Pragmasis security kit: ground anchor, 16mm chain and padlock

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mazze

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I park my bike in a communal garage were it is an easy target for bad intentioned people, so I looked for the best way to secure it. I already had a Scorpio SR-i900 alarm but nowadays people just don't care about alarm noise. And the bike's battery is also a problem because over here it is raining/snowing/icy since November and I ride once every two weeks or less so the alarm must be off sometimes.

After some research I found out about these huge 16 mm chains that cannot be cut with hand tools. I first tried to contact Almax, the best known company that makes this type of chains. Their website states you have to contact them by email or phone to order from outside the UK but they never replied to my emails so I gave up.

After that I discovered Pragmasis, a company that has a similar chain and a very good service. They answer your questions quickly and are very honest about their products. They also ship outside the UK with no fuss.

I ordered a complete package: Torc ground anchor, 16 mm chain and Squire SS65CS lock. The quality of these items is flawless. Believe me, when you open the package you can see these guys are perfectionists. The anchor was easy to install and it only took me 30 minutes.

This is as good as it gets about passive security. The professional bad guys can still can have your bike, but they have a very hard task.

If you have the FZ1 Gen II you should pass the chain through the swingarm's left side hole, rear wheel and anchor. Beware the 1,5m chain is only enough if you can place the anchor right next to the rear wheel (see photo).

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Looks BEEFY!!! Just like I like em! I wound up drilling and cementing a huge eye bolt into the garage floor. Once the cement had cured I now pass a 1" thick Kryptonite shielded steel cable through it and secure the lock. I also installed a wireless color video camera with night vision and sound that I can monitor upstairs on the TV. For back-up to all that, I have a wireless photo eye that I hardwired in the garage that trips an audible alarm in the house. I figure that the bike is pretty secure this way.
 
These days it's mainly a matter of making it harder to steal the bike than it's worth to them. If they really want it nothing will prevent them from taking it even if it means wrecking it. Keep the theft insurace up and you're covered no matter what.:sport12:
 
Yea, there is really no way to protect it 100%, but you can always take precautions to discourage the amateur thief just looking to go for a joy ride on your bike.

By the way I saw some video on the web the other day where they showed how they were able to cut all of these high-strength chains with simply a pair of long bolt cutters. Didn't take too long either. Just can't remember where I saw it :(
 
I park my bike in the garage at home. At work, I have to park it outside...so I hired a sniper on the roof of the building...not, but I do park it on the side of the building where I can keep an eye on it throughout the day :)
 
NJFZ1 said:
Yea, there is really no way to protect it 100%, but you can always take precautions to discourage the amateur thief just looking to go for a joy ride on your bike.

By the way I saw some video on the web the other day where they showed how they were able to cut all of these high-strength chains with simply a pair of long bolt cutters. Didn't take too long either. Just can't remember where I saw it :(
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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC3hFr8p2ck"] chain test [/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozppzywsLsk"] chain test [/ame]
They were not able to cut the 16 mm and 19 mm chains with the bolt cutter.

Some people say even a good 12 mm chain is very hard to cut. But the guys in the video are experienced and have a huge bolt cutter.
 
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Thanks for posting those videos. I guess it was one of them that I had previously seen. I didn't really realize that they had tested different sizes of locks. I am glad to hear that the one you invested in was able to withstand the cutters. Hopefully your FZ1 remains safe ;)
 
This is all disturbing. There are cordless rebar cutters that will cut everything from 5/8" to 1 1/2" rebar. Just have to store it in your house in the livingroom...lol.. serriously, it suks that there are lowlife who will do this. I'd say a remote warning alarm/pager and a lojack might be the most effective......mabe the law enforcement in big cities wont jump right on it if you call with a theft, I know around here, they'd be all over it and the guy would be picking up trash on a chain gang by the morning.
 
I guess mabe I missed something..... are you saying this will foil the chain cutters for the most part? It does look formidable for sure....but...??
 
Hi,

This is Steve, from Pragmasis, the manufacturer of the Torc Ground Anchor and 'Protector' range of chains mentioned at the top of this thread. Thanks to mazze for mentioning our products.

