[Fleck750]

Part 4
Here are some ways to detect stolen motorcycles and those who are stealing them:

Bypassed ignition: A stolen motorcycle—one with a defeated ignition—is usually operating without a key. If a motorcycle is being refueled with its headlight on, ask: How is the headlight on when the key was needed to open the gas tank? Answer: The ignition was bypassed. Stolen GSX-Rs have a “pigtail”—a secondary, prepared bypassed ignition that usually is found lying along the left side of the fairing. That is a clear indication that the bike is stolen. Stolen YZF-R6 Yamahas have a missing black beauty panel under the left clip-on.

Unusual helmet: Thieves often use whatever helmet is available. So it is not unusual to see stolen motorcycles with a rider wearing a dirtbike helmet. Bike thieves also tend to steal helmets merely by cutting off the strap from a helmet lock. So if the chin strap is flapping in the breeze, it should be a warning sign for law enforcement.

No license plate: Motorcycles without license plates being transported in the back of a pickup truck could be suspicious. A sportbike on its side in a pickup truck bed is a big red flag.

Part 5
The best way to keep your motorcycle yours is to be creative. Install a kill switch, but hide it somewhere that it cannot be easily found. And use multiple lay ers of security; locks, alarms, and locating devices work best when used together. Consider buying a cheapo cell phone and popping for the GPS monitoring feature. A thief may overlook a cell phone as a potential tracking device. The best bet is to scare off the thief before he or she decides to steal your bike. Again, once the bike is started, it’s gone. The odds of getting it back, in useable condition, are not good.

The task force has had some significant successes. In 2008, sportbike thefts in San Diego County dropped nearly 20%. And some of the most prolific thieves have been put out of business. Word has gotten out among the thieves that the modern sportbike that’s just sitting there, looking like it’s too easy to steal, just might be one of the team’s “bait bikes,” and the minute they start trying to steal it, they’ll be taken down.

Perhaps the most significant impact of Operation Knee Drag, however, might be the increased awareness of the crime. Bolger and Molina said they have been working hard to educate their law enforcement counterparts, and for good reason. If law enforcement isn’t aware of the problem, little will be done to fight it. The pair have video of a clueless patrol officer pulling up behind a stolen bike in a gas station (the officer’s not really clueless, task force members are broadcasting the bike has been stolen) and then just watching as the thief gets back on the bike, starts it and rides off. The officer didn’t know what to do, or what to look for.

It’s an incredibly tempting crime. Law enforcement is relatively unaware of how it takes place and isn’t enthusiastic about chasing a highspeed missile through traffic across an international border. The bad guys know that the rewards are high, the risks low. The best solution is prevention. RW What To Watch Out For

(Or, How The Bad Guys Are Stealing Your Bikes)

AFTER AN OPERATION KNEE DRAG PRESENTATION, ROADRACING WORLD WENT ONLINE TO RESEARCH HOW MUCH OF THE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO STEAL A BIKE WAS ALREADY AVAILABLE TO SOMEONE WHO WANTED TO STEAL A BIKE. WE WERE ABLE TO EASILY FIND VERY SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS ON EXACTLY HOW TO HOT-WIRE THE YZF-R6 AND THE CBR. INSTRUCTIONS ON BYPASSING THE IGNITION ON A GSX-R WERE NOT AS SPECIFIC, BUT IF YOU WERE LOOKING FOR A WAY TO DO IT, THE INFORMATION WAS OUT THERE, JUST NOT AS NEATLY PACKAGED AS THE INFORMATION FOR THE R6 AND CBR.

Based on what we found, we made the editorial decision to illustrate how simple it is to bypass the ignition on many late-model sport bikes. We’re not doing it to help the thieves; they already know how to do it. And what we’re publishing is well-known among many racers (who remove keyed ignition switches from racebikes routinely) and mechanics.

Our purpose here is to push the motorcycle manufacturers into re-thinking the anti-theft systems on their bikes. Some changes would be simple and virtually free; relocating some wires or plugs would help significantly. And sometimes it would simply be a matter of incorporating some anti-theft devices that are installed on the same models sold elsewhere in the world, like immobilizer systems that must match a chip in the key with a chip in the ignition black box before the bike will start. Yes, it may raise the price of the U.S. model. But it may also lower the insurance premiums.

Lastly, what you see here will help you identify a bike that has had the ignition bypassed. As a racer, the need for cheap parts is obvious. But buying stolen parts hurts everyone in the motorcycling community, and buying parts from a stolen racebike is unconscionable. If it seems too good to be true…
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