Bandit Alley
GENERAL MOTORCYCLE FORUMS => GENERAL MOTORCYCLE => Topic started by: jbrough7 on May 26, 2006, 05:40:56 PM
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Get home from work and figure I'm going out again so I just leave the key in the bike BUT I never go out and then the next morning find the bike sitting there with the key in it!
Now, to me, it doesn't really matter much as we live in the country, with a long drive and various angry mutts running around. Was wondering how long your bike would last in YOUR parking spot if you did that, before noted freaky criminal types like below absconded with it??
(http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/packageart/mugshots/michaeljacksonmug1.jpg)
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Mine stays nice and comfy in the garage at night so I don't worry about it too much.
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Yeah, mine's garaged too, but I don't think an occassional slip of leaving it in the drive with the key would be a disaster. On the other hand, just how much effort are you saving by not pulling the key out?
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I leave my key in mine, but in the garage. I don't actually know why. I don't with my cars. Hmmmm...
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Many bad things can happen when you don't pull it out in time.
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Any good things?
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Bad things? Woo hoo! Little Bandits all over the garage!
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mine stays in the garage right next to the 1150es
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Jim, I don't know what things are like over your neck of the woods.
But for years now the keys to my bikes never leave the ignition unless I have to get the seat off.
Maybe it’s the style of bikes I have, they just don’t draw the attention of bike thieves. They have their eyes on Harleys, the very latest sports bikes and of course the exotic European bikes.
And one of the main reasons I do not bring the keys inside into the house is, if some lowlife wants my bike that much to break into the shed, they can have it, the last thing I want is to be waking up to a goes banger in my face, or worse still the lowlife pricks terrorizing my family just for a efen bike key.
The bikes are insured, ok I will not get back what I’ve lost, and all the hours in customizing them, but I figure that sweat f#*# all to the damage of my family being terrorized. Yes I do have first hand knowledge of family members being terrorized by lowlifes with guns. My sister was a bank teller, and 20 years on, still has never got over an armed hold up.
And lets face it, they really don’t need the key in the first place. 2 blokes and 2 skateboards, and as we call them a ute, you guys call them pick ups, and your bikes gone.
Nine times out of ten your bike would never see the road again, it would be stripped down for parts and sold off. So not having a key really is of no consequence to a bike thief. Also your bike would have been picked out as a theft job well before you have forgotten to take the key out, a very low percentage of bikes stolen are for joy riding.
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You make a lot of sense. I never thought of that before. Shoulda too, cuz a lady I work with used to do that when she was young. Told me her and three friends would ride around in a van, find a harley, heft it into the back and then take it to a garage and chop it up! Make a few thou in a night's work!
If you customize your bike and it is stolen, can you add that onto the value when insurance pays up? Just a thought.
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I am not persuaded. Leaving the key in the ignition just makes it easy for a casual thief to steal your bike, just as it would leaving a key in the front door.
If someone wants something you have bad enough, they will find a way to take it, and facilitating that for them is not the answer.
I refuse to live in fear. I will be proactive in securing what is mine.
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I refuse to live in fear. I will be proactive in securing what is mine.
You got my vote, Sven. I've worked too hard to get most of my stuff to just leave it around for the first yob who comes by to grab and run with it. I think of it this way: I'm helping someone to avoid a criminal act and the bad consequences of that act for all involved.
If they want my stuff bad enough, let 'em come and try to take it !!!
I'm sorry, but I cannot agree with the "They're just material posessions and they can be replaced" philosophy of some folks.
They're MY material posessions and anyone who wants 'em has got to go through me first.
I guess I'm just not as easygoing as some guys......
End of Rant
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Mine lives at my buddys bike shop most of the time. I have my own set of keys to get in when i want. But when I do have it at home it gets put away in the basement at night (no garage) . There have been a few times that it stayed outside and the key did come out. But I don't lock my house.I don't even know where the key is for my house! I have my neighbors pasture to the N. of me,my woods to the s.and w. of me. I'm 300ft.from the road,and the nieghbor across the road is another 350 ft. from the road. So if someone want to get in when I'm not home they might as well open the door instead of breaking a window. If I am home,I'll just shoot them!
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Same with me and the keys to my house, although my 112 lb. labrador acts as a very strong lock.
With the shooting issue, I suppose if I woke up and heard somebody rustling my motorcycle out of the drive, shooting him with my .22 (no jokes about a 'feminine' gun please), then that would be deemed excessive force and I would be charged, not him.
Heard about a home-owner in the States who saw a thief taking off with his TV. He filled the guy's rear end full of buckshot but then the homeowner was the one charged! Suppose that would be the same in Canada.
