I could have written this for my Ducati, but they nonetheless stole it, put it on a flatbed, tried to drill the ignition and fuel cap to start it and failed because Ducatis have had immobilizers for decades now. One dreams of a better class of thief but if they had the IQ would they be thieves of a multi-decade-old motorcycle? The tax that morons levy on the rest of us cannot be understated.
There is long-ago-deleted reddit AMA by a motorcycle thief who was never caught before retiring. The details he went through made me believe he was the real deal, even if not actually retired.
One of the things he stressed was all the ways people think motorcycles are stolen aren't they ways motorcycles are stolen, because those methods are used by would-be professional thieves who get caught. The professionals are the ones who don't get caught also don't use the same methods.
The thief mentioned replacing OEM ECUs with some sort of home-made jobber that was "good enough" to start the bike and ride it away--the actual way motorcycles are stolen--to a shielded transfer point, typically a delivery truck, where the buyer waits to collect and pay for the stolen bike.
Only e-bikes in the city, haha! Banned by order of the wife since we have a young newborn. "When the kids go off to college" she says knowing full well that I know that 20 years without and getting on in my sixties will kill me instantly.
I tried a bike once, and that was enough. My brother had an R6, and since we were both idiots, he encouraged me to give it a try.
It was on that day that I discovered that their brakes are thankfully equally potent as their engines. I finished the ride and realized that if I ever got a bike, I would either be jailed or dead in short order, so decided to not get one.
I know there are plenty of more reasonable bikes out there, but the problem is I would gain skills on those, and then talk myself into getting something faster.
I don’t have a problem with fast/fun cars; I’ve had a Datsun 280Z with an LS1 swap (waaaay too much power for the tires and aero - if you launched hard, it would start to hook up in 3rd, and by 110-120 MPH it started getting floaty), and used to daily a Honda S2000 (favorite car I’ve ever owned - they’re like big go-karts). But bikes are on another level. The only thing I’ve experienced like that was an acquaintance’s MKIV Supra, where every upshift feels like the hand of god shoving you back, there’s a cacophony of intake shriek, blow-off puff, and exhaust roar, and you’re doing your best to keep focus.
Man, I love engines. EVs are definitely the future for a variety of reasons, but I’m still sad about it. The sheer number of mechanical pieces all working together in perfect symphony is mind-boggling and beautiful.
I used to know a guy who had a 45 minute commute who planned for ages to commute by autogyro - had spoken to farmers to get use of a field near his work to land etc.
Eventually his wife said "fine, commute by motorbike" - which was the original intention all along!
> Only e-bikes in the city, haha! Banned by order of the wife since we have a young newborn.
This seems to be how it goes. My own father used to ride a motorcycle back in the day - until it almost fell on me and my sister when we were screwing around on it.
Off that motorcycle went, never to be seen again after that.
Look at what these lead-lickers did https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CBgoi28hXoI
Obviously, I recovered the bike and repaired it only to nearly be killed by an Uber driver at which point I called it a day.