I had my dirt bike stolen the other night and was curious about recovery. How many of you that have had your bike's stolen had them recovered by the police? I am not overly optimistic, but the sheriff that was assigned to my incident is another bike freak like me and was very eager to try and get the bike back for me (despite us not having much evidence to go on). I've been checking craigslist a few times a day to see if it pops up either whole or in pieces.
Buddy of mine had a street bike stolen and it was recovered more than a year later. From a lake. Sheriff's rescue team was dive training and found a thieve's dumping ground in a local lake near a bridge. Bodywork was the only thing missing. Can you believe he got the damn thing running? Can't remember what he finally did with it. Damn kawis won't die!
Give me a description so I can keep an eye out in the Orlando area.. I ended up recovering my own race bike once. Found the guy then called the cops..
I shot you a pm rj Im assuming they're going to remove all the distinctive graphics i had on there. The most distinctive things about it beyond the bodywork are a weld to the left engine case on the botton towards the back of the bike, the sub frame mount is cracked on the left side and the top of the stock exhaust is dented/scraped (not a common look). I'll post some pics up when i get home.
Police recovered my Supermoto when it was stolen a few years back. But they had help. I had several friends watching Craigslist an debay type sites watching fro distinctive parts off my bike. Spotted the wheels on ebay and the local police were able to track the sellers info back to the bike. Unfortunate the broken and vandalized pile of parts that was returned to me cost me a fortune to fix. The thieves, all minors were ordered to pay restitution that amounted to the 80% of the book value of the bike (the judge suggested I make a home owners claim to recover the rest...) One of the three thieves paid his share. The other two were savvy enough to avoid paying until they turned 18 at which time I would have had to file a civil case to try to recover my loss.
My SV race bike was stolen out of the garage about a month ago. The neighborhood has video survelance and the morning we called 911 there were 4 deputy cruisers in my driveway. Being GP shift the thugs could barely ride it out of the neighborhood, crashed it, and placed it behind a flop house motel. One of the dudes was caught that day and told the deputies where the bike was. Got it back in 1 day. $3,500 in damages. Awaiting the court date and I have to sue for damages which is separate from the criminal trial. I was lucky, and believe it or not, the gp shift spoiled their ride-off attempt.
thats incredibly lucky they got it back in 1 day! I wish we had some surveillance for my neighborhood. Right now the only thing Ive got hope for is similar to your situation, my bike is incredibly difficult to start with the big bore & stroker kit. At 6'3 and 240lbs the kicker will stop my leg dead if I dont start with the lever in just the right position. I was making a stolen bike poster to put up at my local track and am wondering how much information to put on there in terms of VIN or identifiable things about the bike past some pictures.
I would guess that dirt bikes seem to be recovered more often than street bikes. At least in this area, dirt bikes are stolen to joy ride. the street bikes tend to get stripped and sold as parts. worth a look around your town if there are areas that some folks ride (not your usual riding park BTW).
some pics of the bike in question. I've been to most of the shops in town with pictures, the VIN and my contact info if it happens to end up there. Going to hit up a couple of tracks and riding spots tomorrow with the info to post as well.
I had 2 dirt bikes stolen from my backyard in Atlanta several years ago. For years the Atlanta police would call me to find out what I had learned about recovery. Yet another reason I'm done with the city of Atlanta. Cheers Dave
I should clarify: the purpose of their call was to complete their paperwork. When I asked what they were doing to find yhe bikes they were surprisingly candid: "nothing".
I never expected to see it again. Fortunately I had dumb thugs at work. So sorry about your bike. Hope it gets found. I could have never been able to afford to replace mine. Keep us posted on this thread.