ... and will knock kids off of a ped if it even looks suspicious.

thanks ron. i knew you were joking. i know it's not 98 percent ... but it's pretty close.

we've developed great tactics for finding thieves. we usually begin w/ a parameter sweep, then move to sector sweeps every half hour. it works really well to cover ground quickly and efficiently.

w/ cell phones, walkie-talkies, and pagers, we can usually assemble at least a dozen people w/in 15-30 mins of a report. then we team up in twos or threes (max) and head out. cars/trucks make the wide sweeps. moped teams run short sector sweeps around specific areas.

another suggestion made by josh dahl ... a veteran ... works well in relatively small areas. small two-person teams of army members walk their mopeds around the sector where a stolen moped was last heard (the sound of them are so unique, after all). we walk and listen. as soon as someone hears a moped ... he/she revs up and rides towards it. then the others do the same. boom! instant swarm converging on a specific point (i.e. the moped thief) from all sides.

Go Texas. WackyJacky, I take it you're around San Anton' ?

Wyn

keep looking, they're there. or look up the odessa, tx branch of the moped army. the thundercats.