Posts: 803
Joined: 7/21/2018
Location: Phoenix, AZ USA
Just curious how many of you have ever had your bike stolen. Also, anyone ever recovered a bike?
When I got back into mx two years ago, someone broke our apartment garage door and stole my bike a year later. Made me sick.. it was my childhood dream having a nice bike and was an ‘escape’ during a low point in life. Just got new suspension and plastics and about a month later it was gone and I had to eat the money spent
Posts: 137
Joined: 9/30/2009
Location: Big Rapids, MI USA
Yes had a KTM stolen from me in 97. Used to race enduros on a 300. My agent told me that I had a seperate insurance rider on my homeowners. Not so much once I filed my claim. All my bikes always have their own policies after that.
Posts: 5858
Joined: 2/25/2009
Location: Mankato, MN USA
Yes i Had my 1991 KX125 get stolen out my dads garage
I was crushed.
And not able to replace it so that was the end of racing for me, i didn't ride again for many years , and Started Drinking
And other things that i stayed away from when i raced because i was trying to live a healthy lifestyle for racing.
So that bike getting stolen was life changing for me, ina bad way.
Posts: 852
Joined: 5/30/2018
Location: Houston, TX USA
Back in early 90s I had worked sacking groceries and saved money to buy a bike. Bought a 91 CR125. It was stolen out of my garage about a year later. I knew a guy who knew all the local neighborhood criminals and I asked him to ask around. A couple days later I came home and my bike was in my driveway. I was never given any answers. It was scratched up a little, but nothing broken.
Posts: 803
Joined: 7/21/2018
Location: Phoenix, AZ USA
That’s such a bummer..I thought renters insurance covered mine, only to find out about a month later after filing my claim that only motorized vehicles for handicap purposes would be covered. I put insurance on my new bike before I even unloaded it, and was paranoid all the time. Still am—if I hear a 4 stroke in the area I check the garage pronto
Posts: 781
Joined: 12/23/2015
Location: Toronto, CAN
Someone bought a bike from me once and bounced the check on purpose if that counts. I eventually got it back when I drove to the losers house that was 3 hours away and made a big scene in his driveway in front of all his neighbors.
Posts: 9412
Joined: 7/6/2015
Location: So Cal, CA USA
Sorry to hear that Tarz.
2017 RMZ450
2005 YZ250-sold :,(
1998 YZ250
2005 KX250F
80% of the time it works every time
IG @2HRacing
Thanks to : Factory Effex, N2Dirt, Acerbis, DT1, Fasthouse, Matix, FMF, ASV, 100% & Mika Metals
Posts: 792
Joined: 10/11/2016
Location: Charlotte, NC USA
Edited Date/Time:
When I was in college, I would keep my bike in my apartment, and I would always take both wheels off and keep the axles hidden somewhere. Figured that would be just enough to stop a thief from taking off with it, though I never had a break-in at any of my spots to test that theory (thankfully).
Posts: 1376
Joined: 12/23/2009
Location: Coweta, OK USA
I've had 2 50s stolen. Got one back it was tore up pretty good. Never saw a dime on the restitution shocker there. Never saw the other one again.
Posts: 1459
Joined: 10/14/2017
Location: 86oh, CT USA
3 months ago I heard my garage door open at 430am(my bedroom is above my garage) Walked downstairs and 2 loser 12 o'clock boys were in my garage trying to steal my 450. They ran off and I ran inside to have my girl call 911 and to grab my firearm. Within 40 seconds they actually came back and took the bike. They didn't get far because I live in a very large hilly condo complex surrounded by thick woods. Its about a a 3/4 mile drive uphill just to leave the complex. Cops came and the k9 unit used the stolen vehicle they were in to gain the scent and got one of them in about ten minutes. The charged him pretty heavily and he's still sitting in jail awaiting sentencing. They know how the second guy is but are waiting for positive finger prints to come back from the stolen car.
The smashed my GF window of her car to get the garage door opener. They found the bike one complex over. Busted one of the radiators when he dropped it but that was it.
Its funny because i live in such a bad spot to try and steal a bike. after you ride or push the bike uphill for 3/4 of a mile you then have to ride the bike another mile down an unlit road untill you hit a main strech of road that is ALAWAYS patrolled.