So if you see a guy taking off with your stuff, it's safer for you to just let him go??!!? I dunno.
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But I don't lock my house.I don't even know where the key is for my house! I have my neighbors pasture to the N. of me,my woods to the s.and w. of me. I'm 300ft.from the road,and the nieghbor across the road is another 350 ft. from the road. So if someone want to get in when I'm not home they might as well open the door instead of breaking a window.
You're the kind of person that always ends up the first victim in one of those novels that features the random killer. The guy who comes in, helps himself to a glass of milk, then murders the entire family in their beds. Bodies not found for days.
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I live in a pretty safe neighborhood, we even went away for a weekend and forgot to lock the front door, not a problem. But, if I left a key in anything left parked in the driveway - all that would be left would be the burnout marks in the driveway. (I park all the bikes in the garage.)
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Park it in garage.
Lock the yoke.
Lock the wheel to a pipe.
Take the key.
Cover it.
Set force field.
Done.
Imagine what I would do if I owned a late model GSXR?
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I am not up to leaving my key in my bike but, I no longer lockup the car when it is parked. I have had the car broken into 3 times now and have had to replace a window each time. Scew the stuff inside, nothing of real value anyway but, the fricken window cost me close to $300 each time.
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I live in the country too. The closest grocery store in 15 miles away.
a small convenience store about 3 mlies.
never had anything stolen,but i take the key and lock the locks just to keep honest people honest. dont like to leave temptation laying around.
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If they are brave enough to steal my bike it's probably an "ex-client" of mine....and while deadly force is not allowed to protect proprety...when I catch them they will wish it was!
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If they are brave enough to steal my bike it's probably an "ex-client" of mine....and while deadly force is not allowed to protect proprety...when I catch them they will wish it was!
You work in the donut industry? :stickpoke:
:bigok:
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You work in the donut industry? :stickpoke:
Haven't you seen him on TV? "Time to make the donuts...I *made* the donuts..." poor tired man.
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Many bad things can happen when you don't pull it out in time.
Ahem! Fer shore! That's how most of us got here in the fust place, son.
But all seriousness aside, what works for me is to turn the wheel all the way to the left, lock the steering and pull out the key. That's become a ritual even though I put the bike away in a garage EACH and EVERY time.
Good habits are as easy to form as bad habits, and they're usually a lot less costly in the long run. :clubme:
Herb
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For some reason, I have a habit of leaving the key in the helmet lock after securing the helmet. I think it's called brain damage.
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I figure that a "professional" thief ( i.e. one that's going to liberate your bike to take to a chop shop) isn't going to care that the keys aren't in it.
However, there are criminals that do things because an opportunity presents itself. I wouldn't want to put that temptation in front of them.
That said,.. I once rode during the "Santa's Anonymous Toy run" and left my keys in the ignition by accident at the end of the ride. :duh:
I suspect that they were very safe though, with the other 1000s of bikes. I have heard that no biker will mess with another person's bike.
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I keep my bike in the barn. I usually keep the key in the house on a key hook. I lost the key last week. Had to use the spare key. I have left the key in the bike once or twice, not intending to.
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I actully did have a peeper a few yrs ago. Wife was woke up by a flashlite shining through our bedroom window. (about6 and1/2 ft.from the ground) Theres not reall y time to grab a gum from the gun cabnet anyhow,and I don't want to end up shooting anyone anyhow. But I've brawled a few X,was a wrestling coach, I booked out the slider door while trying to slip on cut off sweats. That was my mistake,I should have went but ass naked,so he didn't get a head start.It was so dark that night you couldn't see where he went. It was muddy so I got the latern to track him down. But then we heard a ATV head down thre road. This whole time my German Shepard stay in the house.(fine watch dog she is!)
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We had some coyotes come close to the house the other night....they were howling in the trees behind the house but they sounded like they were in the living room! I ran out with the trusty black lab and tried to chase them down for a bit of fun. Ran back in the bush and kept hearing the coyotes ahead of me but I couldn't get any closer and get a good look at them.
Turn around to look for the dog and she's sitting back at the house by the front door, looking at me like I've lost my mind!
I always knew she would stand behind me through thick and thin - I just didn't know it would be 1000 yds. behind me! :wink:
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We had some coyotes come close to the house the other night....they were howling in the trees behind the house but they sounded like they were in the living room! I ran out with the trusty black lab and tried to chase them down for a bit of fun. Ran back in the bush and kept hearing the coyotes ahead of me but I couldn't get any closer and get a good look at them.
