The majority of motorcycles/bicycles stolen are stolen by professional thiefs and not your average joe. Which is why I always have my bike behind closed doors. The #1 rated chain on the market, NYC Fohgetaboutit (or however its spelled), is useless in less than 1 minute. The overall value doesn't mean squat to a professional thief. 2 weeks later you are going to find it in a alley without the fairings and wheels.

 

RojerLockless will tell you how much good his garage door did protecting his F4i. If anything, it gave the thieves privacy to work. Yes there are gangs of professional thieves doing the whole Gone in 60 Seconds routine out there, stealing bikes. Rings attract attention. Theft gangs are very territorial. And even still, going out and stealing 10 bikes a night they're gonna go for the easy kills. Sorry, they aren't the norm.

There was nothing professional about the group of teens I saw carrying a Harley Davidson down Diamond street in North Philly. Why'd they get away? Police response time to a theft in North Philly can run 30 minutes if nobody was hurt in the process.

There's nothing 'professional' bout popping the ignition and using a screwdriver to start the bike. Or hotwiring the bike. Or using lockpicks on the ignition

There's nothing 'professional' bout rolling up in a U-Haul, having 3 guys hop out and throw the bike in the back.

In Rojer's case, I'd bet my new bike that his bike was specifically targetted. They knew he had a bike, knew it was in the garage and knew he wasn't home. About the only thing that could have stopped it, if it was the target, was a good home alarm system with active monitoring of dialtone + backup communication with garage coverage.

A smart thief picks his targets and a dumb thief gets lucky. Most cases, there is very little special about our bikes to make them a target except the rider providing the opportunity for an easy steal. I'd bet you that if 10 bikes are sitting parked on a street, the bikes most likely to be stolen would be the ones with nothing protecting them. Next would be the ones with a single layer that did not include anchoring (disc locks don't count). Last ones to go would be the ones with more than one security system.

 

^^ Yep, pretty much, Kuro. It has nothing to do with whether someone CAN steal it or not. It's been proven that people can steal just about anything. Doesn't mean you shouldn't use security, though. Easy hits get stolen first and most often.

Real sorry to hear about your bike, though, cas...
Hope everything works out ok for you.

 

I totally agree with the fact that:

A) stealing a bike is extremely easy, regardless of type of anti-theft device that may be on the bike (that is the only reason why there are so many different types out there - they all have faults)

B) stealing a bike is opportunistic. Bikes are flashy and are an easy target


Unfortunately some of us have to find out the hard way...the best way to be protected is to have comprehensive insurance on it, and even then you may be screwed out of your $. In any case, I hope everyone can learn from something like this in case they havent already...

As for me, I decided to buy an 07 ZX6R. I found a really good deal that I couldnt pass up. I know this the CBR (F4i) forum but I will post pics soon as I pick it up. I just want to be out riding

 

Best of luck with teh ZX6R. I wonder what you think of the riding position of it vs. the F4i.. I went riding last week for almost an hour and a half nonstop.. and aside from a sore throttle arm, I felt pretty good.. I wonder if I could have done that on the Kawi.

Adam

 

VERY sorry to hear about your loss! My F4i is my first bike as well, and as such....I love it dearly! As it was raining every single day this week, and I was not able to ride it, I walked down 3 flights of stairs twice a day just to check on it It took me 2 years to get everything I needed together to get my bike, and I can't imagine what I'd do in your situation! Best of luck with your ZX6R, but your still going to miss that Honda

 

Thats what I'm scared of THE SMART THIEFS !!! My bike stays in the garage but I read awhile back someone here got his bikes stolen out of the garage. I have a pretty good old retired lady that does a great job of coming outside when ANYONE she has never seen approaches my house. But I still have a chain cemented to the ground in the garage for my old 67 pick up I had but know I use it for my bike. I dont live in a high crime area but whats the best place to go steal from ? My bike is chained to the garage floor, side door barricaded, and the fence to the back yard chained up, with a huge spotlight at the garage not to mention my American bulldog/pitbull mix Isis (only outside for a few hours out of the whole day)

 

I've heard that it's far from comfortable as compared to the F4i...

According to a few reviews I've checked out, it's also a bit less comfortable than the 600RR...so with that being said, I'm not too happy about that but after all, I'm not going to use it to cruise from state to state



Yea I was and still am pretty sad about the whole situation. I had the chance to sell the bike even before it was stolen and I felt too strong for it to just let it go...

But I'm hoping the new bike will help me recover much sooner

 

Pretty solid, the best feature being the dog if it likes strangers... preferably on the meaty side

Not insurmountable but not worth a generic F4i when there's prolly 10 easier somewhere in your city

 

Not even close to being an F4i !!!!!!!!! Its an F4 with F4 plastics and headlight !!!!! All of that wasnt just for the bike. Its for my garage period.