Disclaimer

For Science!

FWIW, chicks that aren't conservative aren't typically conservative in the sack either.

Who cares about the mice problem

...Pics of roommate and sister?

Thief's response:

And here’s what the thief has to say:

“I’m not exactly sure how I ended up with this life. I was basically a

normal American kid who was very shy and did well in school. My best

friend was basically a dirtbag and he made it seem cool to be a dirtbag.

I started off dropping him off at bikes to steal, then scouting out

bikes for him to steal, then helping him steal bikes, then stealing them

together.”

“I figured out quickly that the guys we sold the bikes to made more

money and assumed far less risk so I saved my money so I could get on

that end of things.”

“I considered myself small time but I was involved in the scene for

over 10 years. While my name was brought up in investigations I was

never charged with a crime related to this business and I never

“informed” on anyone. I quit when I felt the risk exceeded the reward.

Maybe it was the guilt, the shame, maybe I was just finally growing up. I

lived a lie for a long time and even if no one knew it I was painfully

embarrassed inside because of the life I had been leading. I love

motorcycles and I was the man responsible for that sickening feeling you

have when you wake up to realize your baby has been stolen and I was

responsible for it A LOT. Towards the end I would sleep in sweat pants

and a hoodie because I knew any day my door was going to be kicked in

and I wanted to be comfortable as possible in jail.”

“I’ve been out of it all for 4-5 years and I still am trying to figure out how I became that guy.”

Types of motorcycles: “Mostly supersports. They are the most

commonly crashed and generally the easiest to find (left outside in nice

apartment complexes) Next would be Harleys and for a brief moment in

time the high dollar choppers.”

Best security: “Never, ever, never never never,

NEVER leave your bike outside at an apartment complex. Especially one

with a gated parking garage. The gated parking garage in a mid to high

rise apartment building in the nice part of a large city is the number

one place for bike thieves to go ‘shopping.’”

“As far as passive devices go I like the NYC fughetaboutit chain/lock

from Kryptonite, the thicker of the two. It needs to go through

something like a braced swingarm whenever possible. If you absolutely

have to put it through a wheel put it through the rear wheel. It takes

much longer to swap than the front wheel. Any $100 disc lock will work

well, again, rear wheel, locks on the front are more easily defeated,

take my word for it. Cheaper disc locks can be quietly, well, we’ll

leave it at that, cheap ones can be defeated in silence.”

“Lo-jack and Lo-Jack w/early warning are pretty good at recovering

the bikes from amateurs and semi-pros, but someone who knows what they

are doing will remove the lojack system quickly after clearing the area.

Still someone even more professional (surprisingly rare) will have

somewhere to check/store/breakdown the bike that is rf shielded. The

problem with lo-jack is that it doesn’t keep someone from stealing the

bike. Even if you get it back in one piece without the police crashing

into your bike to catch the thief you’ll still likely have a broken

upper triple, damage to the neck of your frame (Steering lock), damage

to your ignition, damage to the tank lock, possible damage to the tank

itself (rareish) possible damage to the trunk lock , and then your

insurance company might fuck you too. It’s much better to not get the

bike stolen in the first place. So in addition to lo-jack you want some

sort of VISIBLE passive devices to make the thief move on. The paging

alarms are somewhat effective, but they aren’t linked to the police.

Removing electronic devices is obviously more of a mental challenge than

a physical one. The quality of the install is a huge factor here. Hide

the lo-jack or alarm in or under the airbox and all the wiring within

the factory looms and you’ll have a good set up. However, almost NO

dealer tech is this thorough. It’s not his bike, why would he go the

extra mile?”

Best locks: “Of the dozens of [thieves] I knew over

the years I only came across one like this, but I knew someone that had a

pair of bolt-cutters that weighed a lot, more than a 45lb plate at the

gym, and had replaceable cryogenically hardened teeth. They cost several

hundred dollars. The high dollar chain lock sets $150+ are worth it.

Even the high dollar braided cable locks are good. They can be cut, but

it’s a pretty time consuming process.”

What makes you pass over a bike? “Personally, if

it’s rashed up, looks cosmetically rough, but mechanically sound. Say

grips are worn, been dropped on both sides, but the chain is clean and

well-adjusted, tires worn hard on the edges, has any signs of

safety-wiring for the track etc. It’s lack of value isn’t what I’m

looking it. It would remind me of myself once upon a time. I think

that’s probably all he’s got, his whole world, it’s not pretty, but he

rides the piss out of it. He gets a pass.”

