Bike Security Cheap, secure Keylock ignition switch

oliverw123, "complex" is exactly what you want when it comes to bicycle security.
I dont know what you ride, or where you live, but bicycle theft is rampant, the police just dont care and are NOT going to look for your bike.
So it falls to each rider to protect his ride, how much money, time and effort went into building your bike?
Dont you think it just MIGHT be wise to at least make stealing your bike more difficult?
3 different kinds of locks say "move on to some thing easier" to a bike thief.
Maybe you ride a cheap bike and YOU don't care if it gets stolen.
But WE do. Don't make it easy for the thieves just because you don't feel like carrying a key.
Its your bike dude.
BBB
I fully agree, I wasn't knocking anybodies method of keeping theire bike secure but it is still a bicycle and can be easily pedaled away with or without a key ignition lock. I may even install one just so that they can't get away any quicker. I also put a lot of effort into my bike and therefore have a 'bond' with it which transcends that of my normal bicycle. As for bike theft I live in South Africa and believe me it is rampant.. Our police have bigger fish to fry and along with ever growing incompetence and indifference, I feel that prevention is the best solution. My bike is locked in my garage, door re-inforced with 0.8mm steel galv plate and alarm (ADT).

Check out my pics, it's my first build but next build will be using a Morini engine and better bicycle.
 
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i still say someone should invent a gps system that u can hide IN your bike frame so that even if the thief manages to get through all your locks u can just follow the signal on a cell phone app watching the bikes every move on a mapping systemor something and recover it within minutes after it was stolen with the cops. lol if something like that worked the cops would have to make a new department like bike theft recovery unit hehe
 
Three cheers for KC.

I love your idea, and i like DeathProof's idea of the GPS location tracker linked to your cell phone/mobile phone.
My ex-boss had such a system in his excavators and at one time the boss and a bunch of guys in a 4WD (SUV in America) with baseball bats made chase after the excavator gone walk-about.

From later reports i heard the driver of the truck (with excavator on board) wasn't feeling so good ;-)
 
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Wow, almost 2 years ago to the day for my keylock.
I was handed my hat shortly after that here and just recently came back.
As you might expect there have been some upgrades to my design.

I used 4 tumbler cash register switches, they look like this.

KitDoneCloseup.jpg


Good luck finding them one at a time for under $20, I had to buy 50 to get a reasonable price on them,
The plastic box is just a radio shack type hobby box.
The motor to CDI wire was a 50' roll of indoor/outdoor speaker wire from Fry's Electronics.
The kill button wire is just black 4 conductor phone wire,

I sold 'bag of parts' kits as well as completed units for awhile but had to quit letting them go, the right parts are just too hard to find, they are time consuming to make, and I need what I have for my own builds.

The fat speaker wire just fits in the hole in the motor so I just solder it right to the mageto lugs in the motor.
The smaller wire goes from the keylock up to the kill button.
The kill button comes out of the throttle, there is just a little screw holding it, then I solder it right to to the switch.

In short everything is soldered from mag to cdi to kill button, hence never a loose wire problem.

KCswitch.jpg


I can tell just by watching the people watching me when I turn off the key and put it in my pocket that it is at least a little deterrent but it won't keep anyone from stealing it.

It will however keep them from ever starting it without rewiring in a new CDI with no clue what wires do what.
That is a real bonus for my local customers.

Chances are since my name and number are on the motor the thief will call me for a CDI, I don't sell CDI's as stock parts, it's a bring me the bike kind of thing.
Or, if they call another local builder chances are they know my work too and may question why the guy didn't call me.

It's not as good as a GPS in the seat post, but just being able to rule out the electrical system when you have a problem is nice.
 
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still a good idea and the key lock just makes the bike look cooler!
Actually it started with just replacing the thin ugly stock wire with my own.

I had a RS hobby box and and a bunch of extra black power cord wire and did it. No keylock, no wire to the kill button, it didn't even go into the motor, it was just a box over the CDI a black wire with matching end connectors to the CDI so it looked better.

We are talking 2 years ago and ver 1.0 beta as the topic text, I had an old 'IBM Compatible' flat desktop with the keyboard round keylock switch case and it even had a Turbo button on it!
Way before most of you guys time but a switch plate I saved and I thought.. Hmmm, maybe a key switch would be cool here in this box I have laying around too... ;-}

That's how these types of things all start for most of us I think.
It's just way easier to test out if you have enough stuff on hand so you don't even have to go to a parts store, you design around what you have.

As for the key itself my pics show both in which shows off a keylock is there, but of course that would be silly, you put the spare key elsewhere and put the bike on your keyring.

