Bike theft info from a thief.

[WildKat]

I got to see the last 20 mins of a segment on 2 Wheel Tuesday on Spike TV. They were interviewing a former bike thief who now works for insurance companies assisting with theft issues. He stated that the preffered location to steal a bike was at an appartment complex. The second favorite location was hotels. They utilized 3-5 guys and a van. If the bike was locked to something they cut it. They then picked the entire bike up and placed it in a van. They even took orders for which bike a "customer" wanted. The price is $100 per 100 cc's. Hayabusa's were a flat $1,500. The most coveted bikes were sports bikes. They then obtained a salvage title from a junkyard and switched the vin's. The best defense according to the thief was, "out of sight, out of mind", ie. keep your bike inside a garage, house or enclosed storage. Also the favorite time to steal was between 2-3 am when everyone is normally sleeping. By the way the segment ended with an interview from Lojack. They have agreements with about half of the states and are now making their system for bikes.

Alot of it is common sense, but thought I'd share it w/ ya'll !

[Dagger969]

Intersting, I was needing some new handle bar ends and some fairings.....thanks for the info j/k

[paperairplane]

You gotta figure, even with one of those krypto 'fugedaboutit' chains, if you have a portable acetylene torch you're still gonna be gone in under 5 mins.

I consider this kinda like in Pulp Fiction when Travolta is talking about someone keying his car - "It would almost be worth them doing it if you could catch them in the act..."

[Dagger969]

There are two views I have about catching someone in the act.
1 I want to so I can stop them.
2 I dont want to because I'll go to jail for killing them.

Thats a catch 22, what do you do?

and you cant say not kill them because there are some suggestions I just will not listen to.

[SlipKid]

Using your steering-head lock and/or a disk lock can help prevent ride-off style theft. An alarm or a remote ignition disable switch helps too. Anything that slows them down is a benefit.

[GSX1100FL]

Glad I have a garage & a old bike.


Wonder if people would freak out if I rode around with a 12g shorty shotgun?

Who cares, "it's for protection officer, I ride a bike "

[Crackshot]

There are two views I have about catching someone in the act.
1 I want to so I can stop them.
2 I dont want to because I'll go to jail for killing them.

Thats a catch 22, what do you do?

and you cant say not kill them because there are some suggestions I just will not listen to.

Instead of killing them, a simple function of Steel pipe + kneecap may be just as satisfying. I, unfortuantely life in an apartment complex and don't have anywhere to keep my bike. Luckily, I live in a small town, So I am not quite as worried. But I do have to get a disc lock sometime soon.

[Katgirl]

Makes sense. When Nicks bike was stolen last summer, police caught the guy driving to a van with 4 guys waiting with money, it was going in the van and would have been GONE.

[zleviticus]

i will take a busa for 1200... stip it down buy a salvaged frame and rebuild the bike piece by piece... jsut don;t take it in for service because i am sure the engine is marked as well.

[WildKat]

its disgusting how organized and well thought out this kinda stuff is...but atleast if you can do ur part to help impede their progress or make them look for an easier target, ur ahead of the game to some degree.

[floxera]

You gotta figure, even with one of those krypto 'fugedaboutit' chains, if you have a portable acetylene torch you're still gonna be gone in under 5 mins.

Torch? 5 minutes? Krypto? Try a bic pen and 30 seconds. Only took about an hour practice.

[arsenic]

when I was rebuilding the kat I had the ignition switch out and was looking at it one day. and I was thinking: I have the switch and key, I could plug this into any 89-97 kat turn the key and start the bike. then I remember the steering look and that was the end of that thought. Not that I'd steal a bike anyway.

[floxera]

when I was rebuilding the kat I had the ignition switch out and was looking at it one day. and I was thinking: I have the switch and key, I could plug this into any 89-97 kat turn the key and start the bike. then I remember the steering look and that was the end of that thought. Not that I'd steal a bike anyway.

At the risk of sounding like a bike thief....

Thats a lot of work, replacing the ignition switch. Only 4 wires come out of the ignition it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which wires complete the circuit.

[SlipKid]

when I was rebuilding the kat I had the ignition switch out and was looking at it one day. and I was thinking: I have the switch and key, I could plug this into any 89-97 kat turn the key and start the bike. then I remember the steering look and that was the end of that thought. Not that I'd steal a bike anyway.

Thing is, not everyone uses their steering lock. Just think, bring your ignition and key along with, swap the connectors, and you be gone!

[ThAzKat]

There was and might still be a big problem at MMI with bikes getting stolen there. I can remember atleast 10 kids bikes and 3 school bikes.