motorcycle thefts in swansea wales

[outdooredjim]

there has been a van running around steeling bikes in this area for some time now, and it seams the police can not be bothered to do anything !!
night and day.

iv recently bought a gps tracker, less than £50 !! of ebay, uk supplier so you know the band is right,

its very small, easy to hide, and if you tape the wires it to the harness, its very difficult to detect. and it has battery backup if they cut the power.

and it only costs pence to run. and it does work . if my bike moves it will tell me .
it will tell me were it is every 50 meters.

and with in 10 meters ! iv tried it all over Swansea and its fine, if its put in a van ,it will only need I second or two of signal and it will reply to you with a place.
I figure , I have a better chance of finding it than the police have ! and quicker !

bike thieves are no better than paedophile's as far as im concerned, and deserve any consequences they get when caught.
hope this helps people keep or get there bike back.

[jfman]

Hide it in the airbox. If they dismantle your bike it needs to be in a spot where they wont find it.

[navalarchitect]

Quick update - the bike has been found! Publicity works, somebody out walking spotted it dumped in some woodland, recognised it from the media reports and called the police.

It's now been taken to the local impound yard and I can get it back on Monday. Unfortunately because its the weekend I can't even see it until then, but the initial message is "its damaged, un-rideable but repairable" so it sounds positive (short of a torching virtually anything is repairable so I should be able to sort it out).

A big thank you to everyone on this site for their support, it, plus the support I have had from the local community here in Swansea, has been fantastic and more than countered any negative feelings generated by the theft of the bike. I'll write a fuller message in a day or so's time.

[Fern]

fantastic news! One of my worst nightmares!

So happy for you!

[Wildman]

Hope the damage isn't too bad.

[Mal_C]

Very pleased your bike has been located. Most people work for things and a small group just take things - I get so annoyed with the second group (that is as polite as I can be on this forum!!!).

Hope the actions of the thieves does not delay the trip too much.

All the best and safe riding from a fellow Australian.

[jennycook]

So glad it's been found Martin , I'd shared on personal social media and that of Overland Magazine. I hope it's not too badly damaged.

[marcm]

Hopefully you can get it back ok without the other criminals wanting 200 quid for the pleasure of having it for the weekend or insurance company's being involved..best of luck.

[Rfothy]

Originally Posted by outdooredjim

there has been a van running around steeling bikes in this area for some time now, and it seams the police can not be bothered to do anything !!
night and day.

iv recently bought a gps tracker, less than £50 !! of ebay, uk supplier so you know the band is right,

its very small, easy to hide, and if you tape the wires it to the harness, its very difficult to detect. and it has battery backup if they cut the power.

and it only costs pence to run. and it does work . if my bike moves it will tell me .
it will tell me were it is every 50 meters.

and with in 10 meters ! iv tried it all over Swansea and its fine, if its put in a van ,it will only need I second or two of signal and it will reply to you with a place.
I figure , I have a better chance of finding it than the police have ! and quicker !

bike thieves are no better than paedophile's as far as im concerned, and deserve any consequences they get when caught.
hope this helps people keep or get there bike back.

any chance of linking your suggested tracker to this thread?

[niello8]

Fantastic news! Hope you get on the road in no time

[rtwdoug]

great news Martin!
I have some KLR bits, in case you need something

Doug

[navalarchitect]

Originally Posted by rtwdoug

great news Martin!
I have some KLR bits, in case you need something

Doug

Doug,
Thanks for the offer, I'll keep it in mind, but I've a dead klr back in Australia and hopefully that will supply anything I need. First inspection shows not to much physical damage to the bike, though the wiring harness will need some serious repair. Because of that I have not got the engine running yet, hopefully tomorrow, then I'll find out of there are any serious problems. Engine has just been rebuilt and they won't have followed normal running in procedures, just hope they haven't done to much harm.

All the best

Martin

[navalarchitect]

Well bike is back, wiring is bodged back together whilst I get a new parts but engine runs and sounds healthy. I've been very lucky. So now its over, what have I learnt:

1) Power of publicity. I would never have got the bike back without hitting the local radio / press / TV. Bike was dumped (or maybe parked for later re-use) in a wood and was found by a man walking his dog. If it hadn't been for the publicity he would have walked right by - as it was he recognised it from the picture in the paper and called the cops - who were then very efficient at recovering it and letting me know it had been found..

2) How good ordinary people are. I had great support from both here and the Swansea people, especially local motorcyclists. Support to the level where someone even offered me a free bike to continue my travels on. That support really buoyed me through the week without the bike.

3) Even local toe-rag thieves are, unfortunately, very good at what they do. Who ever stole my bike knew how to very quickly and efficiently hot wire it (just a matter of cutting the wires off the back of the ignition switch and twisting the correct wires together) and to disable anything that might be a tracker or alarm. Swansea also seems to be a bit of a vehicle theft hot-spot, whilst I was recovering the bike from the local impound yard I was told they were on track for recovering 300 vehicles that month (and it was a quiet time of year).

During the bikeless period I was offered some work and took it thinking I might need to fund a new bike - so this trip is now finished, before it began, but I'll be back in 3 months for another go.

Thanks everyone for your support.

[Scootergal]

Excellent news Martin. Safe travels for your next adventure.

[outdooredjim]

traker off ebay, its its cheep too runn too.

TK103 A Mini Spy GSM SMS Vehicle Car GPS Tracker Tracking Device Alarm System | eBay