[Closed] Are 'Trail' type motorbikes really that much more desirable to thieves?

Around Manchester you often see chaps without helmets ragging ^ bikes around.

I wonder where they 'buy' them from?

They are light so easy to get into a van, usually have poor steering locks, no immobilisers etc and you can have fun riding around the lanes on them with no number plates on and no one is likely to stop you (no ANPR on the trails!!)

guaranteed theft item!

Judging by the extortionate insurance for my R35, I would say they get nicked rather a lot.

FYI my old DT125 had had it's steering lock busted in a previous life, so probably nicked.

Worth it though, trail/smoto bikes are ace!

Waaah! Looks like my fears have been well and truly confirmed 🙁 The extra insurance cost isn't really an issue but it'd just be really annoying to get it nicked. Looks like I'll have to go down another route. Thanks for the input, folks

Or I move and rent somewhere with a garage

any bike kept outside is only there temporarily..

All motorbikes are scrote magnets, but anything small capacity and 'ragroundafieldable' especially 🙁

Leave any type of bike that can be ragged off road by a scrote outdoors, it'll be gone in seconds. I know this from bitter experience

Motocross bikes are targeted due to their lack of registration. Basically like nicking a mountain bike with an engine. My motocross bikes require 30 minutes of chaining up and padlocking and so far I seem to have been lucky but nearly all of my riding/racing friends and MX club members have at some point had a bike stolen.

A trail bike is likewise very easy to steal and manhandle and easy to sell on for a few hundred quid - take the plates/lights off and you have an MX bike to the untrained eye. It doesn't mean you should steer clear of them but you will need to be security conscious if you opt for one.

All motorbikes are scrote magnets, but anything small capacity and 'ragroundafieldable' especially

I had an 84 CR500 stolen by kids. Lord knows what they were thinking but the bike was soon recovered along with the mangled body of the scrote that stole it. I was surprised they managed to kick it up, not so shocked at the result.
I still see the bloke who has a kid stole it and I can't help but smile as he still has a limp from his injuries.

I've only had 1 bike stolen, it was a Husqvarna 510 Supermoto. I've owned 40+ bikes.. Co-incidence ?

I owned my KTM 250 for the grand total of 36 hours after moving to Manchester with it. As well as getting through all the many locks, they dismantled a 6ft concrete fence to get it out of the garden. Never to be seen again.

Pleased to hear your CR500 story Craig. Thats put a smile on my face. If you nick one of those things and you don't know what you're doing, that result would seem pretty inevitable. Karma's a bitch innit? 😀

They'll nick anything they think they can have fun on but trail bikes are particularly attractive to them.

I had a Laverda Jota nicked out of my garage, it was found on it's side on railway lines.
Not really sure what went on but the railway police told me that someone had seen 2 'youths' push it across a field. Don't know if they meant to leave it on the lines or it just became too difficult for them to manoeuvre.

Mate had a ratty old CX500 for a couple of years, never had any bother with it being chained up in secured car park of his apartment complex. Replaced it with a ratty old trail bike which went missing on the second night of ownership.

A CX500 - without a doubt the least desirable bike ever built. Did it have a huge barn door of an aftermarket fairing on, and a pair of panniers? The polar opposite of a trail bike in the 'raggable' stakes. He'd have been safe leaving it unlocked with the keys in the ignition 😀

I'd pay good money to see someone try and ride a Laverda Jota off road. In a very different way from the CR500, I can't see that ending well either

A CX500 - without a doubt the least desirable bike ever built

The way that they are appreciating in value now says otherwise.

Know of a CR500 hospitalising someone within 5 minutes of him getting on it..He's a farmer rode MX in his youth,friends called round with the CR500 to have some fun on one his fields.He decided to have a go for old times sake..Did a lap of his field,got his confidence up,went for another lap & decided to jump a ditch.Broke a load of ribs & shoulder damage,less than 5 minutes from getting on it...
My mates garage got broken into 3 years back,he disturbed them,nothing stolen,Police concluded the scrotes had been after my XT600 as I had been round there earlier the same evening..

XT600, niiioce... bloody expensive now 😕

I had my Husky 250 stolen, found it an hour later through a hedge opposite a T junction 😆 the numpty that stole it also stole a tray of cat food and rode off balancing the cat food. We found the bike due to cat food tins all over the road, never found the numpty but figured out he got to T junction dumped the clutch trying to make a fast get away and piled through the hedge, new mudguard and was racing that weekend.

A mate put a CR500 on the road (he had seen John Robinson in Performance bikes do something similar) on TZR wheels, he spent lots of time lock wiring things back on, it spent lots of time trying to kill him in interesting ways including seizing on its way to an MOT at about 70mph.................

craigxxl - Member

A CX500 - without a doubt the least desirable bike ever built

The way that they are appreciating in value now says otherwise.

You are joking, right? They're a ****ing slug! You couldn't pay me to ride one of those bags of shit. I used to be a courier. Everyone else in the office rode those heeps. Complete with the afore-mentioned barn door fairings, panniers and top boxes. My tuned GSX-R looked rather conspicuous parked in the middle of a row of them.

They made more money than me. I had approximately 18,398,000 times more fun! 😀

You are joking, right? They're a ****ing slug!

The CX500 are quite popular in the modding scence as the engine, despite being heavy & underpowered, has a niche (Guzzi) look to it and is a reliable lump. Much 'sportier' than an equivalent BMW (i have an R45 cafe).

As for trail bikes being more nickworthy? My 82 DR125 trail bike has been stolen 3 times. 1st time it was locked in a garage with a locked car blocking the door (broke window and let off handbrake, broke garage door, cut bike lock). 2nd time it was locked <2m away from my head whilst I slept with the window open, i heard gravel sound but thought nothing of it. 3rd time they walked it off down an alley and gave up trying to cut the lock. I know for a fact the 1st two instances were by little scrotes (I had a chat with them).

Latest bike stolen was an MX bike. MX bikes & quads are always been stolen.

1 trend I've noticed (I've had 3 mtbs stolen too) is that they all get stolen just before the summer. Typically May/June time.

I'd pay good money to see someone try and ride a Laverda Jota off road

Can't give you the Jota, will a Panigale do?

T'husband was in a similar boat, being 6ft 6 and wanting a 125 (he actually passed his CBT on a 50cc scooter, because the Yamaha YBRs were too small for him to change gear comfortably). I'll point him to this thread and he can impart his extensive research on bikes for tall people. He's just sold his supermoto and is sticking with his Honda Varadero for the time being.

^ that. My current stress is what big bike to get 🙂 I don't fit on the XJ600 bikes the instructor uses, so he's advised buying something to learn on. Obviously don't want something with a super high CoG, don't want to spend a fortune either.

Pondering a 2008-2010 or so FZ6 Fazer at the mo.

Varadero 125s are awesome by the way, mines done 30k miles, been nicked at one point in it's life and it still zooms along. So much more torque than my little supermoto thing I had before, it pulls to about 60, then tapers off, maxing out at about 70 (with a 15 stone, 6'6" man on it).

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Another thing, other bikers nod at me on the Varadero, they didn't on the supermoto! 🙂

You need a GSXR for proper offroading

Edit NSFW - language is a bit sweary