Since this strand includes some great info that will help us all secure our bikes, I wanted to share a witness interview I once did on a grand theft motorcycle. The motorcycle was parked in front of a Sears that was connected to an inside mall. The rider parked his bike, locked the steering and entered the store (BTW was only gone TEN minutes). The witness said a U Haul van pulled up with two males in it. One (passenger) jumped out, mounted the bike and began trying keys in the ignition(and steering lock). The driver jumped out, pulled the sliding ramp from the back of the van and by that time, suspect #1 had found the right key from his assortment, unlocked the bike....didn't start it....they both pushed it up into the van and in less than 4 minutes, were gone. The witness was great for info but lame for not getting involved (as in getting others to help him or something!). I later found out that no less than 4 dealers in the area (Kawasaki in this case) had missing keys from their service departments....think about how UN attended some serviceboards with hanging keys are in dealerships or how many keys stay in the bikes. That was a few years ago, I don't know how many bikes one key would fit in 2007. One more thing, we learned that the motorcyclist had just visited a motorcycle shop before Sears, indicating the suspects laid in wait at the shop and followed the victim to Sears. Just some thoughts to hopefully enhance our ability to protect our scooters.....Raydog
I forgot an important item....ONE YEAR later the victim saw his swingarm(his own distinctive welding) now chromed on a bike at a big "bike nite" at a cafe in LA. By the time a police unit arrived, the suspect had left....no lic. plate!
