rie
27th February 2010, 23:27
The Gorilla motorcycle alarm ("cycle alarm") has been installed in my gixxer for the past week. At only $199 I was sceptical about its quality compared to my colleague's shiny mongoose alarm, which costs significantly more. In the motorcycling world, you usually get what you pay for. But I had already blown too much money on the bike and I was in need of some sort of obnoxious noise making thief deterrent ASAP. I am a cheap bastard, so I install everything myself. No tools are required except beer and patience. I recommend lots of beer (not so much patience. It's pretty easy to install).
The verdict:
It works bloody well. It has a multi-level shock sensor that you can turn off or set to a lower setting whenever you know you will be near shock-sensitive areas. I have mine at the highest setting currently and it has been proven to go off when a tire is kicked, when a small child attempts to sit on the seat, or someone taps the lights.
It comes with a tilt sensor to detect when someone is up-righting the bike - this is apparently something you pay extraordinary amounts of money for in the Mongoose counterpart. The components are plastic, and attached with velcro - not confidence inspiring to say the least. However, Gorilla claims that it is a mercury sensor, which is the same as used in the Mongoose. After several tests by different people, we can conclude that if placed in a sensible area, it will go off when attempting to take the bike off the sidestand with awesome success.
The red LED light is a visual deterrent for thieves and contrary to manual instructions, does NOT require drilling anywhere. It will flash in a particular way to tell you if your bike has been tampered with (and which sensors were set off) while you were gone. Clever.
The downside:
- The alarm unit is huge. But it is loud (120 Db). Stick it under your seat and the noise will still deafen unfortunate pedestrians.
- The tilt sensor is a bitch to install. It has to be *just right* for it to be guaranteed to go off everytime the bike is tilted. It requires at least 30 degrees of lean for the alarm to be triggered. This aspect will suck massively for those who have had bikes lowered but the sidestand not adjusted accordingly, which results in a bike that sits more upright than stock. It will not suck so massively if your bike has a giant sky-reaching tail like the gixxer. This sensor will be completely useless to you if your vehicle does not lean 30 degrees. In any case, this part of installation will require beer as it will test your patience to no end.
where to get:
Order one from Motomail - available in a couple of working days.
The verdict:
It works bloody well. It has a multi-level shock sensor that you can turn off or set to a lower setting whenever you know you will be near shock-sensitive areas. I have mine at the highest setting currently and it has been proven to go off when a tire is kicked, when a small child attempts to sit on the seat, or someone taps the lights.
It comes with a tilt sensor to detect when someone is up-righting the bike - this is apparently something you pay extraordinary amounts of money for in the Mongoose counterpart. The components are plastic, and attached with velcro - not confidence inspiring to say the least. However, Gorilla claims that it is a mercury sensor, which is the same as used in the Mongoose. After several tests by different people, we can conclude that if placed in a sensible area, it will go off when attempting to take the bike off the sidestand with awesome success.
The red LED light is a visual deterrent for thieves and contrary to manual instructions, does NOT require drilling anywhere. It will flash in a particular way to tell you if your bike has been tampered with (and which sensors were set off) while you were gone. Clever.
The downside:
- The alarm unit is huge. But it is loud (120 Db). Stick it under your seat and the noise will still deafen unfortunate pedestrians.
- The tilt sensor is a bitch to install. It has to be *just right* for it to be guaranteed to go off everytime the bike is tilted. It requires at least 30 degrees of lean for the alarm to be triggered. This aspect will suck massively for those who have had bikes lowered but the sidestand not adjusted accordingly, which results in a bike that sits more upright than stock. It will not suck so massively if your bike has a giant sky-reaching tail like the gixxer. This sensor will be completely useless to you if your vehicle does not lean 30 degrees. In any case, this part of installation will require beer as it will test your patience to no end.
where to get:
Order one from Motomail - available in a couple of working days.