The key comes in and and out in either position (on/off) like a door lock key on your keyring and not like your typical electrical one like a motorcycle or car.
Hence why I used a cash register keyswitch, they never leave their keys in and it was short enough ;-}

IN short you leave the ignition on or off and pull out the key, you don't want to to ride around with it in so I put it on my keyring like a house key and then (as mentioned another tpoic) make a

Anyway it all started with just cleaning up the butt ugly stock wiring and just went a little further.
It is now a standard feature on all my new builds.

This topic is about my keylocks but I have gotten pretty good at pull-cable matching as well, bought the frigg'n cable cutting tools and parts to make cables all but the throttle cable, I just can't seem to make the 'little end' piece fit in the throttle barrel and stay there if I want to size the throttle cable.

I am the highest charging builder in town, $385 for the newest SKyhawk 48 or 66cc direct drive on their new bike.

Some bikes I make $20 an hour on, some $5 an hour after parts and time, and some I loose my shorts on, but they all come out the best I can do including equal attention to detail regardless of my cost.

To me that extra attention on every build to make it look like the motor was always part of the bike and actually function better is worth the extra time
The way I wire them, keyswitch in the box or not, does help performance and clean up the look from my discerning eye like mine ;-}
 
I just thought about the clutch. take a small length of chain and a padlock, wrap it around the grip and the clutch lever so it forms a lopsided figure eight, and lock it. I have been thinking of a way to lock the clutch ever since i started mb'ing. its not high tech or completely thief proof, but it will slow them down a good bit. the average theif isnt carrying tools around for cutting chains unless he is a pro. you could also bend a piece of flat aluminum stock, drill two holes in it, and padlock that. maybe a little more secure than a chain. if I get my hands on any flat stock, thats what I am gonna do. the only way to release the clutch with the lever locked would be to cut it.
 
Or just drill a hole through the dual-pull brake handle when it is fully engaged and put a little lock through it.
Sure they could cut the brake cables and it would move but they wouldn't have any brakes ;-}

KEYLOCK PARTS UPDATE!

I still get requests now and again for buying one of wiring systems.

I was sorting out my big folder of receipts into 3 different folders by years (tax time and needed just 2011) and started looking through the 2010 file and sure enough, there it was, my receipt for those spiffy black plastic covers I use over the CDI's for my wiring upgrade.

I ordered 50 more for chump change, ~50¢ each including shipping.
I would post the link but since they charge $9 for shipping regardless it would be silly to just buy one or two from them.

The right wire is tricky, that 18g matte black with no writing and very flexible exterior grade wire I use for the wire from the motor to the CDI is 50¢ a foot, but you can only buy it in a 50' spool.

The brake cable sized black wire from the CDI to the kill button I still have some on the 50' spool and though perfect in size, color and flexibility (acts and looks just like a regular handlebar cable) it is 2 pair of thin solid copper wires, hence phone cord wire, and not near as friendly to work with so I'll look at other options for that when it runs out.

The key switches are another matter as well.
I found the receipt for them in that folder too, but not checked for cost or availability, no need to yet as I have 7 left but I can if anyone wants to buy a $20 'bag of parts' (includes shipping but no CDI) with the cover, switch, and 2 wires long enough to cut down to fit most every build but say a super stretch or tandem build.

Then there is the glues. I just use super glue to keep things in place as I assemble a unit, and then I pump it full of epoxy and that stuff isn't cheap or fun to work with.

I don't want to come off as hawking a product here, I don't even want to make a ready to screw on and solder in totally complete wiring upgrade with CDI and Keylock, but I can make it so if I want to.
More precisely, if enough people will buy up front so I can buy the bulk parts and devote the tedious time to assemble them I would.

Drop me an E or PM if you are.
 
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Drilled Frame?

I fully agree, I wasn't knocking anybodies method of keeping theire bike secure but it is still a bicycle and can be easily pedaled away with or without a key ignition lock. I may even install one just so that they can't get away any quicker. I also put a lot of effort into my bike and therefore have a 'bond' with it which transcends that of my normal bicycle. As for bike theft I live in South Africa and believe me it is rampant.. Our police have bigger fish to fry and along with ever growing incompetence and indifference, I feel that prevention is the best solution. My bike is locked in my garage, door re-inforced with 0.8mm steel galv plate and alarm (ADT).

Check out my pics, it's my first build but next build will be using a Morini engine and better bicycle.
Oh no you didn't. Is that a drilled frame for your front mount. BRO, NEVER drill a hole for the mount. There are too many mounts for oversized frames out there to do that. It really weakens the downtube, and starting out as "just a bicycle" anyway, it wasn't really made to put an engine on in the first place. If you wanted to weld in extra bracing around the drill site you could make it work, otherwise, not a good idea. But now that it's done keep your eyes open for cracks.
On yer next build PLEASE don't drill the frame.
Big Red.
 

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