Protecting Your Harley on the Party Circuit: From the Forums
Ready to rock with Styx at Sturgis and ride for Ronnie James Dio this summer? H-D Forums shares tips on how to keep your Harley safe.
With Arizona Bike Week, Nevada’s Laughlin River Run 2019 and Florida’s Leesburg Bikefest set to kick-off next month, and with legendary, hit-making band Styx ready to rock Sturgis in August, and Southern California’s annual Ride for Ronnie expected to roll out again in honor of the late, great Ronnie James Dio on May 5, it may be a good time to go over some tips on how to keep yourself and your Harley safe when out and about at popular motorcycle events that tend to draw massive crowds — and, unfortunately, some bike thieves.
H-D Forums member Road Star recently kick-started a timely thread about “Bike Week Thefts,” and the photo he posted with it is the stuff of biker nightmares.
“Instagram, guy got his front wheel stolen,” he writes beneath a screengrab of an unlucky motorcycle owner’s bike lying on the asphalt with its front tire clearly having been lifted by a lowlife. “I have been to a few rallies,” he adds, “guess I’ve been lucky, so far.”
Although another H-D Forums Elite Member Purpledeuce questions the actual story, writing “I’m hearing some rumblings it was a repo,” there are a good number of HOG riders who offer their own life-learned precautions to fellow Harley-Davidson owners.
‘I always hope I don’t have something like this happen during bike week, but I double-check my insurance coverage before I go every year.’
“I always hope I don’t have something like this happen during bike week, but I double-check my insurance coverage before I go every year,” says Senior Rider Shodown220. “Nothing I hate more than a thief! We stay at the same place every year because they turn the drive through area where you would normally unload and load cars into a bike parking area. It’s one way in and one way out, so it’s not very open. So, you get the benefit of a covered parking area with 24/7 security guards so at least it eases the mind some.”
Forum member Norty Flatz suggests trying to stay under the radar to protect your investment. “Usually, thieves don’t take the flashy bikes,” writes Norty Flatz. “They’ll take the bikes that ‘fit in’ or that no one notices.”
Another H-D Forums member Gunrunner72 shared a cautionary tale that would make any Harley owner’s blood boil.
“Chick I’m friends with had her Softail Custom stolen right off the street while she and her bf were in a restaurant [during a bike event] a couple years ago,” says Gunrunner72. “Witness said four dudes jumped out of the back of a box truck, stuck long bars through the front and rear wheel and loaded it right up in a matter of about 20 seconds. Glad my Deuce has a solid rear wheel”
The forum’s Road Master member Kawickrice echoes tk’s story. “That takes ***** to steal a front rim like that,” he writes. “Years back, they would just insert pipes in the front and rear wheels and lift it right in a truck or trailer and be gone in seconds.