Mike bike is now always chained up like fort knox
Posts: 24948
Joined: 7/22/2007
Location: St Helens, OR USA
I cross my finger's I never get one of my bikes stolen. Closet thing I had stolen was when I was about 15 years old , and a kid stole my Mongoose Supergoose , which I had a lot of money wrapped up into ( mowed a bunch of lawns , bucked hay and picked strawberries to get that money! ). Anyways....not a big town , and most everyone knew who the dirtbag's were in town. I got wind on who stole it ( another kid one year older than me ) , and told his brother my mom put a $100.00 reward on my bike's return. What do you know.......the thief miraculously finds my bike an hour later and brings it to my house. I beat the living shit out of that asshole and he never stole shit from me or anyone else I knew again.
And there goes Jeffro. One of God's own prototypes. A super high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
Ezza is Da man!
Pimpin' Ho's , Rollin' fatty's......drinkin' beers , beers , beers!! ~ Ja
Posts: 3685
Joined: 7/19/2016
Location: Sac, CA USA
Edited Date/Time:
My wifes trail bike was stolen a number of years ago. It was an older bike with minimal value, but she really liked it.
More infuriating was back when my kid was little, his birthday-present KTM 50 was stolen on said birthday. He was crushed.
It takes an exceptionally shitty person to steal from a 7-year old
Posts: 3846
Joined: 12/10/2012
Location: Bremen, OH USA
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Well there's not a warrant out for my arrest for assault and battery, so no, I haven't had a bike stolen.........yet. I've often wondered about the old Lojak systems. Seems that with smartphones and all, it would be pretty easy to get those down to a pretty small hideable size. Probably could do like Apple's find a phone app. Pick up the signal and follow it to the bike.
Posts: 803
Joined: 7/21/2018
Location: Phoenix, AZ USA
fourfourone wrote:3 months ago I heard my garage door open at 430am(my bedroom is above my garage) Walked downstairs and 2 loser 12 o'clock boys ...more
Damn! That’s crazy, glad you got it back. And glad those guys got what they deserve. About a month after mine was stolen, someone busted out my truck window and stole my shooting bag that I was using for something else at the time fortunately. Stole some Prednisone too
I was so pissed because Where was our security guard? Why is the gate ALWAYS broken? We paid a lot to live there. And almost exactly a year prior, our garage was broken into and my roommates Taylormades were stolen (but covered)
Posts: 3641
Joined: 1/17/2013
Location: TN, USA
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I put everything I had in storage after my divorce, including three bike's, parts and tools, got a call on Fathers Day to find out my unit was broke into and it was all gone. To this day, I believe it was an inside job. F'n rotten SOB"s. The bike in my profile is the only pic I have left of what WAS my dream bike.
There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear.
Posts: 774
Joined: 12/28/2017
Location: Everett, WA USA
fourfourone wrote:3 months ago I heard my garage door open at 430am(my bedroom is above my garage) Walked downstairs and 2 loser 12 o'clock boys ...more
Why didn't you have your firearm already on you? C'mon man.....
Posts: 803
Joined: 7/21/2018
Location: Phoenix, AZ USA
When it rains it pours man.. I don’t know how someone can just take something that’s not theirs and still be able to live with themselves, or enjoy it if they don’t sell it off.
Plus with a bike like yours, you can’t just insure, get a check, and buy another
Posts: 774
Joined: 12/28/2017
Location: Everett, WA USA
Posts: 1241
Joined: 3/7/2012
Location: Renton, WA USA
Back in 93 a so called loser friend stole my 79 rm 400. Found it a few days later rear fender broke off and silencer tweaked. Cops claim they couldn't do anything it wasn't found on their property. Last i heard he went on to be a white trash meth head who ended up in prison. He also stole another guy's bike i knew nearby. Him and his brother and like two losers stole like 5 bikes.
Posts: 3641
Joined: 1/17/2013
Location: TN, USA
Not to that extent anymore, as it takes a lot of money and time, especially with vintage bike's... I picked up an 05 KX 250 for cheap just to have something to tinker with so I can stay involved and keep me occupied. If the right deal on a YZ 125 comes around, I think that would get me riding again. Getting old just sucks, lol.
There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear.
Posts: 4110
Joined: 4/11/2010
Location: ATA
Posts: 47
Joined: 12/18/2018
Location: Prior Lake, MN USA
I had a brand new 1997 CR250 stolen while parked at a hotel. I had a cheap chain on it. In 2013, I had 3 bikes stolen from a storage locker. A 2010 YZ450F, a 2006 CRF450 and a 2008 KTM 690 SMC. I recovered the CRF a few weeks later and the KTM about a year later.