“More for most people, just what takes time. I’ve known very very few

stone cold guys that can sit there for an hour working on a bike. Most

people will give it a few seconds, maybe a couple minutes, and if they

can’t get it they are gone. What is only seconds feels like an eternity

when your freedom and life are on the line. Quality disc lock on the

rear wheel, quality chain and lock, lockable bike cover and theft

coverage on your insurance. For me, lo-jack isn’t worth the cost. It’s

more expensive than theft coverage and after a thief has had his way

with the bike I don’t want it back. All can fit in a back pack and

aren’t much of a hassle to carry. Never leave it outside very long day

or night.”

Security tips: “If you’re temporarily parked outside

somewhere a good little FREE anti-theft trick, bring a stubby flathead

with you and remove your clutch lever. No clutch lever and they aren’t

riding anywhere. Of course if you do this every night outside your

apartment they’ll just come back with their own clutch lever.”

“LOCK YOUR FUCKING STEERING – DON’T LEAVE YOUR SPARE KEY IN YOUR

TRUNK. I can open your trunk with a butter knife, don’t leave me your

fucking key in there, jesus. Happens more often than you think. Also,

don’t leave your TITLE in the trunk, i’ve seen this too often too.

Steering locks aren’t that hard to bypass, but they aren’t THAT easy

either. Sometimes you get the freak one that doesn’t want to break and

you’ll need to come back with a second person. In that time maybe the

owner sees the bike and the thief doesn’t get it. Had it been unlocked

the bike would be gone.”

“Again, if you park outside of an apartment and your bike gets

stolen, rent a fucking garage or self-storage unit near by to use as a

garage. The thief is just going to wait a couple weeks for insurance to

replace your bike and come back to check. If someone tries and fails to

get your bike the same thing applies. Move it, they WILL be back.”

How much do you earn per bike? “It varies depending

on yr/make/model/condition. About 10-12 years ago there was an out of

state buyer we used to crate bikes to that had the ability to create

titles for them who paid $3500 for near new 1000cc supersports.

1,000-1,500 is more typical for super sports. Harleys vary quite a bit

depending on model and options, from 1,000 for a basic late model

sportster to several thousand for a highly optioned fat boy, road king

etc.”

Ride ‘em or van ‘em? “There is this common

misconception that a few guys load bikes into trucks and vans. The

people who get CAUGHT load bikes into trucks and vans. Your career will

be very short if you’re loading a 185mph rocket (that likely has a

tracking system) that will outrun the police into the back of an 85mph

van that will take you to the scene of your arrest. If you can’t start

the bike and ride off then you damn sure can’t find and remove lojack.”

“In 10-15 years I’ve known a couple dozen thieves and only one that

was foolish enough to load bikes into a truck or van for any length of

time. He learned to wire them after he was caught, twice, lol.”

“I was taught to never ride a hot bike anywhere you didn’t absolutely

have to and to ride strictly by the letter of the law. You don’t get it

if you don’t have somewhere to take it, you don’t ride like a jackass

and risk your money/freedom, it’s not a bike, it’s a job, and it’s

payday. Generally you got the bike, rode it straight to your

destination, and broke it down.”

A final word: “The majority of thieves aren’t that smart and half of those are on drugs, please don’t be dumber than they are.”

Ask a motorcycle thief

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2012/05/ask-a-motorcycle-thief/

So earlier this week, the guys over at RideIt

had an idea: solicit a motorcycle thief to do one of their Ask Me

Anythings. First answered by a cop in London and later an actual bike

thief from the US, the results are positively illuminating. Here, we’ve

edited the material into something linear and easily digestible. It’s a

must-read if you don’t want your bike to get stolen.

The original Ask Me Anything request reads:

- what type of motorcycles did you target and why?

- what’s the best type of security system we can get for our motorcycles?

- how and where should we position chain locks on our bikes so you don’t

take bolt cutters to them? how easy is it to cut high quality locks?

- what deters you the most? as in when you see a motorcycle and analyze it for a steal,

- what makes you go “no, not that one.”

- what does a gallon of bleach taste like after you swallow it?

Let’s look at the responses from the cop first:

“The thing is security costs money. Its not a 100% guarantee but it gives your bike a fighting chance.”

Types of motorcycles: “The most popular bikes for

thievery are sports bikes and those bikes which you see around more

commonly. Reason being in an age of trackers, HPI checks and people

knowing much more about how to be smart when they buy a new vehicle (so

as not to buy a stolen one) its much simpler for the thief to break the

bike up into parts and sell it for parts. In fact only a few weeks ago

we raided a house and found 5 motorcycles in various stages of being

stripped down.”

Best security: “The most common way of stealing a

motorcycle is by lifting it off of the ground and loading into a van.

