Went to my local dealer today to test ride a traded in Mk.5 to see how it compared to my Xmax400, only to be told the Mk.5 was now a loan bike to original owner as his DX had been stolen from a town centre car park after 6 days ownership.

He had it locked mainstand/steering lock, plus disk lock and additional tracker and alarm. Nicked in time frame of 25 mins.
Tracked to a town 20 miles away, then signals on tracker and Yamaha's systems vanished and by time time police got to street next day, nothing to be found.

Dealer told me 'old bill' said there is is new technology that can detect a cars/bikes keyless signal just by scanning car/bike, and does not need an owner disarming car/bike next to it, and they must have targeted his TMax, and had a truck to be abled to have nicked it in the time frame.

Oh dear. I still want the Tmax though.

Blimey!!! I've heard of scanning tech that can read smartkey broadcasts, but not of parked up vehicles! I wonder how the key (& scamming) systems work. Its not as if you turn the scoot on by sending a command remotely - you press a button and the key must verify and confirm it somehow. I therefore guess that if the scammers have got the confirmation 'code' then they can respond when the On button is pressed.
But how did they disable the tracker so quickly?? It seems hardly worth the hassle of the system if it can be disabled so easily.

I think there may me a default factory / admin setting, that should be changed by the owner - a sort of 'in case you forget your password' read something similar regarding Ducati...

No mention of such a thing in the handbook. There is a code number to be noted - and warned that if you lose it and have no record of it you will have to completely replace all the electrical systems in the scoot - but I've not seen any facility for the owner to change any codes. It might be handy as I could have something slightly more memorable than what is is now!

XMax400Paul wrote:I think there may me a default factory / admin setting, that should be changed by the owner - a sort of 'in case you forget your password' read something similar regarding Ducati...

As Grumpy says there is no such facility.

You may be thinking of the situation where the smart key cannot be used because its battery is flat or whatever reason. In that case there is a method of operating the bike but it requires the alternative physical key and the unique identification number to do so and then a complex procedure has to be followed. This number cannot be changed by the owner and the procedure could not have been used by thieves in the case mentioned who would not have either the physical key or the number.

With a van job as this appears to be, nothing on the DX such as the stand/steering lock and all the electronics will prevent the bike simply being lifted into the van. Same with any bike and even if an alarm goes off, nobody takes much notice. The only way to try and deter that kind of theft is to chain the bike to something and as we all know even that can probably be defeated by angle grinders, but it might put off opportunist vanners looking for a quick job. However even if riders do carry such a long, robust and consequently very heavy chain, frequently there is nothing to which the bike can be chained in a car park as here.

The DX has a built in tracker accompanied by a smartphone app. But the only thing you can actually do to the bike remotely via the app is to set off the horn and indicators. You cannot start or stop it remotely. If the bike is nicked you can then track it, provided the thieves don't manage to disable the tracker device. Here, they seem to have been able to do just that shortly after stealing it, so ultimately it was of little use in this case. Any thief who is proficient at their "job" will I expect have discovered how to defeat the tracker and later on, when the bike is safely somewhere else and trackerless, defeat the locking electronics so as to allow it be used, or maybe want it to strip down for parts.

I'm not sure if my DX was ever nicked that I would want it back. The thieves would probably have ruined it. Many years ago I had a BMW RT stolen from a bike parking bay in Central London and I know that sick feeling you have when you return to where you parked and it's gone. It was never recovered and so I had to make an insurance claim. But I recall thinking at the time, weeks after I had gotten over the initial shock and anger, that I actually preferred having the cash to the bike, which would probably have been messed up.

There is probably some young whizzkid with electronics being paid to hack into the keyless ignition system and provide a workaround before the stolen bikes get shipped overseas. Not just Yamahas, plenty of keyless new BMW bikes seem to be taken also according to other bike forums, and I'd wager its the same for all marques.

Its depressing - all this new technology on the new Tmax that frankly gets in the way, and its still no more secure than the mk1 I've just acquired which doesn't even have an immobiliser!!

sad life of Britain cant even own flash things that we work our nuts off for. because low life scum want it and cant afford it so they gotta nick it.

You would think by now motorcycle companies would improve security to protect their customers.

MrGrumpy wrote:Its depressing - all this new technology on the new Tmax that frankly gets in the way, and its still no more secure than the mk1 I've just acquired which doesn't even have an immobiliser!!

I'm sure it is far more secure than your Mk 1. For example the stand lock is something new I believe. And additionally the electronics do make it much harder to steal for the non-van opportunist type of thief.

kishan wrote:sad life of Britain cant even own flash things that we work our nuts off for. because low life scum want it and cant afford it so they gotta nick it.

You would think by now motorcycle companies would improve security to protect their customers.

Yamaha have made big anti theft improvements with the latest TMax and even more so with the DX and its tracker, compared with much older bikes that probably have just an easily breakable steering lock.

I can't see that the makers can do much more really than Yamaha have here with the latest TMaxes. As you suggest it's the scum that are the real problem and our society that does little about it, not the manufacturers.