Posts: 774
Joined: 12/28/2017
Location: Everett, WA USA
Edited Date/Time:
Well I hope you find another one. The one in your avatar looks pretty sweet. It was Yamaha like that, that got me into riding. The neighbor had a clapped out one and I thought it was the coolest thing I ever saw. I was all about the bike life after that. He had a YZ490 at one point and well.......I still want one for no good reason.
Back on topic, I have not had a bike stolen. Because of that, I always feel like one day I may come home and she'll be gone.....
Posts: 442
Joined: 5/30/2017
Location: Albuquerque, NM USA
Never had one stolen, but I am always paranoid about it happening. There's some things you can do, but unless your house is fort knox, nothing is thief-proof. Chaining them up and things like that are only things that slow a thief down. If they know your pattern of life and know when you are at home and at work, they know when they can swing by your house and have all day to cut through chains or what have you. The best thing you can do is layer your security to either deter thieves or buy you time, and don't make yourself a soft target:
1. Don't advertise. Hanging out with your garage open is only showcasing the sweet stuff you have for thieves casing your neighborhood, to come back later and take when you aren't home. Don't put dirt bike stickers all over your vehicle. It just screams "I have one or more of them in my garage". The same goes for putting shit like gun manufacturer or NRA stickers on your car.
2. Don't leave your garage door clicker in your car. All a thief has to do (like in the story above) is bust your window out and open your garage. If you have one of those garage door openers built into your vehicle, don't program it to work with your garage door. I would advise against hiding spare keys outside your house. Also, consider getting a timer for your garage door. People forget to close their doors all the time and drive off to work, leaving it wide open all day. Cut the loop or knob off the pull string on your emergency door release. Thieves can stick a coat hanger through the weather strip at the top of your door and get a hold of the release if there's something on the end of it to grab on to.
3. If you have dogs who are good guard dogs, and you leave them out in your house during the day, maybe consider leaving your interior garage door from your house cracked open enough that they can go in there if they hear someone. Thieves don't like dogs.
4. Insure your bikes. If you can get accessory replacement coverage as part of your policy, do that too. I have full coverage with $0 deductible, comprehensive with $0 and accessory coverage with $0 deductible on three bikes. It costs me $22/mo. It's dumb not to have it. It may not give you $10k back on that new KTM, but anything is better than nothing. Keep receipts of everything and take plenty of pictures.
5. Get one or more cameras that alert you when it detects movement. This also serves as a deterrent. If a thief sees one of those Ring doorbell cameras or something like it, they probably assume there's more inside.
6. Keep areas like your front door or driveway lit up at night. Put plants like rosebushes or cactus under windows (thorny, poky stuff).
7. If you chain your bikes up in your garage, don't leave tools lying around that can help the thieves out. Lock up your tool boxes.
Most of these pricks are just looking for quick and easy targets of opportunity. The more difficult you can make it on them to steal your shit, the more likely they are to go next door and steal from your neighbor instead.
Posts: 1953
Joined: 10/29/2006
Location: Fredericton, CAN
Edited Date/Time:
Yup, first liquid cooled YZ125. Came home from a night of acting bad, gone.
I didn’t have it very secured obviously, but still a brazen act. Right behind my brothers back door.
For a couple days I kind of sat around in disbelief. Poor student with no toy.
Afternoon, heard a braap, braap in the distance. About a mile and a half away by then I cut two teenagers off on the trail, Frank Cannon style in my sort of insured LTD Landau and yelled, “get off that fucking bike”. They laid it down and ran.
A week later, sold it to finish school.
Keep your eyes and ears open. I wonder when a bike is actually recovered how far away they usually end up.
No chop shops in my small city.
In my 60’s and still loving dirt scoots up here in the frozen north.
2021 Husky 501s
Posts: 2808
Joined: 5/15/2012
Location: Richfield, WI USA
Not a moto bike, but when I was in 7th grade someone stole my month old GT Mach One bmx bike off my parents porch..I’ll never forget that day. Never found the bike but heard a few people mention the name of the person who may have stolen it. Looked the guy up not long ago- looks like a real fucking loser. Apparently 30 years later I am still bothered by it...
