Dirty Fucking Thieves

[Sycophant]

The most annoying thing is, I came out, saw the guy's car stopped in the middle of the carpark, thought "that's odd" then I saw the guy running back to his car and thought "wonder what he was doing" and it was as I was watching him drive off that I noticed my helmet was gone - otherwise I totally would have run after him (and perhaps got the shit kicked out of me) if I'd figured he had my helmet a second or two earlier.

[XTC]

The most annoying thing is, I came out, saw the guy's car stopped in the middle of the carpark, thought "that's odd" then I saw the guy running back to his car and thought "wonder what he was doing" and it was as I was watching him drive off that I noticed my helmet was gone - otherwise I totally would have run after him (and perhaps got the shit kicked out of me) if I'd figured he had my helmet a second or two earlier.

Lucky he didn't see the key in the ignition......
Like everyone has said if you want to keep something - secure it. And jantar it's no use crying to the police if he hasn't made a token attempt at ensuring his property is at least a little bit harder to steal.

[bugjuice]

I always take mine with me, cos I find it handy for stuffing things in like gloves or holding my wallet while I fumble with the phone etc.. I'm not one to leave things to chance around here, as shit as that is.. Sux they made off with your lid. Wouldn't be worth claiming it anyway, you'd probably find the excess is more than the cost of a decent lid anyway. Saying that, there are some good lids at low prices in the shops at the moment.

[Ixion]

I always take mine with me, cos I find it handy for stuffing things in like gloves or holding my wallet while I fumble with the phone etc.. I'm not one to leave things to chance around here, as shit as that is.. Sux they made off with your lid. Wouldn't be worth claiming it anyway, you'd probably find the excess is more than the cost of a decent lid anyway. Saying that, there are some good lids at low prices in the shops at the moment.

Ditto. If I take it off, I usually stuff my gloves into it, and anything else I need to carry (unless I'm on the Whale , then I maybe put the gloves in a glovebox). Then I clip my keys to the D-rings, I have a dog-clip on the key ring for the prupose.Fasten the strap across the gloves and stuff.

Then all my stuff is contained in one neat package , large enough that even I won't lose it. And I can't lose my keys either.

I've never left my lid on the bike out of my sight, even on the "helmet lock" thingies.

[thehollowmen]

HD riders down here always leave the helmet on the seat, or over the top of the queen seat.
I'm surprised more of them don't get nicked.

sorry to hear about it, but be more careful next time. Hope they get done for it. Doesn't wendy's have a security camera?

[Beemer]

Unfortunately hindsight is a great thing, you always wish you'd done this or that AFTER some scum bag ruins your day! The fact is, some people will steal anything nowadays, whether they have a use for it or not. Look at how many priceless videos of weddings, etc., are stolen when thieves steal VCRs - they probably just get dumped so it makes you wonder why they bother.

I'd say the helmet would have finished up in Cash Converters the following day because even if it was old and scratched, it would most likely be worth something.

The main reason I never leave my helmet with my bike unless someone is staying with the bike is because I'd worry about someone knocking it over and damaging it. I've seen countless helmets fall off bike seats, get kicked on the ground or knocked off a mirror, and half the time the person who does it just puts it back and doesn't say anything. Great if you come off later in the day and find the helmet offers you no protection because it was already damaged. And I never leave anything portable on the bike unless I am sitting a few feet away and can keep an eye on it.

It's just a fact of life that you don't leave anything lying around because it's more than likely that someone will lift it. I've heard about kids breaking into cars to steal $5 worth of parking money left in a tray.

You say you have no insurance? Firstly, shame on you! Secondly, if you mean you have no bike insurance, but possibly have contents insurance, your helmet should be covered under that as it is classed as clothing and as such is covered when you are away from home.

[ManDownUnder]

Bugger. But WTF is good about Wendy's?

Free helmets?

Seriously though - you leave it out there, not locked or bolted down in some way and you can expect it to walk.

What get's me is that someone would have seen it happen... then done NOTHING about it it. They're sitting there... see some dudes lift the helmet off a bike and walk to a car with it... doesn't that LOOK suspicious to you?

See if Wendy's have a security cam or something (not liekly but you never know).

Hopefully it's insured?
MDU

[Wolf]

I have to agree with Jantar. We should not have to worry about bastards stealing our gear. I agree that no everyone is honest and that experience and wisdom etc teaches us that we should protect our gear, yada yada - but why does that have to be a "Life Lesson"? Why should one of our "lessons" be that other people are scum and not to be trusted?

