. My point, even with the best of sirens, crippling devices, chains, or what have you, if a thief wants your bike (s)he is gonna take if (s)he wants it bad enough.
True, but that only works for
highly desirable bikes. As in desirable to the average lowlife who wants something for nothing...what comes to mind? A cult hit cruiser built before they were likely born, or a brightly colored crotch rocket? That's why year after year the 600-class sportbikes are the most stolen, most crashed, and most expensive bikes out there to insure. And yes, should a bike be targeted by "professional" theives, lojack and the police are extremely unlikely to ever recover it, since it'll be parted out within hours. Lojack is also quite expensive and as you said, not a guarantee of recovery. Ignition immobilizer systems to be are also kind of a wash on bikes.....it's too easy to get a couple guys, pick them up, and toss them in a van or truck, they don't have to be driven away under their own power.
Best you can do is to make it as
inconvenient and
risky as possible for thieves to target your bike. Make it too hard of a target to motivate them to move onto easier prey. Substantial chain locks(i.e could not be cut by the typical hardware store bolt cutters), disc locks, ect would all be very time consuming and/or noisy to disable. Plus, the Vmax(as much sentimental value it may have to you), doesn't carry a ton of resale dollar value. At the very best, it's a 5 year old bike that's worth $5k. Really tricked out customs are safer because the owner may have put identifying marks on the expensive parts, and reselling distinctive custom parts or the whole bike is extremely chancy since it's so easy to identify...it can't "blend in" with all the other bikes just like it for sale.
You have to wonder how many of the fabulous bargain bike parts on ebay came from a stolen vehicle.
