How to Lock an Electric Scooter for Beginners

If you own a scooter and love it, you must be trying your best to protect it. We often ride our scooters to reach our work or to complete some random errands. After reaching our destinations or taking some mini breaks, we keep our scooters in the parking lot or leave them outside. Well, that does not ensure the vehicle’s safety!

Questions of doubts like, ‘What if it gets stolen? What if someone lays their greedy eyes upon my only means of transportation?” arise in our minds during these times. Hence it is essential to lock our scooters properly if we want to keep them secured and safe. 

A lock can be an essential accessory to keep your scooter secure. Every scooter owner must own at least one lock for their respective mopeds. In this article, we’ll know about five necessary locks, their features, and how to use them to secure your scooter. Furthermore, we will learn about some vital security tips to prevent the theft of our scooter. Well, let’s waste no further time and jump into some effective locks available and security measures for locking a scooter. Keep in mind the saying, “Better safe than sorry!”

Types of Locks

Different types of scooter locks are designed in different ways based on security and convenience. Before picking a lock for your scooter, think carefully about your preferences and then only make your choice! 

1. D-Lock/U-Lock

Advantages

• One of the most secure types of lock for scooters is a D-Lock or U-Lock. 
• Used as shackles, these D-locks are made of hardened steel
• They can be attached to the scooter along with a sturdy object
• These are durable because they can only be cut using strong bolt cutters or power tools, which are not always used by petty thieves.

Disadvantage

• However, one significant disadvantage of these locks is that they are not portable, like chain or cuff locks.

How to lock a scooter using a U-Lock

• Firstly you have to choose an immovable object along which you will lock your scooter. A perfect example of such an immovable object is a metal bike rack. However, it would help if you refrained from locking up your scooter along with wooden posts or chain link fences as these are not proper immovable objects.
• Now it’s time to attach your lock to the scooter. DO NOT make the mistake of attaching the lock only to the scooter’s wheel. WHY? This is because the thief can detach the wheel and take the rest of the scooter with them. So, attach your central lock to the FRAME OF THE MOPED. You are advised to use multiple locks. One Can be attached to the frame, while you can tie the other with the wheel.
• Keep the lock off the ground and position it inside the moped.

The steps mentioned are essential to follow. Below are some different methods of locking a scooter using a U-Lock. You can choose any one method which you like.

First Method

• Using a single U lock. Fasten the lock to the frame’s rear triangle, the back wheel, and the immovable object. 

Second Method

• To be extra secure, you can use another U lock. This time, attach the second one around the back wheel, the bike frame, and the immovable object.

Third Method

• You can apply another method. However, you can apply this method only if your scooter has quick-release wheels. So here’s what you have to do. First, remove the front wheel. Then wrap the lock around the immovable object and the scooter frame. Now, extend the lock to fasten the front wheel(removed) to the back wheel.

2. Disc Lock

Advantages

• One significant advantage of using disc locks is that they keep the scooters in a fixed position and do not let them be moved or pushed away. We can attach the disc locks to the brakes(both the front one and the rear disc one). Disc locks are pretty versatile, too, as you can fasten through the front wheel too!
• A thief would not be able to move away from the scooter because disc locks are compact and rigid, so it would be very tough for someone to move it even an inch.
• Another advantage of this disc lock is that it has been designed in a water-resistant way. Thus on rainy days, we can lock our scooters using a disc lock, and guess what the bonus is? No rust will be formed at all!
• What makes this lock durable? The steel alloy with which it has been constructed does not cut easily, making it perfectly durable!

Disadvantage

• However, one disadvantage remains: some scooters are still lightweight, carried, and taken away along with the locks!

How to lock a scooter using a Disc Lock

• Use the disc lock on the rear wheel.
• It is advisable to use multiple disc locks and attach them to each of the scooter discs. If this is done, no thief would be able to drive the scooter away. 
• However, a thief can easily carry your scooter locked with a disc lock to a van, so what can be done to solve this problem? Look for a fixed, immovable object like a pole or a bike rack. Then attach the scooter to the object using a sturdy chain lock or a U lock and a good quality disc lock.
• You can use another method, which is the combination of a disc lock and a U lock. Fasten the dick lock to the center of one of the wheels to capture and the rotor. As mentioned above, tie the U lock around the mainframe, the back wheel, and the immovable object. This way, a thief can neither lift your scooter, nor can he roll or push away your scooter. All safe and set.
• Always make sure to remove the disc lock before driving off. Otherwise, there is a possibility of damaging the braking system or accidental falls like in this video. So to remind yourself of moving these disc locks before driving off, what you can do is, attach these dick locks using bright cables to the handlebars. 

3. Chain Lock

Advantages

• The most significant advantage of these types of locks is that they cannot be broken or bent
• The padlock or key lock that comes with a chain can be wrapped around a scooter wheel alongside a solid structure, which helps the scooter be secured to a reliable firm object.

Disadvantages

• They are heavy to carry around
• Bolt croppers or sledgehammers can defeat them.

How to lock a scooter using a Chain Lock

• Firstly park your scooter in a crowded public place.
• You have to get a very tight chain lock so that angle grinder attacks can be beaten.
• Keep your chain and padlock off the ground, or else a thief can use a sledgehammer to break the padlock. 