Yesterday, Juliet accidenatlly stuck her hand through the middle pane of our front door - the one that would give easy access to the lock. We had to find a glazier willing to work "on account" as we did not have the money to get it fixed - won't until payday - but we could not leave our house without the door intact. This would have meant that our boys would have missed out on play-centre today because Juliet would not have been able to leave the house long enough to take them down the road to the play-centre (an easy walk away for a 2-year-old).

I resent the fact that our current society has degenerated to the point that we fear to leave the house with a window ajar or a pane broken in the door (not that a three-pane glass-and-wood door affords a lot of protection against a determined thief. All it does is stop the "opportunists".)

(Old Fart indicator ahead I recall when we were young we would go next door to the neighbours (or even up the road a fair way) and leave the doors open - not just unlocked - and have all the windows open and never fear that we'd come back and find the place had been robbed. And that was in town - we were even more lax out in the countryside.

Now you've got to secure the house and activate alarms and people still get in and burgle you.

If caught, the crim (sorry, "Underprivileged differently-employed victim of circumstances") gets to have all the understanding in the world from the court system and the home/property owner is punished by his/her insurer for "not taking due care and attention" and is told "well you should've done nore to prevent it by police, well-meaning friends and relatives and "society at large" - "Yeah, so you had a metal security grill over your door, but did you think to weld it shut and nail your door as extra precautions? I thought not - it was your fault. Leave that poor underprivileged person alone, he can't help being a thief."

The current attitude to crime I place firmly at the feet of PC morons who seem to think that relabelling a criminal constitutes justification of what they do to other people and that no one is responsible for thier own actions - it's "everyone else's fault".

"He can't help it, his daddy beat him when he was a boy. We must pity him." What's next? Prosecute the home/property owner for locking up and making it harder for the poor unfortunate bloke to steal anything? After all, we're depriving some underprivileged person of their "only means of survival" by taking security precautions. After all, it's not like there are any jobs out there or a social welfare system that gives away money and housing supplements, or churches who give aid, or soup-kitchens and other outfits giving away free food... [/sarcasm (for now)]

My dad beat the shit out of me pretty much every day of my life. However, I choose not to let that be an excuse to do as I please now. Hell, I choose not to let that be an excuse to inflict the same on my kids.

We are responsible for our own actions, we all make choices. And those guys chose to steal Sycophant's helmet (and other people's helmets too, from what I've read.

Sure, Sycophant chose to leave his helmet on his bike - but I'd support his right to make that choice any day over someone's "right" to choose to steal it.

I should be able to choose to leave my door open while I'm going over to a mates. I should be able to choose not to fear. But I cannot as "society" has decided to allow people to choose to come and take my stuff.

I say "society" because it is the majority of society that elects the government and decides what are the burning issues are - issues that the parties then use as their platforms. From the current posturing and posing, "society" cares more about tax cuts, where our road tax is going, immigration policies and whether the current government is supporting Maori Tertiary Education providers than it cares about our justice system or the increasing level of lawlessness here in "Godzone" (Hah!).

Why is there no noise from politicians about what they're going to do about crime? Because they do not perceive it as an issue. They have their own micro-fortresses (easy to have when you're a millionaire in your own right and on an MP/Prime Minister salary) and they have nothing to fear. They don't hear enough outrage from the people on the street to consider that the public is sick of crime - all they hear is acceptance of the current crime level - just so long as we can get tax cuts, have fewer Asians, and stop those queers from marrying each other.

As a nation, our priorities are fucked. I, for one, don't care who marries whom - or what race they are when they do it - just so long as my family is safe - but none of the parties have any clear stand on that matter.

The realist in me does not see us going back to the days of leaving the house open to air out (and our helmets on our bikes) while we "just nip up the road", but the humanist in me is angered that our society is so geared to protecting and accepting a minority (criminals) that the majority must suffer.

When Vifferman and I stage our coup and become "Benevolent Extreme Co-Dictators", there will be changes...

[Sycophant]

Well, I got a new helmet (Lou got me a decent deal at AMPS) but it's not as comfortable as my old helmet - presses on my forehead in a slightly uncomfortable way, but was all I could afford - at least I can get to work easily again. I won't be leaving my helmet unsecured on my bike again.

Sadly Wendy's claim to have no security cameras watching over their drive-thru, and I took a little walk through the area today, and didn't spot any other businesses with them either. So I don't think I will ever get my helmet back.

I've got some details I will fax to Cash Converters, but because I haven't been able to go to the Police Station to file a complaint yet, I don't think they'll be able to do much about it.

[Ixion]

HD riders down here always leave the helmet on the seat, or over the top of the queen seat.
I'm surprised more of them don't get nicked.

sorry to hear about it, but be more careful next time. Hope they get done for it. Doesn't wendy's have a security camera?

See, this is how low we've dipped in the eyes of society.

