Ever get a stolen bike back?

In 1980 I had a yz 475 stolen. Everyone wanted one of those beasts.

Someone rode it till it ran out of gas and dumped it along side the road over an embankment when it ran out if gas.

4 weeks later a contractor had a bucket fly off his truck that had a few things in it. He was over the embankmentlooking for tools and stuff and found my bike. He called the state police
8
Got it back, serviced it and had the forks straightforward out . They were slightly bent after it was dumped over the embankment. Cleaned some rusty levers up new handlebars, new cables greased up and I raced it again.

Yes. Absolutely no help from the Cops. We told them who had it, his address, and where he worked. They did nothing. We had to stake out his house and wait for him to come home with the bike then called the cops to come get it and arrest him. I never got my gear bag or gear back but at least got the bike. Lucky for us it was an inside job. A kid that worked for us stole it from our trailer and took off back home so we tracked him down.
Unfortunately a stolen dirt bike seems to be the lowest priority on any police departments list.

Twice. Both long ass boring (but true) stories. We’d need several beers…..

One solid piece of advice, if I may? Keep checking area Police Impound Lots, on one occasion, one of our bikes was recovered by the cops, then sit in impound for months. When we finally (purely by chance) saw it in there, we had to pay $$$ in fees to get it out. Yes, victimized twice. Bastards. Vermin.

When I was like 14 my TTR-125 got stolen out of our carport. A few weeks or maybe a month later the Sheriff's called and said they found it down the side of a hill 15 minutes away in a neighborhood. They didn't know how to get it out so asked us to come ride it out and my older friend did.

The old we knew who did it, cops didn’t help, and we couldn’t ever catch them with the bikes when we staked out their place. Several months after we got passed on the road by our bikes doing wheelies going the other way. Turned around and followed them, until they got to their locked gate. Recovered the bikes and got the cops over. They tried to spin a story that they bought them from someone, but turns out they were hiding them in an old mineshaft. Bikes were pretty trashed, was a good bit of work to get them going properly again.

I had a road bicycle stolen from out front of my house a few years back, lazily left it there after a ride for too long. Two years later I got a phone call from a woman who had been given it by a family member to work on (had flat tires and bars twisted) after it'd been thrown into their yard one day. She realized it was a decent bike and looked up the VIN at the local bike shop and got it back to me shortly after finding my contact information. Good people are awesome. Wish we had more good stories to tell

I had a 2008 KTM 690 SMC, a 2011 YZ450 and a 2006 CRF450 stolen from a storage unit. I found the CRF listed on Craigslist a couple weeks later about 2 hours north of where I live. I called the local cops and they picked it up from the seller (who had traded it for a pickup). It had not been run. A couple years later, I found some of the parts listed for sale on Ebay for the SMC (it was chopped). The seller was local, so I called the cops. They were not helpful. A year or so later, I received a call from the city impound that the SMC was recovered. It was in pieces and laying in the dirt outside. I recovered it, rebuilt it and sold it a few years later. I never recovered the YZ. I also had a 1997 CR250 stolen. That was never recovered either. So, 50%.

Neighbor had a CR500 stolen. Same kids broke into my garage, bikes were chained together, around a post. They did take a bunch of my parts and gear. A month or so later, neighbors son hears a kid at a party talking about a 500 for sale. A little recon later and we are pretty sure this was our guy. Thankfully our local PD took it very seriously (rare I know) and put together a quick investigation, then took the kid down. I got most my stuff back, neighbor got his CR back. It can happen. Criminals tend to be dumb, so be vigilant. Also, make sure you have frame and engine serial numbers somewhere safe. Amazing how many people don't.

When we were young kids, my two best friends (twins) had their KX65 and RM65 stolen out of their locked garage. We grew up in a town not too far from Camden, NJ, and sadly, when anything was ever stolen, it usually was found there (if it was found at all). Their uncle went searching there a few days later, and don’t you know he stumbled upon a couple dudes ripping around the streets on their 65s. He chased them - one dumped the bike and the other got away, never to be recovered. The bike that was recovered was pretty thrashed.

An old friend of mine had a 98 CR250 who was gutted when it was stolen. That bike belonged to another friend of ours that had recently passed away in a car wreck.
About 6 months after it was stolen, he started dating a girl and she told him that her neighbor had a bike for sale. he had mentioned what happened and that he was looking for another bike.
Well she took him over to meet the guy and look at his bike and this guy rolls out my friends bike. Still in perfect condition and still had the same tank of race gas in it. The guy said he had bought it from someone and rode it once and it was way too fast for him so he parked it. My friend carried the title for the bike in his truck in hopes he would run across the bike one day. Showed the guy the title and explained it was stolen. The guy was cool about the situation, they called the cops and my friend took his bike home.

If you can’t replace a toy with what is in you bank account, insure it. File a pig report and then collect a check.

I always took my wheels off and hid the axels.

Yes

Bike, no. Trailer yes. They used it for a couple days and abandoned it, good ol Orlando PD put it in their impound lot for me. Guys even left me a cooler full of beer in it. Coulda been worse

I’m Yes. My friend was a cop and we tracked it to an “area”. Next day it was reported that there was an accident with a dirt bike on a near by street. Low and behold, by the time we got there it was hauled off and I had to pay the impound fee and about $1500 in damage. So yeah, cost me $1625 to have someone break into my shed and have fun with my dirt bike on the street for a simple slap on the wrist is all it cost “them”. Hate thieves with a passion!

