Hi Guys On the 3rd June this year I was soaking in the bath after a hard day and heard the phone ring. I thought it was work, it was late so I thought, I'd soak on and bell them back later. Then I noticed the mobile had the dreaded 'missed call Tracker'! I ran downstairs to the underground car park and I saw my parkway empty. My Xena disc lock on ground and my front rotor 10 ft away! The abus chain was still threaded they the ground anchor. My guts dropped into my socks. Noo! Anyway long story short the CCTV on the next morning had two twats on a moped spring the garage door with a set of the biggest bolt cutters I've ever seen prise the seat off grab a handful of wires wring the steering looks neck and cut the chain. They could nt get the disc lock off but seriously batter the wheel and bottom forks trying then produce an angle grinder and cut the rotor off before prising the whole thing off. There are 60 parking spaces under my apt block it took a total of 47 mins from 22.40 and no one came in! What's the odds? Any of you seen that movie ' hardcore' with George C Scott where he looks for his daughter and gets a lead that takes him to a movie theatre where he sees his daughter in a porno. He can't watch but can't completely turn away. I guess it was a bit like that watching them rip my lovely bike to bits. Tracker said they were getting a signal but it's not a gps and in central London getting to within 50m may not be that helpful. After talking to the police and tracker and exaggerating what each had told me a bit I got a location and went there 12 hrs later. It was a needle in a haystack with lock ups and back gardens vans and all sorts of hiding places. It was pretty hopeless but I sat it out for a few hours then Tracker told me it had moved. They said they were dependant on a suitably equipped cop car getting close. The Met police have about 2- pox! I hassled them all day and then found out the vehicle had moved to Essex, the next county. They have more and she was still putting out a signal. On the eve of the next day Tracker said they were confident they had a fix on her. It took the po po 12 hrs to get a car to the site and they said they were nt picking up a signal so they had no probable cause to open any containers. After pulling in a few favours ( I can't say more here). The officer in charge applied for a warrant as the owner of container yard said the units were sublet and he could nt give them permission as he was nt the owner just the manager. When he was ordered to open it up, there she was. Pretty much intact. The police charged me £200 to get it from the storage agents they sub- contract then I had to wait for the forensics guys to finish with her. Then I had to get permission from the officer in charge of the case in the Met. He said he needed to speak to the OIC in Essex! Due to being on different shifts this took another five days. Add one day for the storage people to recognise my bike as the number plate was obviously taken off by the thieves. I said I needed to see it to decide how much damage there was before getting the insurance people involved as I have a huge (£850) excess. So another £150 to get it taken by van to my local dealer. Now bear in mind this is June and having ridden thru a rotten winter I want it back rapidly. Damn I missed I had fully comp ins but it was stupidly expensive. Anyway the total damage was £1600 to repair and the scrapes and dinks on the front end were filed under 'fix when possible'. The ignition lock, steering lock and two new disc rotors - The stuff took ages to come from Honda and as soon as it did my local dealerships Honda key specialist went on a weeks leave. It took 6 weeks and a lot of lost sunny days and horrible cattle truck journeys to work to resolve and to add insult to injury the CPS decided there was insufficient to charge the guy whose container it was! WtF! So I'm back on the road - yes it's cost much more than the ins but I've put a lot of love and money into her since I got her and I love her. I chose a black 2008 as I thought it was probably below the radar of professional thieves( I wanted a 2012 anniversary but was worried it was a scumbag magnet- ha!), besides I thought I might miss the whole summer if I d gone thru the insurance and having spent so much effort getting her back I wasn't about to cave in. 4 weeks ago I was riding home from work late and decided to stop for 10 fags and a pac of biccies. I parked up outside the shop but did nt want to block the cycle lane and I saw a lady with a pram coming down the pavement so I tucked it in front of my local bike dealers set off the pavement although they were closed. A couple in front of me were tutting about on their wine choice and I was a quid short in change so had to use a card but was in the shop 3 mins. I came out and while I was stuff my wallet in my back pocket under my riding trousers I looked up a saw a scooter wobble by with a guy on my blade no lights holding