Gorilla Cycle Alarm - only $199 and works a treat

[rie]

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.

[{.bLanK}G_o_D]

I assume since you didn't mention it, it does not include an engine immobilizer?
Still, for the price it sounds pretty good.

[p.dath]

Dose the tilt sensor mean the bike will go off if you park on a hill, or does it dynamically measuer the current lean of the bike?

How many days can you leave your bike before it flattens the battery to the point of being un-startable, or is it smart enough to shut down before it flattens the battery?

[rie]

It has a current drain sensor that activates the alarm when there is a current drop in the electrical system to prevent hot-wiring.

I am not sure if it will flatten the battery if you leave it for ages - the manual doesn't say and I haven't really had time to test that theory out!

As for the hill - the tilt sensor is placed so that it goes off when the bike is up-righted - i.e. to the right of the bike. and like i said, 30 degrees of lean, so it won't go off unless you are on one hell of a hill. in theory i guess it would go off if you did manage to park it where it is completely upright. it does not dynamically measure the current lean of the bike.

[rie]

It has a current drain sensor that activates the alarm when there is a current drop in the electrical system to prevent hot-wiring.

I am not sure if it will flatten the battery if you leave it for ages - the manual doesn't say and I haven't really had time to test that theory out!

As for the hill - the tilt sensor is placed so that it goes off when the bike is up-righted - i.e. to the right of the bike. and like i said, 30 degrees of lean, so it won't go off unless you are on one hell of a hill. in theory i guess it would go off if you did manage to park it where it is completely upright. it does not dynamically measure the current lean of the bike.

[{.bLanK}G_o_D]

It requires at least 30 degrees of lean for the alarm to be triggered.

I'm just looking at a picture of my bike (Because I'm still waiting on bloody parts to arrive ) and it has maybe 20-25 degrees lean on the side stand.
Could you not just offset the mercury switch when installing? Say 10 degrees from level so when the bike goes onto the side stand, the 10 degrees offset plus the 20 degrees lean would trigger the 30 degree mercury switch.

[rie]

Could you not just offset the mercury switch when installing? Say 10 degrees from level so when the bike goes onto the side stand, the 10 degrees offset plus the 20 degrees lean would trigger the 30 degree mercury switch.

yes absolutely. it's really fiddly though and requires lots of testing to get it at its optimal position.

[ital916]

yes absolutely. it's really fiddly though and requires lots of testing to get it at its optimal position.

You forgot to mention the great satisfaction of locking and unlocking the bike .

[Jonno.]

What do you think of it two weeks on.
False alarms?
Does yours have the two way paging system?

[Jonno.]

Not that good then?

[R6_kid:Me]

She still has the bike and she's still paranoid.

[dougwald]

great alarm, ive had for 6 years.

it has many times warned off unwanted attention with the warning siren.

just one point, last week in the pouring rain the remote played up, in hindsight having my remote on key ring is not right, so i now store in a wee parts bag inside my jacket - fair enough, no problem with that. remote dried out and worked fine later so no drama