Above mentioned steps are essential to be followed. Two methods have been suggested below on how you can lock your scooter using a chain lock:

First Method

• Hook the padlock through the rear brake or the front brake and do that the same with the chain. It should be done so that it is inaccessible for the thief to break the lock.
• To avoid a thief from breaking the steering lock and wheeling the scooter away,use the chain lock through the back wheel not the front wheel as it can be removed. Tighten the lock to an immovable object 
• You can also thread the chain through your bike frame and back wheel.
• You can use another method and that is the combination of a U lock and A CHAIN LOCK.Firstlly, as always, fasten the U lock around the frame, the immovable object and the back wheel. The chain should also be tightened around the immovable object, the fame and the front wheel. This will provide extra security as chain lock is harder to break than a U lock.

Second Method

• Another very remarkable method of securing your moped is using a ground anchor and a chain lock. A ground anchor is fixed to the floor or wall and a chain lock can be attached from the anchor to the scooter’s wheel.

4. Cable Lock

Advantages

• They often come with a key and a core or a key locking mechanism where you have to enter a combination of numbers to open the lock! Quite efficient, huh?
• One advantage of cable locks is that they are easy to attach to a solid surface. This is because the locks are long and flexible, making it easy to attach them to concrete surfaces. Thus we can secure our scooter to a solid object using these cable locks! Seems pretty convenient, right?
• They are very light and can be easily kept clean.
• Cable locks are pretty inexpensive and a common locking material.

Disadvantage

• One drawback of these cable locks is that even though the cable of the lock is made with strong material such as hardened steel, they can be cut with an angle grinder, a standard tool used by thieves while stealing scooters or bikes.

How to lock a scooter using a Cable lock

• Find a crowded public place.
• Get access to an immovable object like a sturdy pole.

Two different method to lock a scooter using Cable Lock:

First Method

• The lock is long enough to be fastened around the scooter’s rear. Extend the cable lock thread from around the immovable object and then reach it till the front wheel. Then instill the lock.

Second Method

• There is another method; a combination of cable lock and U-lock. Attach the U lock around the rear wheel, the frame, and the immovable object. One end of the cable has to be pushed through the front wheel and then loop it twice and secure the first loop to the central lock.

5. Grip Lock

Advantages

• These Grip Locks pull on the brake lever and secure the handlebar.
• These are cheap 
• They prevent the scooter from being moved or pushed away.
• They are easy to fit.

Disadvantages

• Simple tools can easily beat them up.
• Thieves can easily carry away the scooter in the presence of a grip lock.

How to lock scooters using a Grip Lock

• Use it only as an extra security lock.
• Unlock the Grip-Lock, pull the brake lever, and push it between the grip lock and adjust it on the handbrake. Now the brake lever has been tightened. So it will be nearly impossible for a thief to drive it away.
• However, it can’t ensure full security. Use it with combinations of a disc brake or U-Lock.

Deadly Combinations of Locks

1. Ground Anchor, Chain Lock, and Disc Lock. The Ground Anchor will act as the immovable object to which the scooter will be secured. The Chain lock will help create a locking mechanism by attaching it to the Ground Anchor. The Disc lock will be a bonus security measure because even if the thief manages to break the chain, he cannot drive away from the bike as 
2. Locking skewers or cables, U-Lock, and immovable objects. The Cable Locks will secure both the locks while you have to fasten the U-Lock from the frame to the immovable object. 

Security Tips

One of the main reasons for locking a scooter is to secure it from being stolen. Well, here are some security tips and tricks you can follow to keep the security strong!

1. To keep extra safety measures from thieves, you should activate your steering lock and use one of the ignition locks mentioned above.
2. Using two different locks is one of the measures you can take, which will confuse the thief. Moreover, if you anchor your scooter to a strong structure, the intruder will be unable to carry it.
3. You will have to attach the lock through the frame or the forks or wheel. It is advisable not to rest the lock on the ground!
4. Keep your scooter locked even while in your garage!
5. If you want to create firm obstacles against intruders, wire up a kill-switch or spring-loaded switch that must be held down when the start button is depressed.
6. Park your scooter in a well-lit area, especially crowded ones with CCTV coverage.
7. Lock your bike to something stationary and solid.
8. Setting up a noisy alarm system with your lock is the best move you can make!
9. Fool the bad guys by sticking an “Alarms Installed” if you can’t make up for the expense of an alarm.
10. Watch Your Back, do not let creepy stalkers follow you as you ride with your scooter.
11. The less your scooter is seen, the less likely a thief will notice it; hence it is advisable to put a cover over your scooter every time it’s on rest or is parked.

Important Locking Tips & Techniques

1. DO NOT make the mistake of attaching the lock only to the scooter’s wheel. WHY? This is because the thief can detach the wheel and take the rest of the scooter with them. So, attach your central lock to the FRAME OF THE MOPED. You are advised to use multiple locks. 
2. Whatever lock you use, make sure you use the small form. Use the smallest D lock or the shortest cable or chain lock. If the lock is long or big, thieves can insert tools between the scooter and the locks.
3. Make sure to keep the lock off the ground.
4. Always make sure to secure your scooter to something sturdy or immovable using a chain or U lock.
5. You can use alarm systems or GPS trackers.

Conclusion

Now we know what all we can do to keep our scooters safe. We have got to know about the features of 5 fundamental locks and the methods we can use to lock our scooter. So from the next time, whenever we park our scooters, we will be tension-free as the locks will do the whole job. You have to do a bit of the hard work, setting up the locks properly by following the methods mentioned above. If you have found this article helpful, share this article with your friends and if you have any queries, comment below!