you will find that track days are mostly responsible for bike thieft.
Go to the track a lot, need a lot aof part and need them cheap. here start a market that thiefs are more than happy to supply.
they are bike that never get stolen. I live in west London. Untill recently I did not have a garage.
BMW R1200C 18 months Not Stolen
VFR 800 2 Months Stolen
Triumph Tiger 30 months Not Stolen
R6 23 days Stolen
Daytona 675 Garaged… (in Fort Knox if any thief would like to know the address…)
I CANNOT NOT make the corellation between the fact the bike that you never see on a track stays home when the others…
Good pointers there mate…maybe we should have someone look out on the trackdays? sort of spy the bikes around?..take notes etc…who knows? But i do like where you are coming from…
Problem is by the time your bike gets to the track its in bits! So unless you can recognise a resprayed fairing panel or a swingarm then your buggered really
Track days and parts - that seems to be the main destination of stolen bikes - some bikes are stolen to order though it would seem. However as we all know the cost of replacement parts is very expensive (try working out the cost to rebuild your bike from a parts catalogue and compare this to the list price of your bike).
It’s not just track day types who want cheap parts we all do. Ebay is potentially full of stolen bits. Most of us use ebay so we can all do our bit. If something seems dodgy then why not report it? It’s not just ebay either. There are plenty of people out there selling cheap parts - if they’re too cheap ask yourself why?
A word of caution too. Unknowingly buying stolen parts for your bike is no defence under law. You run the risk of these parts being siezed should they be identified as stolen indeen you most likely will be questioned as to the source of the parts too. So in the end buying parts from dodgy sources could cost you a lot more than any saving you make in the first place.
Stolen bikes are VERY rarely sold as a whole unit…
the Cosmetics make a LOT of money (fairing panels etc) swingarms as well.
These are not parts that are ‘trackable’ or identifiable.
Yes, if you can identify a particular part by a certain way then it makes it easier…
but ‘fences’ (‘buyers’) know this as well and are reluctant to take an identifiable part unless they have a buyer for it who doesn’t care where it came from…
Parts places are not all above board and there is a huge market for aftermarket plastics etc mainly due to people wanting to repair thier bike at as lower cost as possible…
I’m afraid there is no ‘quick fix’ to remeding this.
Smartwater is usually a good deterrent and also simple, very simple, is go buy a UV pen and mark EVERYTHING you can on your bike with your postcode, then house number.
It’s invisible to the naked eye and a UV light is what we often use in raids to identify such marked up property…
It might not get your bike back as you remember but may go some way to catching those responsible or strangling those that feed the thieves…
See i can understand this too, as i have had to buy parts for my bike when i had my “off”? Thats why i bought new for most part and got some forks from a known breakers…so as best i could, i know they were not from a bike possibly stolen and parts sold?..but i can tell you that i DID see some sus parts, but not knowing for sure, what could you do?
For a start a guy was selling most parts for a blade 2005 model and when you looked you could see it was TWO different bikes…so that begs the question, what would a “normal” biker be doing selling off parts from TWO 2005 bikes, one red one black?..you can understand a exhaust cos hes just bought another one, or seat or stuff like that…but not fairings, mirrors,levers,wheels,forks,calipers…everything…and for TWO bikes?..think its time for us to check out ebay again…
supply and demand - they wouldn’t nick bikes if it wasn’t worth it and to sell the parts they need a buyer ie. us
the breakers yards are hot favourites, as long as they turn up minus the frame (“it was twisted in the crash” they are scot free to sell your bikes parts to them. MAg did used to goto race meetings and scan bikes for datatags etc but it wasn’t often and I don’t believe they do it anymore.
In general they dont strip bikes down or re badge them as theres just not the profit in it compared to luxury cars, £6k for a top range bike compared to £40k for a BMW X5? so most stolen bikes are for parts only.
Its the motorcycle breakers that accept the parts o questions asked that are the biggest problem by far, try it yourself, get a part from an old bike etc in good condition and then try ane sell it to a breaker, they’ll give you a price and thats aboutit - easy peasy…
“A crook made £20,000 by selling stolen motorbikes on ebay under the username NICKALOT, he admitted handeling the stolen bikes and was sentenced to do 200 hours community service”
Smartwater is usually a good deterrent and also simple, very simple, is go buy a UV pen and mark EVERYTHING you can on your bike with your postcode, then house number.
It’s invisible to the naked eye and a UV light is what we often use in raids to identify such marked up property…
smartwater is the way to go - my honda came with it already installed - but I’ve bought some more and made sure that EVERYTHING is covered in the stuff - I have 2 registration docs for the smartwater and I make sure I keep my details up to date with the register - I know that it wont help get my bike back - but if the police find a part of my bike and can prove it was stolen then that may help do the scum who nicked it and put them in jail.
The only way to stop crime is to make the punishment so harsh that it is not worth comminting it on the first place.
Do not get me wrong, I am not for the proliferation of Islamic republic where law is based on Islam but cutting hands of thiefs is not all together a bad idea.
Obviously, as a french man I completely desagree with the very harsh punishment reserved for adulterous couple ;-D
It is so sad that bikers would buy parts cheaply knowing full well that these are parts of a bike stolen from somebody else. But having said that if we wouldn’t buy them the thieves wouldn’t have a market, though I expect that most parts are sent overseas/abroad.
once the bike is nicked whats the point? - sure it may help the police get the thieves (100 hours community serice) but where does that leave you? Point is to stop making it so easy to steal in the first place and until the courts do something about this no one cares…bye bye bike…a simepl soution would be to stop buying cheap spares most of which are stolen…
ahhh I’m not saying that smartwater is the only solution - I think it’s extreamly important to make sure they can’t nick it in the first place… but if they do nick it I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure they can’t sell the parts… if you’re buying cheap parts run a UV light over them - then you know…
But can anyone let me know what they think they do with them…???
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