Reason no-one pinches a helmet off a H-D is simple. Would you take that risk ? In Joe Public's eyes he sees a HD, he think "Oh shit , nasty gang people. Not gonna risk having *them* on my case, cos they are nasty guys". So he leaves it alone.

I remember when Joe thought pretty much that about all bikes. "Shit mate don't mess with that, those bikers can be real nasty ".

Now they regard bikers (other than harley riders) as prats who they dis with safety.

[Marmoot]

...this deadbeat maori/ pacific islander anyway...

Not a very good thing to say....


Anyway, if you insist on locking your helmet to the bike, use a bicycle chain around anything solid (frame, etc) on the bike and the helmet chin piece .
They would have to cut either the chain or the chin piece (which will make the helmet useless).

I've learnt the hard way on using the bike helmet lock. They managed to steal it without even leaving a cut strap (dunno how they did it).

[Wolf]

Reason no-one pinches a helmet off a H-D is simple. Would you take that risk ? In Joe Public's eyes he sees a HD, he think "Oh shit , nasty gang people. Not gonna risk having *them* on my case, cos they are nasty guys". So he leaves it alone.

After reading Sycophant's loss, I went outside for lunch and went down to the free bike parking area to ogle (as I do frequently). There were two HDs parked up. Both yellow - as non-threatening-looking as an HD can get. On one, the helmet was parked on the mirror (Great "I'm not deaf, I just don't give a FUCK" sticker on the back of the helmet), the other, the helmet was parked on the ground beside the bike.

Obviously these guys felt no fear that anyone was going to fuck with their stuff.

Thing is, if we took the law into our own hands and re-established the appropriate level of fear to discourage others from screwing with us, we'd be the ones being prosecuted.

Years ago some little shit threw an apple core at me (60km/h + whatever velocity the apple was travelling at... right on the shin). Admittedly I was on the TS125 and didn't look the most intimidating figure, but when I was the age of that punk I'd never have incurred the wrath of "one o' them dangerous bikies" in such a fashion.

Unfortunately doing a U-ey and bashing three guys over the head with my helmet (I was not certain which of them threw it - I saw a figure in the group lash out his arm just before it struck me but I hadn't been paying them enough mind prior to that to be able to determine which generic PFY it was) would be construed by the Beak to be an "Excessive Response" - so I merely rode on, muttering imprecations.

[Waylander]

After reading Sycophant's loss, I went outside for lunch and went down to the free bike parking area to ogle (as I do frequently). There were two HDs parked up. Both yellow - as non-threatening-looking as an HD can get. On one, the helmet was parked on the mirror (Great "I'm not deaf, I just don't give a FUCK" sticker on the back of the helmet), the other, the helmet was parked on the ground beside the bike.

Obviously these guys felt no fear that anyone was going to fuck with their stuff.

Thing is, if we took the law into our own hands and re-established the appropriate level of fear to discourage others from screwing with us, we'd be the ones being prosecuted.

Years ago some little shit threw an apple core at me (60km/h + whatever velocity the apple was travelling at... right on the shin). Admittedly I was on the TS125 and didn't look the most intimidating figure, but when I was the age of that punk I'd never have incurred the wrath of "one o' them dangerous bikies" in such a fashion.

Unfortunately doing a U-ey and bashing three guys over the head with my helmet (I was not certain which of them threw it - I saw a figure in the group lash out his arm just before it struck me but I hadn't been paying them enough mind prior to that to be able to determine which generic PFY it was) would be construed by the Beak to be an "Excessive Response" - so I merely rode on, muttering imprecations.

Harley guys probaby have so much money that losing a lid everynow and then doesn't worry them that much.

As for the punks, yea quite a few of them round here. Had a guy that was gonna cross the street after I passed do a sort of lunge thing to try and trip me up and make me swerve. I swerved but not the direction he thought I would. Passed him close enough that if I chose to I could have swatted him across the face.

[scumdog]

You also believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and the pots of gold under rainbows??

You my friend obviously live in a rotten part of the country, down here Jantar and I find Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy are alive and well!!
Also we DO leave out helmets and jackets on our bikes without them going a.w.o.l., then again in my case it MAY be because I own a H-D??

[Pixie]

Harley guys probaby have so much money that losing a lid everynow and then doesn't worry them that much.

As for the punks, yea quite a few of them round here. Had a guy that was gonna cross the street after I passed do a sort of lunge thing to try and trip me up and make me swerve. I swerved but not the direction he thought I would. Passed him close enough that if I chose to I could have swatted him across the face.

A friend had this happen to him in the eighties.
He ran the punk over.
It gets better...
The bike, a Z650, came to a stop with the headers burning into the wankers thighs.
Mmmm,skin grafts