Advice may be appreciated

[Virt]

Some of you may have heard me bitching about this to Warren (friend on the cb500s) or my brother (vfr800) or his friend (zx6r) at the Dyno Day today, because bitching is what I excel at obviously..

But yeah, as most of you know I moved into a flat with my brother about 2 months ago. We rented the flat on the premises of the advert saying it came with a garage, if only that was the case. We have a carport instead, the last owners drove into the garage door and never replaced it, while the landlord insists that it's not his problem regardless of what we do.. Needless to say this is infuriating, as we have tons of tools and 3 bikes in there (granted the hornet isn't worth sh1t but..)..

This morning when preparing to go and ready the bike to meet gary for the ride to the dyno day there was a polish kid around 16/17 in the garage looking at the bikes, holding his rucksack.. Obviously I told him to get the wombles out or I'd call the police, but he started complimenting the bikes and the such before he even thought about getting out. This has got me panicking recently as we have a gate on the way into the compound, but what's to stop them nicking tools or parts off the bike? I've already had one sprocket nut stolen from the VTR and quite a few tools have gone missing in the past since moving here, I just forgot about it at the time so I didn't get the knives out and start the interrogation..

So what should I do? It's starting to worry me and the landlord is still being a Class A rock
(Also, I have no idea how much garage doors cost but we aren't exactly swimming in money obviously. apprentice wages and all, you know the usual bitch

Edit: bad quality picture of garage in question. You can clearly see the next garage along having a door...

[lloydie]

Find somewhere else to live that meets your requirements .
Theirs plenty of places to rent you just need to look

[Virt]

Find somewhere else to live that meets your requirements .
Theirs plenty of places to rent you just need to look

Ehh, I hate moving. I'm 18 years old and I've lived in 11 different places, ferking hate it. And apart from the garage this place is ideal, I have a nice kitchen (I'm very domesticated, see) and we're bang in the town centre. The flat itself is faultless, the people in the block are nice (apart from the mysterious lady who gives me evils whenever the bike goes above 1500rpm). It's just the wombles garage door that's ruining it

[darkember]

You could install some strategically placed rape alarms. I would definitely be doing that if I had to store my bike outside.

[lumpyv]

if your agreement says you are renting a garage I would say it comes with a door. if he wont have one fitted ,withhold some of the rent. that's what I would do. point out you only rented the place because you wanted a secure place for your bikes and your tools

[tony.mon]

Get yourself onto Freecycle, and see if you can blag some garage doors.
Everyone who fits new ones has old ones to dispose of, some are going to be ok to get you out of trouble.

In the meantime, something cheap and flimsy but that makes a lot of noise, trellis for example, can be cable tied across the front. Put some oil drums in the way, it's almost impossible to move them without making a noise, especially with a handful of ball bearings in the bottom..

It's a bit of a faff every morning moving drums out of the way, cutting cable ties off one end of the trellis and refitting each time, but quicker than filling in claim forms, trust me.

One of the baby alarms can be set up so that you can hear anyone moving about in the garage, if you have power, but tape over the led light so that no-one will know it's on....and keep a baseball bat handy beside the front door, and a half brick to thrown through the car window as they drive away- that gives the police something to look out for when you report it, assuming that you haven't beaten the thief to death and have to bury them under the patio.

I had my sensible head on there, I need a drink and a lie down now....

[Virt]

You could install some strategically placed rape alarms. I would definitely be doing that if I had to store my bike outside.

It's not quite outside it's just... worrying as feck. Rugby is not known for its' wonderful people.

if your agreement says you are renting a garage I would say it comes with a door. if he wont have one fitted ,withhold some of the rent. that's what I would do. point out you only rented the place because you wanted a secure place for your bikes and your tools

We threatened this and just got told to basically wombles off. We've tried haggling down the price on the rent if we buy a door too, once again... Basically told to wombles off, in nicer words obviously.

Get yourself onto Freecycle, and see if you can blag some garage doors.
Everyone who fits new ones has old ones to dispose of, some are going to be ok to get you out of trouble.