onto the back rack. ! I dropped my lid gloves and bag and tried to get my wallet in my back pocket. I'm two steps behind and to the side of these bastards, but like a slapstick comedy my overtousers drop and prevent me bridging the gap( a good tackle head high would have put as all over with me to top. But I trip and they get up to 15 mph and get 10 yard on me. I looked back and saw a car coming so I stood in the road car- Jack style so he had to stop. ' mate those blokes have robbed my bike can you catch up with them. Please?' He looks at me looks sideways and I see a heavily pregnant woman and two kids and a dog in the back. I look for any other car but oncoming the lights are red and they are gone. I sit on the pavement and just want to cry/ kill someone. I'm a professional counsellor and I forget everything I would say to my clients I run a thousand what ifs in my head and call the police and tracker who are calling me to say they have detected a movement alert. It's gone tho. I can't sleep when I get home and have to put with my lady's usual infuriating complaints about how much grief the bike is. I hassle Tracker. Next day I have to sit and hear everyone else's problems at work and I just want to say What about my Fireblade!?!? It was a tough day. At six that evening Tracker call- the bike is on the move and it's moving really quick. They think it's been driven. Po- Po get two cars on the M3 to intercept a blade between two junctions - nothing it gets thru. Apparently it's in a van travelling fast westwards. They go thru the next county and I catch my big break, not only do this force pick up a signal and call Tracker but they also by chance happen to have a chopper up on routine ( probably looking for heat emissions from weed grow rooms ) that can pick up tracker. I should nt say any more as the case has nt come to Court but the police track it to a location, get back up and walk into an' Alladin's cave' of stolen vehicles, Bladely has just been taken off the van and they have only got the tank off. It's sorted by 04.00 on the Thursday morning . I've been following it all night on Tracker updates. I' m desperate to see how much damage but the police say that it needs to go to forensics, bastards are arrested! And it takes a week before I can extricate her. She's 170 odd miles away and I have to pay the company that bought it back from Alladin's cave. I get some iPhone images and one of they guys there has a blade but he's at another depot. He says that ' it might not be too bad'. Yeah, relative to what -Marquez' s RCV at Mugello? I get a fairly local Honda specialist to collect it and they say ' it might not be too bad, but we have a full workshop so we can see the ( new) damaged ignition and steering lock or wires until it's on the bench. They ve been fine but it has taken 18 days to get an ignition barrell/ key from Honda (it's £200 cheaper than the whole kit with petrol tank and seat lock. While it's there I ask for a 22,000 mile full service ( I'm not sure if it's a late 16 or an early 24, but I had it all serviced both before the first theft. I find that she needs 2 new shims as the tolerance is out on 2 inlets. Arse! I'm still waiting for them to finish up but worse ways I'm back on the road this week. If anyone is still reading and paying attention you may have noticed something about how the bike was recovered. I'm happy to share this but only with subscribed members as while it ain't genius it outwitted those MF' s twice and happy to say all inclusive of vans, new locks services and repairs this whole summer saga set me back just shy of £3500. Should I have wiped my mouth and taken insured value -£850. Logically maybe but I don't want those bastards thinking they got my bike. I will write a victim statement and ask for compo when it goes to Court (assuming they are guilty). Point is I'm going to put a disc lock on when I stop for petrol- how crazy is it when you have to do that shit? I was stupid to leave it unlocked even for a minute so close to last time. Sadly my local dealer is closing as people are nt buying new bikes because in part of theft and the knock on insurance cost. I will return to thank those that helped and those who tried to but were nt much use ( hello officer). I don't want to screw with the prosecutions by being place specific on the second theft. Between 01/01/13- 3/06/13 73 motorcycles were stolen in my small London postcode- as far as I know no- one has been caught although the policeman in charge swears he will get them. I m saying no more on that. If anyone wants to ask me how she's a boomerang contact me only thru this page and I'll tell but only reg members and I 'll have to work out how to contact back. If the thieves had known- she'd be gone gone ! I' ll post up some images too. Ride/ lock safe! Garys
Sorry that you had to go through that Gary, but big respect both for your tenacity and conduct. I hope the pending court case has a positive outcome for you.
