02 / 04 · Motorcycle service
The electronic half of a modern bike key — programmed to the machine so it actually starts.
- Category
- Motorcycle
- Availability
- 24/7
- Coverage
- 10 GTA cities
- The visit
- 4 steps
On this page
Overview
Cutting is the mechanical half of a modern motorcycle key; the immobiliser is the other half. Most machines built since the late nineties carry a chip in the key head that the bike interrogates before it will run, which is why a perfectly cut key can turn the ignition and do nothing at all. Programming happens at the bike, and where a key has been lost rather than worn out we recommend erasing it from the immobiliser in the same visit.
Two devices pretending to be one
Hold a modern bike key and you are holding two things: a blade cut to a code, and a transponder the machine has to recognise. They fail separately and they are fixed separately. A worn blade that no longer turns is a cutting problem. A blade that turns freely while the dash lights up and the engine refuses is an immobiliser problem, and no amount of recutting will change that. Most of the confusion — and most of the overcharging — in this corner of the trade comes from blurring the two, so we say which one yours is before the work starts.
Why erasing an old key matters more on a bike
When a key is lost rather than broken, the security question is not whether you can start the bike again — it is who else can. Programming a new key does not, on its own, stop an old one working. Erasing the missing key from the immobiliser does, and it takes the same visit. On a machine that can be pushed, lifted or ridden away in seconds, that is the difference between an inconvenience and a standing invitation, so we raise it even when it is not what you called about.
The visit
Step 1: Describe what the bike does
Make, model and year, and what happens when you turn the key — nothing at all, dash lights and no crank, or cranks and will not fire. That symptom usually tells us which half has failed.
Step 2: Ownership checked at the bike
Same rule as every key we make: ID plus a document tying you to the machine, checked before any programming equipment comes out.
Step 3: Programmed on site
The new credential is written to the bike using its own procedure, at the bike, with the equipment we brought — not back at a shop, and not next week.
Step 4: Started, tested, and old keys erased on request
We start the machine with the new key in front of you, and if a key is unaccounted for, ask us to erase it while we are there.
Included
A key that turns but will not start is usually an unprogrammed chip, not a bad cut — we tell you which before you pay for the wrong fix
A lost key can be erased from the bike's immobiliser, so whoever finds it holds a piece of plastic instead of a way to ride off
Programmed at the machine, wherever it is parked, rather than booked in somewhere for next week
Questions
Almost certainly not. If the blade turns the ignition, the mechanical half is right; what is missing is the electronic half. The bike is reading a chip it does not recognise and refusing to run, which is the immobiliser doing its job. That is a programming visit, not a recut.
Where we go
Toronto2 cities
- Toronto
- Scarborough
Peel Region2 cities
- Mississauga
- Brampton
York Region3 cities
- Vaughan
- Markham
- Richmond Hill
Durham Region3 cities
- Pickering
- Ajax
- Oshawa
More of this work
Every service category
- Emergency4 services
- Automotive7 services
- MotorcycleYou are here4 services
- Residential4 services
- Commercial4 services
Call us
The fastest way to reach us
- Nights and weekends included — any hour, any day
- A real locksmith answers and walks you through it if needed
- You hear the price before anyone drives out
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What to include
- A close, in-focus photo of the lock or the key
- The whole door, or the make, model and year of the vehicle
- Your area, so we can confirm we reach you
We call you back to talk it through and give you a price.
Send a photoService area: 10 GTA cities across Toronto, Peel Region, York Region and Durham Region