Quick, easy, quiet, once the bike is in the van its invisible, riding it

comes with a greater risk of being caught. Plus you don’t even need to

know how to ride it. No need to override the ignition. It couldn’t be

simpler. We have seen them in the past put a scaffold tube under the

front forks and under the back of the bike near the shock and lift it

between 4 of them. Even a big sports bike at 200kg is only 50 kg each.”

“For this reason your first priority must be to stop it getting off

the ground. Only a good chain, lock and ground anchor will stop this.

Ideally you need something which is hardened and 16mm diameter plus.

Otherwise they may well be able to cut it with bolt cutters. Which for

them is ideal because its quick and very quiet. A good lock is one which

is hard to pick and very hard wearing. We don’t see many picking

attacks at all, in fact I don’t think I ever have but for peace of mind I

use an abloy on my bike.”

“Another good tip, always lock it off tight, don’t leave a lot of

loose chain on the floor. If you do the the chain is vulnerable to

freeze and sledge hammer attacks.”

“A decent ground anchor should be very solid indeed. The ones which

you sink into concrete are best but not realistic for most people unless

you’re putting concrete down anyway. A strong bolt down is mostly very

efficient. Some are better than others. I’ve got a hardie ground anchor

because you can lift a lorry cab up with it and it won’t break. Another

great thing, disc lock alarms. I’ve got two, one on each wheel. If the

bike starts moving they go off and make a right ruckus, just what the

thieves hate. Also things like alphadot, smartwater, with visible

stickers are deterrents too.”

“Ideally garage your bike. If its on a driveway then get one of those

PIR security lights. The thieves do not want a “and by the light let

your good work shine” type scenario. A dummy CCTV camera is good to,

because a lot of thieves will be put off even if they think its a fake.”

“In terms of decent locks the very best padlock that I know of is the

Abloy Protec 362. Its what I use. Its got a 15mm boron steel shackle,

very heavy duty. Its military grade, used in bank vaults. The Squire

65CS is another good one, although not as hard to pick as the abloy. In

fact the abloy is yet to be picked I believe. The abloy is very pricey.

Look out for them on ebay. It will be a significant saving for you.

Those locks are both very hard to bolt cut. The squire hides the shackle

(shrouded). Makes it hard to get any sort of grip on it with bolt

cutters. Often you can’t even see enough of it to put cutters on it. The

weak point is normally the chain. A lot of manufacturers make

lightweight chains you can use around town but are bolt cutter

resistant, not proof.”

How to lock up: “Ideally not through a wheel. A

wheel is easy to remove. Its great having a really secure wheel but like

I say a lot of the time they get sold as spares so through the frame is

great. You can’t do that with my bike so I’ve put it through the gap

between the engine block and the down pipes then through the front forks

which is either going to be quite time consuming (likely set the disc

lock alarms off) or very noisy. Lock the chain off tight. What I mean by

that is it shouldn’t have much slack between the bike and floor at all.

You may have to make a cut in the chain sleeve in order to be able to

do this. But its really worth it. If the chain is loose on the floor its

much more vulnerable to sledge hammer attacks, freeze attacks, wedge

attacks and bolt cutters.”

How to deter a thief: “The biggest deterrent is a

secure motorcycle. Reason being there are lot of insecure ones out there

and they will go for the low hanging fruit every time.”

“Remember what a thief doesn’t want is to be caught. Being caught is

the biggest hazard in their line of business. Business is how most of

them see it. Make your bike more risky than other bikes and they’ll go

for easier pickings. Reminds me a while a go I was on foot patrol and

saw a lovely Ducati 916 with a chain through the back wheel, not

attached to anything. I did give the owner some advice and it was

heartening to see that he did take it on board. Ultimately your goal

should be making getting caught in the act as likely as possible and the

maximise the time it would take to steal the bike.”

“The point is, the more trouble the thief has to go to the longer its

going to take. The vast majority of thieves got for the low hanging

fruit. This is about not making your bike the low hanging fruit.”

Dedicated Reddit Thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/t5shp/ex_thief_chopshop_operator_ama/

I think the handwritten letters are a nice touch, to add that little spice of 'extra craziness'.

Though I prefer the magazine cutout-style.

Leave the cell phones, take out the automatic transmissions, seatbelts, airbags, power steering and power brakes, let darwin sort it out.

I can maybe find common ground on eliminating slushboxes, but all those other things protect ME from YOU more than they eliminate YOU from driving like an ___________ (teenager, blue hair, crackhead, clueless idiot, etc).

Death by Snu Snu!

I wouldn't ban you. I'd just put you on everyone's ignore list.