Bloomin eck wot a tough time you have had dude, i wud have just claimed on the insurance and not bothered gerring another bike. Ive heard bike theft in London is a huge problem and doesn't seem to me like the met have got a chance of ever stopping it, just win the odd battle now n then, bit like the war in drugs I lost a bike to sum scumbags back in 2007 n i didnt bother with a bike for a yr, if me latest bike goes, ill just give up on biking n spend me money on other stuff in life like holidays that scummy scrouts cant ruin! Feel for ya dude but you def gor alot of patience
Phew what a load of bad luck you have had Gary , I really feel for ya . What a bummer to watch your bike just a few feet out of reach get away from you . Well done for getting it back at last
Read the full hit dude and fair play to you for valiant efforts in retrieving your machine .Must be an hornets nest down in London .Why don't the cops just set up a sting bike and keep moving it mopping up these Arseholes as they go along
Good for you mate pursuing relentlessly to get it back. Lets hope you have a trouble free ownership from now on.
I know the pain.yours is prob worse watching it roll away in front of your face! I've had 2 blades taken from me before.my 08 blade recently in Aug this year! Hopefully 3rd time lucky! This one rarely leaves my sights, and I always chain in up to something substansive!
It may not seem like it but you have actually beaten these scumbags with your tracker being able to locate your bike ,just hope they get locked up.And you have more luck in the future.
Possibly consider strapping a couple of these boys to it when you fill up?? M5 Modular Crowd Control Munition (MCCM)
The rozzers in London don't give a sh*t, victimless crime as far as they are concerned. When I had a Blade nicked last year, first thing they said was 'it ain't coming back' second comment was 'are you insured?' third comment was ' no problem then you will get your money back' He seemed to take offence when I told him he was a prick.
Well done ......... what the hell do they get payed for ................... errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr solving crimes
My blade (cont) GaryS Thanks everyone your feedback cheered me up a bit. I' m over the worst now and looking forward to picking her up. Inleft out some bits cos it was turning into a novel but I should just add that the police responded so slowly all the CCTV on a 7 day record- delete turnaround including two that were staring straight at the 2nd incident ( yes I tried to get them but was told either I could nt or the police had asked so it was all in hand), yeah, it was deleted before they got their guy there. Then I got a letter addressed to the caretaker in my flats commiserating with him for the loss of my blade(!?). Ah Farkinell! As for the 'victimless crime'-how did he explain his definition of ' victim of crime'. I felt pretty victimised and theft last time I looked was a crime. And the observation, poorly received as I read it, that he was a prick-bravo dude. GaryS
Gotta say Gary, after reading your pain buddy, i had to sit down and have a cold beer, i was feeling totally stressed out for you matey
Shooting innocents and then lying about it!! even when the evidence shows they blatantly lied kn statements they still deny it, just look at the plebgate affair n when that innocent brazilian lad got shot in the face 5/6 times whilst being pinned down, yeah tough guys eh??? Wankers!!!!
Mate I'm glad you kept at it! I think I will have a tracker fitted cos when they stole my mint RR7 from London that was it never to be seen again and never to be investigated further..... You will have undoubtedly saved a few other poor souls from this experience by helping nab the thieving scum so it's always worth it
WOW, you've been through it there mate. You sound like Liam Neeson hunting down the criminals in "Taken" with "a very particular set of skills". Glad it (sort of) worked out but, although I'm sure there are many officers who would love to do something about these types of criminals, it doesn't show the Police in a good light. Hope the rest of your time with the Blade is less stressful.
Yeah that's Taken 3 (pitch it) They kidnapped his daughter (no way, damn...) They took his wife (Oh well..) Now they've stolen his Fireblade (They've gone to far this time..Argghhhhh, they're f**king dead) GaryS