Gohot229 said:
I guess mabe I missed something..... are you saying this will foil the chain cutters for the most part? It does look formidable for sure....but...??
Click to expand...

Sorry for the slow reply, but just to clarify:

We guarantee our Protector 16mm and 19mm chains as impossible to manually bolt crop, even with the huge Irwin Record 42" bolt croppers. These chains are made from high grade European boron steel with our own heat treatment and plating/de-embrittlement processes, and they are so big that the bolt croppers have virtually no chance of getting a grip on them at all - the chain link invariably just flies out of the cropper jaws as you put more pressure on them. We have never heard of anyone being able to bolt-crop any of these chains.

However, a thief with a gas cutting torch or with a powerful angle grinder will be able to cut anything; it's just a matter of time. The good news for all of us is that it is extremely rare that any thieves use this type of tool for stealing bikes, presumably because they are both noisy and extremely obvious and therefore they present a big risk of a thief being caught. Furthermore, using a grinder to cut a heavy chain like this when it is not held firmly in a vice is decidedly dangerous - it's very easy for the cutting disc to snatch on the chain and there is a serious risk of the disc shattering. With a disc spinning at 7-14,000 rpm, that's really not something you want to be close to! We have to cut chains for production purposes but there is no way we would even try to cut one of the smaller 11mm or 13mm chains if it was just lying on the floor, let alone one of the bigger chains! In addition to that, we always recommend that you should try to keep your chain and lock off the floor, and the thought of trying to use a grinder on a chain that is swinging around is pretty horrific and likely to end in injury.

We would strongly discourage people with bikes to use a cable lock as, as far as we know, every single one of them on the market can be cut relatively easily. They are useful as a deterrent against opportunist thefts for lower value items, but motorbikes are invariably not stolen by opportunists. Serious thieves using even mediocre tools are likely to cut even the armoured cable locks in seconds. A decent chain and lock, or even a good D-lock *used properly*, are likely to be a much better defence.

Of course, chains that are tough enough to defeat bolt croppers etc are often too big to go through the frame on a modern bike :( That's why we developed our 'Anti-Pinch Pin' as a kind of chain extender - the 'Pin' is able to go through much tighter spaces and the chain hooks on one or both ends:

Anti-Pinch Pin from Pragmasis

We have Fazer customers using this to help them keep their bikes safe. We think it is much better than the alternative of just putting a chain through the wheel, as wheels can be removed easily and the rest of the bike stolen!

We are happy to answer questions either publicly or privately, and always try to recommend products that suit individual's circumstances. We will say if we think you would be better off with something else.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
FZ1riderNY said:
Looks BEEFY!!! Just like I like em! I wound up drilling and cementing a huge eye bolt into the garage floor. Once the cement had cured I now pass a 1" thick Kryptonite shielded steel cable through it and secure the lock. I also installed a wireless color video camera with night vision and sound that I can monitor upstairs on the TV. For back-up to all that, I have a wireless photo eye that I hardwired in the garage that trips an audible alarm in the house. I figure that the bike is pretty secure this way.
Click to expand...

"note to self: DO NOT attempt the theft of billy's fz1..."
 
I've never heard of Pragmasis chains but the Almax which I use is an impressive piece of kit. It's the series 3 which has 16mm links and is used with a Hardie ground anchor and a Squire SS65CS lock. I don't think many tools short of a grinder/cutting bottles would get through it!

Almax now also make a Series 4 chain which has 19mm links! A bit OTT for me but good for peace of mind.
 
Rusty said:
I've never heard of Pragmasis chains but the Almax which I use is an impressive piece of kit. It's the series 3 which has 16mm links and is used with a Hardie ground anchor and a Squire SS65CS lock. I don't think many tools short of a grinder/cutting bottles would get through it!

Almax now also make a Series 4 chain which has 19mm links! A bit OTT for me but good for peace of mind.
Click to expand...

We regard our 16mm and 19mm 'Protector' chains as equivalent to the Almax Series III and IV, respectively, which we used to sell until they changed their policy to direct-sale only.

