Lock it or lose it: Best motorcycle security products

They say 'out of sight, out of mind', and of course, parking your bike in a garage or shed means that thieves have a solid layer of protection to penetrate before they can even see what your bike is, let alone be on their way with it. However, if you haven't got a garage or shed, a shelter like this folding one will not only keep the weather off your bike, it's waterproof and will allow ventilation to help prevent it getting damp, but it will also prevent prying eyes from working out if it's worth targeting. Win/win.

A hefty chain and lock are essential components in the fight against motorcycle crime, but they are far more effective when they are used to chain the bike to something immovable. There are generally lots of things when you are out and about, but at home, properly installing a strong ground anchor can often be the best way. This Y-shaped item is designed to be concreted into the ground and the chain fed through from one side to the other then through the bike's wheel. It has the highest certification from Sold Secure Diamond which means it offers excellent protection.

Readers of a certain age will remember the Krooklok; this device locked the steering and the brakes on cars so they couldn't be driven away. This lever lock from Kovix does a similar thing; it clamps onto the throttle grip and locks the front brake lever in the on position, so the bike can't be ridden or pushed away. Again, it won't stop it being lifted up, but it is another layer of security, and an integral 120dB alarm lets passers-by know it's being tampered with.

Datatag isn't a direct anti-theft system as such; it's a way of marking your motorcycle in a variety of ways, such as tamperproof stickers, RF ID chips and UV markings so that if it is stolen, it and its component parts can be identified quickly and easily by the police. The Datatag protection is clearly marked on the bike as a deterrent in its own right, and according to the manufacturer, bikes protected with this system are four times less likely to be stolen and six times more likely to be recovered if they are.

Tracking technology is widely regarded as the best way to recover a stolen motorcycle (or car, horse lorry etc.) if they are stolen, and this DIY example from Monimoto is about as easy as they come. Hide the self-powered (for up to a year) tracker somewhere on the bike and fit the fob to your keys. It arms and disarms automatically via the fob, and if the bike is moved without the fob disarming it, it will ring your phone and provide its location for you to give to the police.

While a DIY tracker can be useful, a professionally-installed version offers more levels of security. For example, BikeTrac has a 24/7 control centre that will alert you and then the police to unauthorised movement of the bike, and it operates on a variety of levels, meaning it will still provide the bike's location if it's inside a shipping container, a van, underground or in a building. The company even offers a 'Theft Response Team', which, in the event the police doesn't have the capacity to track your bike, they will do so and notify the police of its location.