No wonder bikes disappear in broad daylight!

Today, I have been mostly picking up a shonky old VFR750 and riding it
back to its final resting place, as in 'my house'.

Stopped for a bite to eat at Lakeside on the way back, and locking the
steering lock etc before I meandered off into the 'restaurant' about
to be blessed with my presence.

Having eaten and returned to the bike, I put the key in the ignition,
turned it to 'off' to remove the steering lock only to find to my
displeasure that this was still on.

Various efforts to get the lock to release involving the key / the
screwdriver in the bikes tool kit were to no avail, so I ventured off
to a nearby B&Q and came back armed with a big feck off lump hammer
and pry bar, and used these to show the lock in question who was boss,
given it had the usual 'shear off' bolts keeping it nicely affixed to
the yokes.

In short, in order to achieve my aims, I had to 'smash **** out of it'
in a rather noisy fashion... in broad daylight... in the middle of a
car park heaving with people, so I wasn't exactly inconspicuous.

And you know what?

Not one person came over to see what I was up to or to ask if I needed
any assistance.

I'm quite surprised by the latter - I've pulled over on occasion
around these parts in the past just to make a phone call etc, and have
had what turned out to be other bikers stop to see if I'd broken down
and needed any assistance, and I've done the same myself when I've
seen bikers sat at the side of the road looking a bit miffed.

Not fussed about the lack of attention on that score... but what does
concern me is that no-one seemed to give a shit that I was doing
something which would indicate I was potentially lifting the bike.

Keep 'em well locked, ya hear!

 

Last year I went to the Meldreth Manor bike show, I locked my helmet
to the bike with a cable lock thingy and went off. When I came back I
found that I didn't have the key for it, so I spent about 15 mins
using every tool in the tool roll getting the thing apart, none of
the probably hundreds of people who passed within about 10 feet of me
raised an eye.

 

Unlike the chap at the local Asda, last week.

Parked his brand new (300 miles on it, I later found out) Street
Triple and wandered in. As I wandered out, I stopped to have a look
and noticed he'd left the key in the seat lock... D'oh!

I played the good Samaritan, grabbed the keys, went inside and got
someone to "tannoy" him. He was rather bemused, then rapidly
embarrassed, as he had another key in his pocket... and I had the
spare!

 

A professional would have had it off of there in about five seconds,
(if that), I reckon, so that might have helped. ;-)

 

I've done the same before, but with car keys.

Having spent ages trying to break into the bloody thing and to the
point I'd got a recovery chap out to it, we suddenly noticed a note
under the front wipers asking me to nip to security, who when I got
there, gave me the keys which had been found by a passerby, hanging
out the drivers door lock.

T'was a pretty dingy car park to be fair, but I still felt like a
right idiot for not spotting the note... never mind not taking the
fecking keys with me when I locked it, in the first place. ;-)

 

odd that.