Florida Man Witnesses Chase Involving His Stolen Bike

For all of us who ride and love our motorcycle, theft is one of our greatest fears. Bikes are pretty easy to steal, so the danger is real.

MOTORCYCLE THIEVES ARE SCUM

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Motorcycle Thief Gets His Due

Orange County, Florida resident Chris Rodrigues knows this all too well, when he discovered on Wednesday May 8, that his bike had been stolen. The FOX News affiliate that reported on this story identified it only as a “$2,500 motorcycle” but we all know every motorcycle deserves more of a description than just its current estimated worth.

The shape of the rear of the bike with its undertail exhaust gives it away as an early-oughts Honda CBR600RR with a fender eliminator kit installed. If that color is original and not a repaint or a race body kit, it’s a 2003 or 2004 model year. This is one of those fantastic bikes that’s way more than the sum of its parts. As a track-biased sport bike, they’re a bit cramped for every day street riding but very easy to work on. Fuel injection means no carburetors to get all clogged up or have to diddle with, trackside. Knowing all of that, and knowing this guy probably loves his motorcycle, you can cheer along with all of us when you hear how he got his bike back.

Just a few hours after realizing, and reporting, that his bike was stolen, Rodrigues was watching the news on his television and got the shock of his life. There was a police chase on TV. He looked closer and recognizes his own motorcycle stolen just that morning. So of course he called the police to let them know that was his bike, and a few hours later, he and his motorcycle were reunited. He is reportedly very happy to have his bike back, since he knew recovering a stolen motorcycle happens very rarely, and he didn’t think he’d ever see it again.

How did the police catch the thief on that fast motorcycle? Rodrigues had parked his bike the night before with a nearly empty gas tank. He said, “That’s why [the thief] pulled over, he ran out of gas.  I had one bar left and riding like that, you can’t get that far. It was pretty funny, I was laughing at him on TV.” When he says “bar” he means the bars on the LCD fuel gauge, but you knew that, right?

So there’s one unlikely theft prevention technique: park the bike with an empty tank. It will only work if the thief rides your motorcycle away instead of stuffing it into a van, but hey, it just means you’ll have to ride more, right? That’s a heck of an excuse. Can’t come home yet, have to ride the tank empty!

Source: WOGX.com