Stealing scooters

[Stig / Major Tom]

Just read of another Vespa owner in London dealing with thieves who trashed his ignition in their attempt to take it away. He awoke and chased them off.
Spent few hundred $ to repair - but now how to keep it while once again parked on the streets of that city?!
It was chained to a pole...by the front wheel....which sometimes they just remove when stealing it.

Not the first Vespa owner who wondered at the advisability of trying to own a Vespa in that city....even though these Vespas all have keys and ignitions coded to the ECU.

I can think of only one forum member here in the States who had their scooter stolen.
I had my Honda CB175 taken out of a closed garage in the 60's while I was in medic training in San Antonio - and at that time S.A. was not known as a safe place to live - young wife and I learned to stay out of downtown on the weekends!

I do not hear of much bike theft around here. I do see a lot of H.D.'s parked on the streets - which no one messes with.

Stig

[Mancashire]

Why steal something that so very few people want in the first place? I’ve not heard of any such thefts locally - maybe due to limited interest value. When I lived in Fairfax Virginia and needed to ride the Metro, I could lock my scooter in the motorcycle lot. This lot was not monitored by police or video and thefts occurred there several times each year. Most riders used multiple locks to hinder would be thieves. I would think that somewhere like London where residence have no dedicated parking, are at the mercy of the passing masses regardless of what they left on the sidewalk - bike, scooter, motorcycle, stroller. Having had my locked car broken into twice while parked in my driveway I no longer deem it safe to leave any of my possessions outside my locked house/garage. Moving to a slower paced more rural area of the county helps. Not an option for many.

[NorWeWa]

Had a broken string trimmer. Left it in plain site in the back of my pickup all summer every where I went. Nobody stole it.

Art 

[Stig / Major Tom]

Had a broken string trimmer. Left it in plain site in the back of my pickup all summer every where I went. Nobody stole it.

Art

Had a friend on Mass who took me to see his new apt in Manhattan, NYC.
When I was getting out of his old red Saab, I started to lock my door.
He stopped me.
"There's nothing in here to steal....but they'll break my windows before they figure that out."
He wasn't worried too much about his rusty Saab.
I did the same with my old Mustang convertible in Mass -- left the doors unlocked so they wouldn't cut my top.
Yeah it was stolen twice. But the police always found it over in Hartford, Conn!
Stig

[CROSSBOLT]

Had a skydiving friend who was a suit at FedEx in Memphis. He travelled a lot for the company so he left his 60's Pontiac beater in the long term lot many times with the key in the ignition. Never had it stolen but did find a note one time saying, "No thanks!" Har, har!
He really told that story!

[Neil955i]

Not necessarily Vespas, but scooter theft generally in London is at epidemic proportions Stig. Most are stolen by criminal lowlifes for use in street robberies (bag snatch etc) or gang violence involving blades or more rarely guns. Hence the unusual police tactic introduced of ramming stolen bikes when chasing them!

In 50+ years of biking, glad to say I’ve never had one stolen. A car, yes, but never my bikes.

[randyo]

I always used the dirty bike parked next to a more desirable bike philosophy.


the Item I've had stolen.... Chainsaws, my bad for leaving them out at my woodpile. over the years, at least 4, not inexpensive ones either, I still haven't replaced the biggest, a 94cc Stihl, cause I haven't had use, till now, I want to salvage some white pine in my back yard that came down in a micro-burst. should have replaced it when they were still under $1k, 20 years ago

   Snowshoes as well, 2 pairs stolen

[Stig / Major Tom]

I always used the dirty bike parked next to a more desirable bike philosophy.


the Item I've had stolen.... Chainsaws, my bad for leaving them out at my woodpile. over the years, at least 4, not inexpensive ones either, I still haven't replaced the biggest, a 94cc Stihl, cause I haven't had use, till now, I want to salvage some white pine in my back yard that came down in a micro-burst. should have replaced it when they were still under $1k, 20 years ago

   Snowshoes as well, 2 pairs stolen

Lout at my job with the county stole my 32" Stihl. County property. I was not sad to see that thing go! We cut and split 71 cords of hard wood that summer at the Children's Home. I had no business cutting trees that big! Lucky didn't get one of my crew killed
I learned not to tie a big one to our big Ford tractor - it lifted that tractor and drug it 50 yards when it came down - but it did miss the fire station!
My job at the time was as a crew leader to teach job skills to the county's chronically unemployed --- that summer, 'how not to die' while lumber-jacking! They were good guys most of them - but some days it was like herding cats!

Stig

[randyo]

Lout at my job with the county stole my 32" Stihl. County property. I was not sad to see that thing go! We cut and split 71 cords of hard wood that summer at the Children's Home. I had no business cutting trees that big! Lucky didn't get one of my crew killed
I learned not to tie a big one to our big Ford tractor - it lifted that tractor and drug it 50 yards when it came down - but it did miss the fire station!
My job at the time was as a crew leader to teach job skills to the county's chronically unemployed --- that summer, 'how not to die' while lumber-jacking! They were good guys most of them - but some days it was like herding cats!

Stig

I went to college for lumberjacking at Paul Smith's. About half of the forestry curriculum was hands on, timber cruising, surveying, silviculture, logging, sawmill, etc. in sawmill class, we were slave labor at a local sawmill for 2 weeks. Logging class, we had 2 logging sites for 5 weeks in dead of winter. The college had when I went there 50 years ago, the nations #1 woodsmen competition team, and still always a top contender.  Silviculture during black fly season We learn't forestry with 2 man crosscuts and axes as well as chain saws. One of our first assignments was to buy an axe, and sharpen it properly (hours of filing, and more hours with stones) only to get it graded for how well you sharpened it, but also the grain and hang of the handle. Personally I couldn't find an axe with a good handle, so I had to buy a good handle to replace the crappy one

I'm wanting the big cc saw to power an Alaskan chainsaw mill, not to fell trees, the micro-burst took down 2 white pines, both about 32" dbh and 140-150 feet tall.  looking to mill out some planks for making rustic lawn furniture, maybe some structural beams.

[JJJoseph]

I've always appreciated small scooters because it's easy to keep them indoors. The best theft-protection! If you check the handlebars they're always less than 2'-6" (standard door width).