Put who on everyone's ignore list?

http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_2dd02134-477f-11df-aba6-001cc4c002e0.html

Missoula Police Lt. Steve Brester, who led the investigation, said Jan. 1 wasn't the first time Davis had been on the wrong side of the law.

Davis was a registered violent offender with a criminal history going back 10 years, including a felony conviction for assault on a police officer.

You'll have to point out where he was LEGALLY carrying (considering his felony would preclude him from having a CHL, besides the fact it's illegal to carry and have alcohol in your system)...

Sassiness is not classiness.

He's got you there Pauly... the way you're indiscriminately murdering everyone that pisses you off.

^^^ this.

From my interpretation, this study basically showed the air around wind farms is greater than the surrounding area. If that's what they're banking this study on, then brake discs and stove tops are also major contributors to global warming.

This might be a dumb question, but in regards to field stripping and officers doing that, do offers carry the appropriate tools to field strip all pistols? For example, you need a small punch or equivalent to breakdown an LCP.

Looked like a good pup lived a good life with a good owner. Sorry Coyote.

Nice choice brah

Wondertwin powers activate!

The only time I went to a jail (and im sure prison is VERY different) is when I had to pick up my stupid ass Indian friend for getting a DUI. For about 30 minutes that night, I played my part in a Harold and kumar film.

Speaking of dick squeezers... NPH didn't happen to end up in your backseat that night did he?

Regardless, he served his punishment. Stop trolling

I don't see how a reasonable person CAN disregard this. If all Mr. Ramey would've said was "I just got done serving my time" and left it at that, then sure no big deal. But I dunno how you can just disregard the attitude and tone of the OP.

i mean i beat 3of4 charges come on now but anyways if u wanna get the guts tore out that busa let me know

And honestly, congrats on that. Sucks you got 2 years on the one charge that stuck, but beating most of them is pretty good. Actually, that's one of the things I found interesting about your appeal, saying you had, to paraphrase, "incompetent defense counsel". I dont know if you legitimately felt that way or if that's what you were advised to say in your appeal (I know lawyers sometimes throw a bunch of stuff out and hoping at least one of them sticks), but the fact that your defense team got you out of 3/4ths of the charges was proof enough to the appeals judges that your defense WAS competent. I just found that part interesting in an ironic twist sort of way.

In regards to the busa... Your bike would waste my bone stocker but I'll probably be bracket racing a few times this summer, so if you wanna line em up for a bracket race, I'm down.

I read that too, but if a judge and 12 jurors didn't believe your side of the story vs. Shrek's in a court of law who are we supposed to believe?

so ur telling me im at a bar i attend weekly and u come in i dont like ur style u play music i dont agree with i walk up smack u what are u going to do? then the question will be is there more to the store..............

No, I think he's saying that when Shrek tells you to quit hitting on ladies that are obviously not enjoying your company, you probably should just leave the situation at that instead of going back moments later, surprise cold cocking the guy and then trying unsuccessfully to GTFO before the cops come.

Or maybe he's just saying you make poor decisions when you're drinking? I'd say the jury's still out on that, but it isn't.

Glad you're done paying your debt and want to put it behind you, but it sorta rubs me the wrong way when you play the "It was self defense, the system screwed me, I'm the victim"-card in your OP.

Methinks theres more to the story... especially after reading the decision on your appeal. But hey, welcome back on two wheels.

You don't need to burnout on street tires*

*There are a few exceptions. For example, depending on the track that day, my bike will either launch or spin at the line. If it spins, then I'll do a 1-2 second burnout (literally, I'll just spin the tire 5-10 rotations, only enough for barely a wisp of smoke) the rest of the night, followed by a couple dry hops to the staging beams to makes sure it won't spin. But the traction compound on the starting line usually makes it unnecessary to do a burnout.

Ohh, and the other exception is cameras, if someone is filming, you gotta rock the burnout!!! Yut ugh!!!

And here's an even better link that goes by state -- http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/112-2012/h192

Right down party lines in Ohio... hope some remember this the next time they vote.

Overall, these are the tea-partiers and the other conservatives that America voted in there back in 2010 to protect America from Obama and big gov't... yet it's the conservatives that continue to push for big gov't spying on their own citizens without having to go through legal channels to do so. Both parties have their downsides, but if you had to make a choice between a welfare state and a police state... you better think hard about which is the lesser of those two evils.

Casper's article hit it on the head --

"Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all."

So, when the debate comes back down to smaller gov't and protecting the Constitution, I don't think it's the Dems, Progressives, or Libertarians that should be thrown under the bus -- it's the hypocrites paying lip service to the above while doing the exact opposite. Actions > words.