Posts: 412
Joined: 2/22/2014
Location: Minneapolis, MN USA
My brother had a brand new F350, 4 bikes, trailer/ramp stolen out of a SC hotel parking lot at 4am in 2006. Only recovered the truck 
Posts: 1203
Joined: 2/16/2008
Location: Fallbrook, CA USA
Edited Date/Time:
I did on Christmas of 2009. I got up to my mothers house late night Christmas Eve and didn't have a ramp to unload the thing from the back of my truck. I had it locked in and to my truck like Fort Knox and my mother lives at the end of a dead end road nextdoor to a police officer, but if a thief wants something, they're going to get it. The unnerving part of it all is that I am pretty sure they must have followed me to the area that my mom lives after seeing me drive into town. I later found out that they were driving around town, stealing other bikes as well. After about a week, I found the bike on Craigslist and almost caught the guys. They went silent after about a day or two of contact, so I spent days doing online detective work while trying to talk the police into helping me get it back. I later found out that a friend had contacted them and was trying to get it back for me, so I think they caught on and disappeared to cover themselves. Unfortunately, the two thieves swapped the frame before the detectives got to their residence and the owner of the frame was at the home when arrived. My motor was freshly rebuilt after the rod destroyed the cases, so there was no VIN stamped on the new ones.
You're probably thinking "the frame being swapped is unlikely." How did I know that it was mine? I lived in a small military town and the bike was a little odd. "2007 KX450F. I took off my graphics so there were no graphics on the fork guards, shrouds, or rear fender, just 205 on the number plates. Rear black Excel, front stock wheel, pretty worn rear tire. Black Renthal Twinwall Windham bends, Pro Circuit 22mm clamps, FMF Ti system- Megabomb and 4.1 anodized blue. Red engine plugs and front wheel spacers. Those things stick out the most. " The pictures that they posted on the Craigslist ad clearly showed my bike with all of the same parts, but the plastics with 205 backgrounds were removed. Additionally, I found one the guys Photobucket account and he had my pictures of my individual parts on there, probably to sell them individually online somewhere. Additionally, right after I found it, I had actually gotten messages from other people who saw the post on Racer X (thanks to Steve Matthes) about it being stolen saying that they found it on Craigslist as well.
The worst part of the whole ordeal? The police basically treated me like I was the criminal from start to finish. One of the best things that happened, however, was that a fellow boardmember and moto rider PMed me after seeing a post about it and asked for the case number. He never told me exactly what he did, but he was involved with law enforcement and had access to cases. He pulled the info up and told me exactly what happened and tried to keep me informed. Dumb mistake on my part for assuming that it would be safe for a matter of hours and I paid HEAVILY for it. I just paid if off a few years ago.
Posts: 517
Joined: 10/21/2016
Location: San Antonio, TX USA
Yep, I've been violated.
Lost an IT175 when I was in college. Found parts of it in the woods about 400 yards from my house. Wasn't enough to come close to making another whole bike.
Fast forward, 25 years and someone cleaned out my enclosed trailer. This time it was 2 vintage bikes (77 RM125B and 83 CR480) and my son's XR80. They also took my gear bag with about a grand of stuff in it.
All the cops would say is "it's all probably in Mexico by now"...and that's the last I ever heard from them.
The next thieves won't get a chance to cross the border if I catch them. Thug version of the Rainbow Bridge maybe, but not the border.
You kids get off my lawn!
2013 KTM450 Factory Edition
Projects......lots of projects!
Posts: 839
Joined: 6/14/2014
Location: Crestview, FL USA
Not a dirt bike but my first motorcycle was stolen. I was stationed at Beale AFB and in late 1991 myself and my now wife got an apartment together close to the mall in Yuba City. We where there 6 damn days when my 1991 FZR 600 was stolen from the parking lot. I went out that am to wash it and couldn't find it. I was in shock and walked around the complex for about 20 minutes before going to the office to see if they had it towed or what. Called the police and filed the report. They found it a week later at a hotel in Marysville. It had been wrecked, frame gouged, all plastics broken or cracked, back tire burned off and other random things. I was soooooo damn mad when I saw it. The tow company picked it up and took it to the yard only about 2 blocks from where it was found. They made it worse by picking it up with a chain. WTF??? Anyway, insurance company was going to fix it but changed their mind after a couple of weeks. All these years later it still pisses me off. How someone can steal someone else's stuff is beyond me...
About a year later i got my first dirt bike. Made a trade for my 1980 bronco for a Nissan pick up and a CR 500. Bike was road hard and put up wet but man did I have fun riding it in the river wash area under the Marysville bridge.
F thieves. ....
