Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Neighbour being a top bro there. For sure owe him a bottle of your finest...

All year round for a long time - do try for alternatives during fog or black ice. These days I just wouldn't do it - side winds are a bugger too especially on high bridges - ask the high sided HGV guys.

What the fuck. Did he say "You normally lock it I don't look at it, and today you didn't so it's a free for all"???

What was the thief’s excuse, couldn’t quite hear...something along the lines of, “it’s usually chained up...?”

Edit - WAC’s! Maybe get an alarmed disc lock and decent chain anchor installed.

Shiiiiiit!!

So the "odd" coincidence is that I had a prospective buyer from Lithuania supposed to send a courier to pick up the bike today.

He contacted me this morning to see when the bike would be ready for pick up so I texted to say I was at home all day, available to assist the courier.

This morning was the very first time in 2 years that:

• I didn't have my kryptonite NY chain attached to my driveway anchor & the bike
  
• I had removed my alarmed lock
  
• I had removed my tracker
  
  

Those guys on the scooter literally cruise the streets daily to spot an unlocked bike.
This one took 2 years for them to get to that day.

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Mental. Neighbour is a legend tho!

Amazing if it were a true coincidence and not a scam. I’m surprised that you didn’t leave it locked like crazy til the courier arrived. Then again I suppose I’m way more paranoid

The DR350 has a ground-anchored Milenco on one side, another Milenco on the other, a disc lock, and stays inside a shed with two padlocks on the door. I don’t trust any bugger.

Talking of paranoid, after weeks of agonising over the design I finally decided on six mounting points (two per side) plus the two over the top connecting the pannier bags together.

Version 1, pretty slimline, roughly 14x10” rack area, with around 5” depth, and roll top. Cordura outer and tarp inner. Rack-facing side is semi-rigid with three thin sheets of foam and three layers of thin para-aramid just in case I drop the bike and the exhaust tries to burn through.

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Definitely an 'odd' coincidence.

Assume the buyer is the culprit and sends round people knowing it'll be unlocked for the courier?

Have you been paid by the buyer?

Look on ebay, choose any bike the last ten years and spot how many good used parts there arr available from these bikes with no crash damage, mostly listed in Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus and Estonia. That's where I'm sure most stolen modern bikes are headed.

Oof. Nicely handled by your neighbour and agreed that's some kind of coincidence.

Some years ago as we drove through the countryside, Polish friends told me about the local roads that have excessive numbers of crashes. They were mostly by FSU-block drivers using them toll-free. Apparently the drivers don’t care about fines or tickets, and drive eyeballed on uppers to do multi-day trips without any real breaks.

It would not surprise me if a handful of these return legs are with a van-load of illegitimate appropriations.

My bike has been sat for a while (several months). The battery has been charged overnight and i've given it some fresh petrol. It's a 125 with a carb (which I cleaned in the summer)

It's struggling to start. Eventually (after several attempts) It gets to the point where it will turn over if I keep holding down then ignition button. then I release the ignition button and it will idle for maybe 20-30 seconds. However the second I try and give it any gas at all it dies. Any online mechanics think of what it might be?

What voltage is the battery when sitting, when cranking, and when idling? Checked fuel is flowing freely? You turned the fuel on right? Is the choke working properly? Are you trying to give it gas before it’s warmed up? Checked your spark plug? Checked the correct main jet needle clip height? Are you sure the carb is clean?

I was working from home from the front room so didn't mind not having it locked.

It is just mad that they saw and seized that very short window of opportunity - at 1pm!!!

I have not been paid by the buyer, the courier does the bank transfer on pick up.

It got too late yesterday for the courier to swing by and I was having a baby today so pick up has been postponed until Sunday.

Will see if the guy turns up but from what my neighbour told me, these two thieves are very well known in SE as they have nicked his bike last year so I doubt they are part of an international ring.

But we'll never know since the police gives zero shits - they're too busy fining people without a mask

Yea just goes to show what ‘opportunism’ really means!

Glad you came out unscathed.

I have not been paid by the buyer, the courier does the bank transfer on pick up.

100% sounds like a scam to me:

1. Ask for your address
   
2. Tell you they're sending a courier
   
3. Send they scooter wankers round
   
4. Profit
   
   

I was having a baby today

Not sure if turn of phrase or congratulations are in order??

Aye aye. So officially dad now?? All good?

New S1000r looks worse and comes with a large price bump, glad I got mine earlier in the year! The headlights on mine are shite though...

Probably dedicated guys running back and forth, or pucker containerised loads with full paperwork in plain view. Port authorities check a very tiny amount of loads despite having those big live view x ray/cat type machines at their disposal.
Same for high end mtb and road bike, they walk off this island in plain sight, quite easy to stop if there was resources available to tackle it. (sorry makes me sound like a brexiting nationalist)

Get real! Those resources are too busy stopping people of colour minding their own business, they couldn’t possible divert resources to actual crime.

How are you getting on with it? Chatted to a bloke at the lights during the week on one, very nice in the flesh.

Headlights aside, I bloody love it! Begs to be ridden rapidly but there’s so much torque you can be lazy with the gears and pass everything without any effort at all.