My Scooter Stolen! [cry] [angry] [butthead] [pullhair] [SOS]  By  floridagull (Read 1,434 times)

Floridagull,

I'm SO sorry to hear of your bikes being stolen. You are right though. If someone really wants them, they will be gone.

Back in the seventies, I rode a brand-new Harley Electra-Glide. It was parked under a covered parking space, chained to the supporting pole with a supposedly unbreakable titanium chain and gov't. padlock. The Hog was also blocked by my full-sized dinosaur Olds sedan.

My neighbor watched as a maxi-van pulled up, 8 or 10 outlaw bikers jumped out and six of them (three on each end) picked up the Olds and moved it out of the way...

Two of them sprayed Freon on the "unbreakable" chain and hit it with a sledge-hammer. It shattered like glass.

Finally, four of the cretins picked up the Hog and unceremoniously threw it into the van.

They were gone with my pride and joy in less than one minute.

I had full-coverage insurance, and had just moved here from Illinois. The "Good Hands" people informed me that the coverage was null and void in Texas. Oh, yeah... Thanks a pant-load.  Today I ride with the lizard... GEICO.  Cheap, and probably as good as any.

I never again was able to afford a bike until eight years ago, when I discovered Chinese scooters. I bought a new Xingyue 150 for $600. Now it's scooters for me. Too much arthritis to climb on and off the big cruisers and choppers now.

The only "justice" about my bagger's demise is that the same crew returned later to steal another Harley. The owner was a Class III firearms dealer and had the Hog silent-alarmed. He interrupted the thieves and received a shotgun blast in the belly, but survived and managed to return fire with an M-60 machinegun, killing EVERYBODY and their cat.

Amazing how even the most experienced crooks SOMETIMES pick the WRONG guy to rip off.

Hope you can replace the stolen goodies, but there is little you can do to prevent a repeat of the theft, unless the bikes can be completely out of sight.

Hang in there,

Leo (The Old Chopper Guy) in Texas

Also, keep a lookout locally as you go about your daily business. Sometimes these thefts are just "thrill" activities by rotten little kids. You may find the bikes simply laying around in a vacant lot, or a yard.

One SMALL ray of hope... I've found high-end stranded-steel cables available at RV stores are as the most theft-proof devices in my experience. Hard steel chains can be easily cut today with cordless disk-grinders. Probably the cables can too, but my Kymco remains chained to a support under my carport with a Coleman cable and lock. It bears NUMEROUS "nibbles" from some pretty hefty bolt-cutters. But, it is still intact.

I also keep a silver tarp over the scoot, which blends into the surroundings. "Out of site, out of mind" is a real help...

When you replace the rides, you might want to keep them in the back of your place, and chained to something (even to each other). Every little bit helps.

Best wishes for sure,

Leo in Texas

If and when you get a new scooter, put a tracking unit on it and let the police meet the thieves at their door.

Gosh gull, that so sux.

I know how you feel about just wanting your own back. I felt the same when someone stole the renewal sticker off my car's tag (IN MY CHURCH'S PARKING LOT no less!!)--wanted my sticker back and the ratstard totally prosecuted.

Call the pawn shops, call any place that might take in a used scooter, give them all a head's up about the theft. And call the locksmiths so they know there's a scooter and e-bike stolen that someone might be wanting keys made. Oh, and post it on Craig's List too--with good photos if you have them. That way no unsuspecting sot buys them.

As for the potential replacements, I dunno. Low miles are always good, but sounds like the second bike has had lots of attention and care. Plus it's cheaper and comes with extras. I'd say it's about a toss-up between them.

Hope someone does get contacted and the cops get the thief/thieves.

>'Kat

JR,

Yeah, TX pawn shops seem to operate under some really strange laws, allowing tongue-in-cheek "approval" to buy and resell stolen goods... And, charge interest rates nobody can meet. Just ONCE I found myself out of gas with no cash or credit card. My fault, but I had a nice .38 Spl. revolver with me. I hit the first pawn shop I saw, and they gave me a whopping $35 for the $250 gun.

I "redeemed" it 2 weeks later for $195. Never again!

The "Quick Cash" cash for your car title money mills operate under pawn shop laws too.  Go get $1,000 borrowed on your paid-for $10,000 family car title, and you'll probably pay $10,000 in interest... or more likely, you'll lose your car.

And, of course there are the shelves of various guns in the pawn shops with the serial numbers ground off... along with other serial numbered goodies with the numbers obliterated... even Rolex watches.  I've even seen brand-new bicycles and electronics in pawn shops, with Wal-Mart or other store tags STILL on them... Cheesh!

It is a little like eBay... Ever wonder how sellers with an apartment address always seem to have a never-ending supply of big-screen TV's "new in the box" listed week after week? Easy! They hack credit cards, go to Wally World and buy $1,000 TV's at one store after another. Then toss the card and list the TV's on eBay for 2/3 of retail price. Then, hack another card and just keep on. It's their full-time job... And they're PROUD of their hard work.

It's the "new American economy"... And it's just quietly "accepted" as a dirty little (but quite OK) way to make a living... or, bump up your $18K job income to the $50K it takes to live in a little better state of poverty...  Ask folks at work, at the restaurant... even at CHURCH... and they'll shrug their shoulders and mumble... "well, EVERYBODY does it".  Heck, it keeps us in condoms and rolling papers...  You just do what it takes to get by.

Well I don't do it.  My friends don't do it.  And when somebody does it to me, I get really unfriendly.

Sorry Dorothy, but we are NOT in Kansas anymore...

Keep yer' locks locked, and yer' guns loaded...

Leo in Texas

FYI- You can get a TK103 GPS tracker for less than $30 these days, with a sim card that costs $10/month. You just call it on your cellphone, it hangs up and sends you a test message with a link to google maps with the location. Lots of other features as well, worth it IMHO.