Bike knocked over: it hurts

[willem]

last night I heard some noise outside my window. I live in a pretty crappy neighborhood so I didn't even bother to look out my window. There's two apartments below me, and my XS is parked on the sidewalk next to the building, below my window.

So about an hour later, my downstairs neighbor rings the doorbell to tell me my bike is on the floor. Some *ssholes must have either tried to steal it (idiots, this thing is worth nothing 2nd hand and there's a brand new R1 around the corner) or they were sitting on it and playin around. I hope it fell on someone's leg and that person's hurt badly now.

The bike was on steer lock, and fell to the left off the center stand. So my headlight is cracked slightly, my clutch lever is bent badly and has its end snapped off and there's damage on my exhaust, left grip, footpeg, and left mirror. Also lost about half a tank of fuel, which is now on the sidewalk. Of course the bike wouldn't start anymore, since fuel from the float bowls went everywhere.. This morning it started up again though, phew.

But the worst thing is the emotional hurt. My XS is a bit of a rat bike, so the scratches mostly add character I think. But just the fact that someone had the nerve to throw it on the ground and just take off.. really not cool. It's weird how emotionally attached I am already to this chunk of steel, despite it abandoning me a few times already. I love it and I've hated it, but it's mine. If I ever catch the guy who did this...

I need to get a house with a garage... Well, at least I know I'm able to put it back up on my own

 

[Pork Chop]

Damn that sucks. Some people got no respect for other peoples property. Hope the repairs are easy on the wallet.

 

[Ringo_60013]

Had a similar thing happen to me, a couple of years ago. Went to Uni in the morning, left the bike outside the house as the uni was only a couple of minutes walk. Came back 6 hours later to find it still under its cover lying on the ground. It fell on the right side, sidestand was still down. Hit the neighbours car on the way down; well, if he insists on parking so close.... Bent the handlebars slightly but i didn't notice straight away. I think it was the wind which blew it over though....

Its just a crap feeling to think its been lying there and no one cared enough to try and lift it back up. Hope you get yours sorted soon man.

 

[Skyn3t]

Hate to hear that man

 

[drewpy]

that sucks, now you'll be on edge for a while.

get a cam on it and record anyone who mucks about with the bike

 

[Scorpio1963]

That realy sucks man,just so you know its a common place here in the states for people to do these kinda things.Auto and motorcycle theft and then vandalism are terribly bad over here especialy in our larger megtropoloses.Even in small cities like where I live these kinda crimes run rampant.Crappy neighborhoods are prevelant across Aermica so your not alone.Maybe if you cant get a place with a a garage maybe you can rent a small storage building near by that you can lock your bike up in.Also as mentioned get na security cam so you can keep an eye on your bike and record when your not around.
Also if it makes you feel any better my bike dropped over a couple of evenings ago on the right side breaking the front brake lever off.Fortunately nothing else.

 

[willem]

well most of it is actually okay. The scratching is just cosmetic, and my xs already looked like poo. The clutch handle needs replacement, but that's about it. Local shop parted out a XS400 Seca some decades ago, so can probably get one for cheaps over there.

Getting a cam is more trouble than it's worth probably. A decent one which can record faces with enough detail for law enforcement to do something with it, costs about 5x as much as my bike is worth. And then the police still won't do anything about it probably.

It's probably just some kids hanging around the neighborhood messing about. There are alot of bicycles parked in the street as well (typically Dutch, there are more bicycles in the country than there are people) and I've had my tire valves stolen more than once, like all people in my street. Not much to do about it really. Unless you catch them in the act, there's no knowing who did it.

I'm okay with it now, I'm just accepting it's the price to pay to live cheaply in a neighborhood like this. I have a great apartment with loads of windows and space, for a relatively low price. And the bike is still there, it runs and I'm grateful for that.

Thanks for the support though!

 

[Scorpio1963]

Why is it difficult or more trouble than what its worth?You can buy them along with recording devicese on the internet pretty cheap.

 

[willem]

well even if I would get a good vid of the person doing something, I don't think the local police is going to bother to do something about it. Unless they're murdering someone on camera, it's not much use to put it up

 

[Scorpio1963]

You mean to say that your local cops over there in the netherlands wont do anything about vandalism if you have prove.If not If I ever caught somebody messing with my bike there would be blood shed bad back or not.Adrenaline would make it so that I didnt feel the pain.Id be exploding on someone.

 

[willem]

yea i'd have shown them my knuckles up close if i'd caught them as well, but unfortunately they didn't stick around for that to happen