Hello all, nice to find this place!
I have a BionX PL350 and yesterday my battery was stolen from my bike while locked up downtown.
At nearly $1300, this truly sad but I thought I would ask here, if anyone has found a way to *really* secure the battery to the bike.
There was no broken plastic on the ground, no sign of screws, only a quarter sized gouge out of the down tube paint.
Amazingly, the battery rail is fully in-tacked. I'm certain that the lock was secure.
Chances are that whomever grabbed it knew what they were doing.
Has anyone gone further to protect their batteries?
Thanks for any input,
..jenn
Wow
What a way to figure out some one would want to steal a battery. Mine is taped to my frame with aluminum tape and now I am going to get a case made for it out of Aluminum and locked. I just lost my XM-3100 off of my truck and the truck alarm never went off. Sorry for your loss but that is what V is for. Educating the rest of us on how to make better, safer, faster, more secure Electric vehicles. I just ordered an MA210 alarm for my other bike and if it works I will put one on my Mtn bike with 1000 Watt rear motor. Later on I will post other secure ways to keep bikes and parts under accessories. A battery will have to have a slight current draw in order to be fully supervised. Or else a End of line device will have to be installed in battery pack.
KB1UKU
Hi Spaceangel,
At that price, I can see why people might steal one.
I spent some time at the bike shop yesterday. The owner and I took a look at the locking mechanism and compared to the paint damage, it's pretty clear how someone could, fairly easily, pry the battery off without damaging much but paint.
That person would likely have to be in the know about the mechanism though. I'll be carrying my new battery around with me now that there is someone out there on the hunt.
I'm also going to hassle Bionx about a fix/add on.
Sorry for your battery lost. That truly sucks.
How many Bionx bikes are there in the area that a random thief would know what it is and the value of the battery? I think it is unlikely they knew and it was just a vandal stealing stuff off of bikes.
When I first installed the Bionx system on my bike I looked at the rail system and concluded the battery could easily be pried off. So I never leave the battery on the bike if I'm going to leave it locked up untended for any length of time in my city. It's a pain to haul the battery with me, but not as big a pain as buying a new one!
Sorry for your loss. I was wondering if things like this happen.
My battery is the battery rack type that fits in the bionx carrier. It has a hole at the end that you can use as a handle. I have been looping a small cable through it (as well as through my seat post) onto my ulock. However, it would be easy enough to cut the cable. I thought about screwing or welding on a bar at the end of the carrier because how often do I really remove the battery anyway (never), or getting a small ulock or cable lock and just permanently lock the battery to the carrier.
But when you think about it, there is nothing stopping somebody with an allen wrench to steal the whole carrier.
So, I think I am going to take the lesson from your loss and take the battery with me in the future.
Thanks all! I've defaulted to taking the battery with me every time.
Just can't afford to loose another, you know? :)
Ride on!
My experience with bicycles in general is that I only loose them if I have a lock with me. If I have a lock, I can lull myself into thinking it's safe if I just lock it up. Then it gets stolen. If I don't have a lock, the bicycle just goes with me everywhere and it doesn't get stolen.
That's been my experience so far anyway.
=:)
Jason
Blogging my Zero DS from day one http://zerods.blogspot.com/
MARKING batteries and other items in an way that is easily seen, and hard to remove, can be a deterrent to theft, as some crooks do not steal, if the item may be easily identified as not theirs! Drilling holes in a pattern that spells out your name, or engraving/carving your name or other identification into the part with a dremel tool can accomplish this. Unmarked items are much easier to sell, or the theif can simply use the item, pretending it is his, if it cannot be readily identified.--Bob Curry
Robert M. Curry