The last theft I had 3 bikes stolen out of my garage, a YZ125, RM125, and a KX80. I was trying to track those bikes down for close to a year with small clues here and there, but no luck. Finally one day a police department about 30 miles away calls me and says they impounded the KX80 that I had given the VIN number to the local police for. They asked me to come identify it, so i did. When I got there, the bike had been totally trashed. Kick starter was missing, and a busted clutch cover, bent bars, broken plastic, ect. The cops said I had to pay a $200 impound fee if I wanted it back. I reluctantly paid it, and then they asked them if they found either of the other two bikes - they said 'no, but if you want to take two of these others that have had the VIN ground off, you can'.... they were mostly older trail bikes, so i said no thanks.
They caught the thief riding it in a farmers field, and arrested him. But because they couldn't prove that he was the one who actually stole the bike, they couldn't press any other charges.... that whole ordeal was awful.

Yes!!
1988 CR250, had a loan and sadly, no insurance.

About 2-3 months later, I received a call from the RCMP, bike was retrieved from some kind of Youth Gang.

I was expecting my bike to be thrashed, but it was was in BETTER shape than when it was stolen lol (front number plate was missing).

And like RupertX, I had to pay towing fees, storage fees, blah blah.
Was soooooo stoked to get it back, as I still had payments left ;-)

Yes but it was a neighborhood kid friend of mine older brother who took it. I was 14 had this 79 rm400 I left my stuff outside. It wasn't a issue house was out in the woods. You would have had to of known about it.

Him n one of his friends stole it skipped school and rode it on the other guys property. My friend told me who took it. I got the county sheriff involved. But they dumped the bike on the guys property right next to the guys property. Apparently they couldn't do anything because thier weren't caught in possession of it. And it wasn't on the guy who stole it property.

The rear fender was broken off from looping it. I then sold it to the oldest brother. And about a month later the rear hub exploded from not checking the rear sprocket bolts. I got to see it happen. Said dbag who stole it went on to be a meth head who ended up in prison.

Michael Akaydin had his bike stolen from a SX race 6 years ago, and tracked it down himself:

https://www.motoxaddicts.com/2016/01/26/michael-akaydin-his-stolen-bike…

https://racerxonline.com/2016/01/25/privateer-recovers-bike-that-was-st…

We had a 250xc stolen, found the guy took pics and took them to the police.
They weren’t interested in helping at all. Told me I should have locked it up. It was. Chained too.
Wheelie boys type stuff. I even had video of them ripping through town on it.
Fast forward a few months later , wheelie boy smashes a car and ends up in hospital.
Guess who gets sued for car damages? You guessed it.
I had to provide a police report that they wouldn’t give me to keep me from being libel. Room an act of Congress to get a police report saying it was stolen, and I tried to recover it legally.
I hate thieves. I hate cops more.

Yep it was tore up. Judgement against the guys. They end up not paying I got stuck with the bill. American justice at work next time I'll get my money's worth somehow.

Yeah it was quite the story on here:

19 pages.

https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/Bike-Stolen-From-Tunnel-…

I can't believe they make you pay for storage and transport fees once the owner has been found. That's daylight robbery at its finest.

Never heard of here over here in NZ.

Sort of. We sold this bike to a club member in '99. Got a call from the police in 2014 from a town about 3 hours away trying to find out who the last owner was. Still had the graphics they put on it after they bought it.

Not mine but had a friend put his yz 125 for sell. Couple of guys came and looked at it and said they would think about it. Bike was stolen from his garage couple of nights later. Fast forward about 3 weeks later and we are at Lake Whitney getting ready for practice and a truck pulls up with his bike in the back. Long before cell phones so my friend goes to tell the owners of the track. One guy took off down the road and the driver got busted. Lol

Insurance company will pay it. Insure your shit.

My dad stole my trail 70 soon after he gave it to me. After the divorce he bought it for me and said it was mine. While I,m bailing hay he went to the farm where I lived and he no longer ownered. He grabs my bike. He wasn’t supposed to b anywhere near my Mother. He only gave me the bike to start a big fight between my older sisters and me. In 2020 my brother in law a insurance adjuster found it sitting outside for years at a guys house. My dad kept moving it to diff places so I could never find it. He doesn’t know that I never wanted it back . After a few days when I was 9 it bothered me but I got over it. It brings back a lot of bad memories. Pic is my brother in laws place.

It wasn't my bike, but a buddy bought a trick Cobra 50 for his kid at a storage auction in Northern Arizona (we lived near Phoenix). It wasn't running and too big for his kid at the time so he sat on it for a year. Had some really nice bits on it. He couldn't get it running, so I said take it over to my buddy Jason who does a lot of work for fast national kids. He drops out it off and Jason calls me and asks where he got the bike. I tell him and he says it's stolen. Jason custom built the race motor for a kid going to Lorretta's and it was stolen the week before LL's. The thought at that time was someone was trying to sabotage the kid's chances at LL. $5K motor in a Cobra. Dude bought it for $150 at the auction. Seized by the police and returned to the owner. Sucked for my buddy, but right thing to do.

Best recovery story ever was Time Ferrys Dad taking down some drug dealers in Florida to get his sons bike back before Lorettas. It's somewhere on a pulp show

I know it was on the Weege show from Loretta's.

Press play.