Motorcycle Keys in Palo Alto
Keys cut and transponder chips programmed for motorcycles and scooters, $125 to $289.
$125–$289
Typical price
22 min
Avg. arrival
24/7
Availability
Losing the key to a motorcycle is worse than losing the key to a car, because the bike cannot be pushed home. The moto parking at the University Avenue Caltrain station. The garages off University Avenue. A rack on campus. A turnout on Page Mill Road near I-280 after a Sunday climb. A carport behind a College Terrace rental. Tall Tree Lock & Safe cuts keys at the bike for Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, Triumph, BMW, Ducati, KTM, Vespa and most scooters, from the ignition or a lock code, with no trailer and no wait at a parts counter.
A bike can be wheeled away by one person, so ownership comes before anything: identification against the registration or the title. The ignition or the seat lock is then read for its code and a blade is cut on the van. Bikes usually leave the factory with one key for every lock, so the new blade is tried in the ignition, the fuel cap, the seat and the helmet lock in turn, and any lock that has been swapped over the years is noted. Immobilizer bikes need the chip enrolled with the module beside the bike; Honda's HISS, BMW's EWS, Ducati's red-key system and the newer keyless setups are all done at the curb. The fork lock is turned several times last, because it binds first on a blade cut a fraction shallow, and a shallow blade is corrected on the spot.
Motorcycle keys sit between $125 and $289 with the $89 visit inside. A plain mechanical key for an older Honda or a scooter is the $125 end. Transponder keys, and immobilizer bikes with no key where the module has to be read, reach $289. An ignition damaged past reading is said as its own line before any work begins. Weekends carry nothing extra; only the $55 evening and $90 overnight additions apply.
You call and describe the bike: make, model and year, whether it has an immobilizer, whether any key still exists. The figure is said on the call. The van leaves Midtown, and a text names the technician and the window. Ownership, the blade, the chip where needed, and the five locks tried: ignition, fuel cap, seat, helmet lock, fork. The receipt repeats the figure at the bike.
“Our 1912 house has its original mortise lock on the front door, and the key broke off in it while I was bringing in groceries. The figure said on the call was $149. The technician picked the cylinder open around the broken piece, drew the fragment out with a hook, and the brass plate never came off the door. He asked whether I wanted a new cylinder and I said no, so he rekeyed the old one and cut two keys on the van. $149 on the card, receipt in my email before he had pulled away.”
Every job is priced from the list below. One figure is said on the call, with the visit, the labor and the parts inside it, and the receipt shows the same figure.
- Daytime (7am–8pm)standard rates
- Evening (8pm–12am)+$55
- Overnight (12am–7am)+$90
FAQ
Motorcycle Keys: quick answers
A Harley with no key, in the garage under a building on University Avenue.+
A normal afternoon. The ignition switch and the fork lock on most Harleys are read in place and a key is cut to their code beside the bike. Bikes with the factory security fob need the fob paired or the PIN entered, and that happens with you standing there. Text the level and the space and meet the technician at the garage gate; the opener was probably on the ring you lost.
What about a Vespa or a small scooter for the ride to the Caltrain station?+
A gas scooter is done like a small motorcycle and its locks read fast. Watch for the magnetic shutter over the ignition that several models carry; it needs its own key, and that key is said as a separate line on the call. An electric scooter that locks only through an app is a different trade, and you hear that on the call so the van does not come out for nothing.
A thief forced my motorcycle ignition with a screwdriver and now it will not turn.+
A screwdriver breaks the tumblers, and broken tumblers give no code, so the lock has to come off the bike. If the housing is sound the cylinder is rebuilt to your existing key; if it is not, a new cylinder goes in, keyed to the seat and the fuel cap so the bike stays on one key. That figure is said before a panel comes off.
Related
More automotive services
24/7 — nights, weekends & holidays
One call, one figure, and the lock kept whole
Calls answered 24/7 across Palo Alto, Stanford and the towns beside them. The $89 service call, the labor and the parts are inside the figure said on the call, the lock is opened without drilling wherever it allows, and the receipt repeats the figure.