You may not have heard of us but we've been doing a range of our own 'Protector' chains for years our 'Torc' anchor is the highest-approved ground anchor on the market and has been for even longer, with Sold Secure Gold certification in every category:

Torc Ground Anchor from Pragmasis

Ours is the only general-purpose and easy-fit anchor that has the much higher 'Caravan Gold' rating as well as Motorcycle Gold and Bicycle Gold, etc.

Beware that the Hardie anchor is not approved and indeed failed its Sold Secure test about a year ago.

You can check which products are approved and which aren't by using the 'Approved Products Search' page on the Sold Secure web site:

Sold Secure Approved Products Search | Sold Secure

E.g. enter Pragmasis in the 'keyword' field.

There are several manufacturers and suppliers that have claimed Sold Secure approval when their products never were, or where the approval was years ago and has long since expired. Products have to be re-tested each year to ensure any design changes and even any (unintentional) manufacturing changes have not impaired the security level. E.g. it is common for companies that are manufacturing in China to have wide variations in quality that they didn't know about, and the Sold Secure annual test has been the way they have found out! We make our Torc anchor entirely in the UK and do all key heat treatment and plating & de-embrittlement stages on our (European) chain also in the UK.

I hope that helps,

Steve.
 
You have lojack there? Bike gets ripped off, call lojack, they call the police and tell them where to get the bike. Catch the thieves every time unless they suspect lojack. Cops love lojack. (If they suspect, they park it in some parking lot, usually public, come back later to see if it's still there.)
 
scout said:
You have lojack there? Bike gets ripped off, call lojack, they call the police and tell them where to get the bike. Catch the thieves every time unless they suspect lojack. Cops love lojack. (If they suspect, they park it in some parking lot, usually public, come back later to see if it's still there.)
Click to expand...

No, I wish we did have something like that. Bike theft is a much bigger problem here than in the States (indeed, than in most other parts of the world). The police here often seem to be struggling with crazy amounts of paperwork or forced priorities that mean that even if they are keen on bikes themselves, they often have to focus on other stuff that is more 'politically correct' than protecting people's property. The insurance companies here are often poor as well - it is common for them to avoid paying out because of some bit of small print. With regard to bike security, they are often pretty vague as to what security is required, and you wonder if they have an incentive to leave grey (gray) areas to give themselves scope to dispute a claim later. For example, what if you buy a product that was Sold Secure approved when you bought it but it isn't any more? If you want to make a claim then they could reject it because a frequent condition is that you use Sold Secure approved security. Suppose the product has not been renewed because the manufacturer replaced it with something else, or even went out of business - there may have been nothing wrong with the original product but you can't tell if it was re-submitted and failed, and the manufacturer chose to keep that quiet, or if the test standard was raised so a product that was OK in 2008 is no longer good enough to pass in 2010. I have a suspicion that some insurers love this vague situation, but the implication is that to be confident that your claim will be upheld, you need to check the approval status of each element of your security on a frequent basis so you have confidence that you will find out that an approval has lapsed and buy a replacement product, before something gets stolen. I think that is just a mess, so my wife and I decided on a philosophy years ago for our bikes (and bicycles, etc) that it was dubious to rely on any insurer and it's much better to take some responsibility over your own security. That was after someone tried stealing our bikes but, really through luck, they gave up without taking anything. Our security at that time was inadequate for sure. We looked around at the security products on the market and saw there were some big gaps where products were rubbish or there was nothing suitable, so we designed our own. Subsequent to that we decided to start this business, and the rest, as they say, is history :)

Most of the big name manufacturers are still making products that are poor, perhaps relying on ignorance amongst the public rather than upping their game to make products that provide a real deterrent to serious thieves. It is really ridiculous that little companies like ourselves and Almax are producing products that offer much higher security than any of the big companies, that have been doing it for decades longer than us. I'm probably just being idealistic and naiive, thinking that product quality is more important than profits for shareholders. However, without quality, it may be only a matter of time until there are no profits.

Thanks,

Steve.
 
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