In the meantime, something cheap and flimsy but that makes a lot of noise, trellis for example, can be cable tied across the front. Put some oil drums in the way, it's almost impossible to move them without making a noise, especially with a handful of ball bearings in the bottom..

It's a bit of a faff every morning moving drums out of the way, cutting cable ties off one end of the trellis and refitting each time, but quicker than filling in claim forms, trust me.

One of the baby alarms can be set up so that you can hear anyone moving about in the garage, if you have power, but tape over the led light so that no-one will know it's on....and keep a baseball bat handy beside the front door, and a half brick to thrown through the car window as they drive away- that gives the police something to look out for when you report it, assuming that you haven't beaten the thief to death and have to bury them under the patio.

I had my sensible head on there, I need a drink and a lie down now....

Ahh, I was worried you'd post I'll have a look there then, thanks a lot. Don't have any oil drums hanging around, and I don't know how I can find any and return them home on a bike I think I've got a huge chain somewhere so I'll find that and lock the bikes' rear wheels together, but other than the HISS and disc locks we've got nothing. The gate requires a code that, for all I know, could be public knowledge in this area.

But the baseball bat and brick sounds like a good idea, but I'll need to find somewhere else to bury them. We have no patio, might skin them and see if there's enough to make a custom garage door

[darkember]

Incidentally, I don't like the look of that group of youths in the background.

[Virt]

Incidentally, I don't like the look of that group of youths in the background.

I just noticed that. It's one of the reasons I'm quite uncomfortable.. People in Rugby are just... Yeah

[tony.mon]

Lengths of loose chain looped across the front will also make a lot of noise when moved, even cheap chain rattles as it's being cut.

Also consider metal mesh or railings, anything that's a barrier, really, and will make a noise when moved. Hang bells on the bikes?

But the baby alarm thing is cheap, there's always secondhand ones at jumble sales and in local paper small ads.

A proper shed alarm can also be used, but local cats etc will set it off.

How about a big 1000W flood light at the back of the shed?

[rocco-jocco]

if your agreement says you are renting a garage I would say it comes with a door. if he wont have one fitted ,withhold some of the rent. that's what I would do. point out you only rented the place because you wanted a secure place for your bikes and your tools

Totaly agree mate.... just look at the picture you`ve posted, thats an open invitation to all and sundry + the hoodies hanging around the park bench 50 yards away from your garage to come and help themselves...... No doubt when you insured your VTR you probably stated it was garaged at night...... well that wont stand for diddly when your bike gets nicked due to the garage not having a door!!!!

[Virt]

Lengths of loose chain looped across the front will also make a lot of noise when moved, even cheap chain rattles as it's being cut.

Also consider metal mesh or railings, anything that's a barrier, really, and will make a noise when moved. Hang bells on the bikes?

But the baby alarm thing is cheap, there's always secondhand ones at jumble sales and in local paper small ads.

A proper shed alarm can also be used, but local cats etc will set it off.

How about a big 1000W flood light at the back of the shed?

I'll find some loose chain if I don't hear any progress with the landlord soon then... Or some bells... I'll have a look and see what loud and/or death dealing instruments I can find. And we have no power in the garage, apparently we're not allowed to drill through and get some plugs and stuff going either.. Which is crappy. Getting a solar panel soon and just letting it hang inside, it's what we did with our old shed. Not sure if it would be able to power a semi decent light though, it is british weather

[darkember]

Here you go. These will wake the dead & can be cable tied anywhere & are easy to conceal.

http://personalalarms.com/acatalog/mini ... html#a1159

You may want to paint it black though

[alternative_vtr]

For peace of mind and security I would get a cheap garage door and fit it yourself. I know the landlord should do it but hes not the one with the tools and bikes to keep safe.

[Gazfirestormowner]

Hey I live in rugby no trouble where I am but now I've seen that picture virt I know where your vtr is new engine for me I thinks lol