Turn around to look for the dog and she's sitting back at the house by the front door, looking at me like I've lost my mind!
I always knew she would stand behind me through thick and thin - I just didn't know it would be 1000 yds. behind me! :wink:
Hey, she ain't stupid. Those are wild animals, tougher than nails, and she ain't gonna be the one that feeds them!
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So what am I?? Chopped liver?
Who feeds the darn thing every day? Who talks to her and encourages her in her canine diet?
Who trained her to crawl under the rug when a perp comes on the property?
And for all this what thanks do I get?
She sends me off alone to face Wile E. all by myself!!
:sad:
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TAKE A MINUTE AND LOCK YOUR BIKE.....
TAKE THE KEYS WITH YOU.....
DON’T MAKE IT ANY EASIER FOR A THIEF TO RIP YOU OFF.....
WE ALL KNOW THAT IF THEY REALLY WANT YOUR BIKE, THEY CAN GET IT, BUT DON’T HELP THEM DO IT!....
ALSO, MOST OF THE INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL NOT PAY, IF THEY DISCOVER THAT YOU LEFT THE KEY IN THE BIKE.....
WE ALL KNOW THAT INSURANCE COMPANIES WORK HARD TO AVOID PAYING A CLAIM, DON’T HELP THEM CHEAT YOU.....
I RIDE MY BANDIT EVERYWHERE; GOOD NEIGHBORHOODS, BAD NEIGHBORHOODS, UNFAMILIAR AREAS, SO I ALWAYS LOCK MY BIKE AND TAKE THE KEY.....
DON’T HELP A BANDIT, STEAL YOUR BANDIT!!!!!
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So also says McGruff, the crime dog!
(http://www.mcgruff.org/StarringMcGruff/wallpaper2_thumb.gif)
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If you customize your bike and it is stolen, can you add that onto the value when insurance pays up? Just a thought.
One word answer, NO.
You have to remember our anti gun laws over here.
Years ago I was very pro active in ther defence of my property,
but since my guns have been taken from me the only people still left are the cops, yeah like they are gonna help when I ring, "someones stealing me bike", "yeah will get there in an hour or so", and crims. So my pro active days are over, unless they wanna take my bike using a butter knife.
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I live in the country and,that having been said, I never leave the keys in any thing except th Drz. I paid for it and it's mine...why would I give it to someone I don't know?
The 2 kinds of people I hate are theives and liars. They should all be shot just on principle.
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I live across from Manhattan NYC in NJ, and one night I went over to my friends house the next town over, and left my keys in the ignition. I came back several hours later to realize this and was surprised the bike was still there.
About a week later I parked my bike by my house and took the AirHawk seat cusion off and left the keys in the helmet lock overnight. Found it where I left it the next day.
Both times I considered myself lucky that some kid that would've been tempted to take it, "just 'cause it's there", didn't happen to go pass my bike. Because that's exactly what would've happened.
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"jbrough7" If you customize your bike and it is stolen, can you add that onto the value when insurance pays up? Just a thought.
One word answer, NO.
You have to remember our anti gun laws over here.
Years ago I was very pro active in ther defence of my property,
but since my guns have been taken from me the only people still left are the cops, yeah like they are gonna help when I ring, "someones stealing me bike", "yeah will get there in an hour or so", and crims. So my pro active days are over, unless they wanna take my bike using a butter knife.
WHERE I LIVE, MY INSURANCE COMPANY COVERS YOU FOR $1,000.00 OF YOUR ACCESSORIES WITHOUT ANY EXTRA CHARGE TO YOUR INSURANCE POLICY.....
HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT COVERAGE FOR ADDITIONAL ACCESSORIES, THEN YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE BIKE OVER TO YOUR INSURANCE OFFICE, ALONG WITH YOUR RECEIPTS AND GET THE ADDITIONAL COVERAGE FOR AN ADDITIONAL COST.....
IN BOTH CASES, YOU SHOULD SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS AND TAKE PHOTOS OF THE ACCESSORIES AS SOON AS THEY ARE INSTALLED ON YOUR BIKE.....
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"Vidrazor" I live across from Manhattan NYC in NJ, and one night I went over to my friends house the next town over, and left my keys in the ignition. I came back several hours later to realize this and was surprised the bike was still there.
About a week later I parked my bike by my house and took the AirHawk seat cusion off and left the keys in the helmet lock overnight. Found it where I left it the next day.
Both times I considered myself lucky that some kid that would've been tempted to take it, "just 'cause it's there", didn't happen to go pass my bike. Because that's exactly what would've happened.
I WISH I WAS AS LUCKY AS YOU.....
:congrats: