It’s every motorcycle owner’s nightmare: your bike has disappeared and it wasn’t your buddy borrowing it on a sunny day. It feels violating, infuriating, and completely incomprehensible (why did they steal MY bike)? It happened to me recently — my 1976 Honda Elsinore flat track race bike was stolen from behind my house at 6 AM on a Monday morning. The thieves backed a truck into my one-way driveway and it took approximately 15 seconds for them to pick up and throw my bike in the back. By the time my girlfriend and I were out the door, the thieves peeled out and had hit the road, almost hitting my girlfriend in the process. It was quick, dirty and brazen. Within seconds of waking up I was standing in my underwear on the street, watching my race bike disappear in the pre-dawn light.
I don’t want this to happen to you, but this article isn’t about securing your bike. You can spend all day Googling what to do to prevent theft. This is about what to do once the scumbags have your bike, and the steps you can take to get as many eyeballs looking for your motorcycle. With most stolen motorcycles, insurance will take care of it and you will be compensated. But in the case of vintage bikes or bikes that have had a lot of custom work done to them, the thieves steal much more than something that can be easily replaced with an insurance check.
One thing you can do right now.
I know that this is moot point if you are reading this after your bike is stolen. If it hasn’t then take this opportunity RIGHT NOW to take pictures of your bike, the frame and engine number. Don’t wait to do it later, do it right now. Yeah maybe you’ve written them down, but pictures are invaluable and may help recover your bike faster.
A note on this post: I don’t mention insurance because my race bike wasn’t insured or registered to the DMV as it wasn’t meant for the streets. Contacting the DMV and your Insurance company should be one of your top priorities after the initial theft – in my case all I have is the regret of not insuring it.
Also, this is my experience in Portland, Oregon. Your county, city, state, country or planet may be different. I wish you luck wherever you are.
So my bike was stolen: now what?
Don’t touch anything. In my case, the thieves had started to drag another bike out when I interrupted them. After I chased the truck and called the police, I went and picked up my other bike and pushed it back into storage. What I didn’t think about was that the thieves’ prints were most likely on the bike, and I could have mentioned it to the officer. Treat the theft like a crime scene, because it is.
Call 911
If you catch the thieves or notice the missing bike right away, it’s a crime-in-progress and you should call 911. In my case, I had a description of the truck and the direction it was headed. I immediately called 911 to report the robbery in the chance that a patrol car was on the road the thieves were on. Not long afterward, a uniformed police officer came by and I gave her a detailed report. Along with any details about the thieves, the officer asked for photographs of the motorcycle and provided me with a case number. Keep this police case number memorized, you’ll be using it a lot.
If your motorcycle was stolen after a weekend away, it will feel like an emergency to you but it probably doesn’t merit a call to 911. Your city most likely has a non-emergency line, so use that. I keep Portland’s non-emergency phone number in my phone: 503-823-3333
Gather Photographs of Your Bike
This is where I was lucky – I was quite smitten with the bike I had been building over the last 6 months, so I had plenty of pictures. I immediately emailed these to the officer and she created a flyer to hand out to the morning patrol officers. Doing this as quickly as possible will, at the very least, get your bike on the radar of police patrol officers who may run across your motorcycle while pursuing other police activities.
Create a Flyer
Once you’ve gathered up pictures, you should knock up a flyer than you can easily post up in both physical and digital form. Don’t have the digital tools? You can use the website Canva to create a poster (or anything) in minutes. It’s free, easy to use, and will look a lot better than a Word document. Put a few clear pictures of the bike and any relevant info, along with the Police case number. I’ve created a template which you can use after signing up for Canva – click “Use as a Template” and you are on your way.
Start Blasting it Out
The initial shock is probably wearing off right now, and maybe the anger is setting in. HOLD IT BACK, hoss… you have a lot of work to do on the internet and getting angry won’t help (yet).
Got that flyer ready? Good, because you are going to post it to the following websites and start asking others for help. I believe the cops will do as much as they can, but your bike is on a very long list of stolen property that is only getting longer by the minute. If your bike isn’t recovered immediately, the people that are going to get it back are the people in your immediate motorcycle community.
Craigslist
Start with Craigslist – this is where many stolen bikes end up and putting the word out on your particular model and year will keep buyers aware. It also doesn’t hurt to individually contact anyone who has a “Will Buy Motorcycles” post on Craigslist, as the thieves may try and sell directly to them. Each person I contacted said they would keep an eye out, and told me how much they hated thieves. This is a popular sentiment amongst regular human beings, and is a reminder that thieves are less than human.
Nextdoor
Nextdoor is a “local social media network” of people in your neighborhood. Everyone’s experience varies by neighborhood, but I’ve found mine to be useful. After you’ve reported the crime, post on Nextdoor and see if anyone has any cameras that may have caught the theft, or if anyone has seen anything suspicious. My immediate neighbors are… not very neighborly, but I’ve found some helpful people on my block and beyond through this site.
Not on Facebook? I respect your decision but you should probably join up as it is the easiest way to spread the word to local motorcycle groups. In Portland, I immediately shared my flyer to a local group, who then reshared it amongst other groups I wasn’t even aware of. By noon, my post had been shared and viewed by over 2,500 people… and it’s still going up even today. I had people looking for it on their morning drive and giving me tips on where to look and where to post. This will be your most invaluable tool.
Once you’ve posted to local groups, start looking for groups you aren’t a part of or you may not have thought about. For instance, I didn’t even think to post my theft to a National Flat Track Swap and Shop group… but as the weeks go by it’s a good bet that the bike may leave the city or state. Spread the word, ask others for help, and be grateful to those who offer it.
Depending on your area, they may be groups that specifically target car and motorcycle thefts. These groups are usually filled with people that are willing to keep an eye out for you, and it can start to repair your faith in humanity that may have been damaged by recent events.
Don’t forget about Instagram! There is a large community of motorcycle people who aren’t on Facebook but are active on there. Post up that flyer and ask others to share on there as well.
Motorcycle Forums
I’m not part of any forums, but along with Facebook these are going to get you the most exposure to people who run in motorcycle circles. If you aren’t part of any forums, you’ll probably get kind strangers telling you that they posted it up for you. This type of kindness keeps the helplessness at bay.
Once you’ve plastered your bike all over the internet, unfortunately all you have left to do is wait. You can process your anger however you’d like now, just make sure no one else is on the receiving end of it. Lock up the rest of your stuff, and prepare for a sleepless night as your paranoia hits an all-time high.
Make Searching a Daily Routine
The dirty thieves didn’t buy the bike to ride, they bought it to make money because they have no other skills in life. These thieves are human garbage. There was no specific reason to reiterate this other than it feels good to type it.
Along with all those eyeballs out there looking for your bike, the most important pair is your own. Here’s a list of all the for sale sites and Apps that I hit up every single morning.
Craigslist
The big one. When you are searching for your bike, be sure to hit the “Include Surrounding Areas” button in your search. Start looking all around your state or even adjacent states. The longer the bike is missing, the further it could travel. Don’t forget to also look in the Motorcycle Parts category.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook has started a marketplace to compete with Craigslist, but in the Portland area it isn’t quite there yet. It is worth checking out though, as less popular spots can be a place where thieves sell things under the radar. Thieves, much like week-old potato salad, are actual garbage.
Phone Apps
Lesser known “For Sale” apps seem to be popular with thieves, as the few that I downloaded had loads of shady stuff on there. Roll up your sleeves and start digging through the slime. I found it helpful to include broad searches such as “red motorcycle” or “race motorcycle” as a lot of posts were vague in their description and title.
Thieves aren’t the brightest but they can be shifty. Also, again: they are human garbage.
OfferUp
This App seems to have a larger volume of motorcycle posts, at least in my area. Be sure to look at the larger “Motorcycles” category, as well as specific searches. You’ll want to increase the area in which you are searching:
LetGo
This app had way more sketchy stuff on it than OfferUp, but again that may just be my area. There were lots of license plates for sale and other poorly described items that seemed to be of the pilfered variety. This is where I ran across people listing motorcycles as “Yellow Motorcycle” and other strangely worded titles.
The search on this App is frustrating, as even searching for “Honda Motorcycle” brought up cars, metal signs, and other stuff that had nothing to do with my search. If I wasn’t searching for my motorcycle, this App would have been deleted a long time ago.
When searching, be sure to expand your search area to beyond your immediate surroundings:
Check in with Impound Yards
Because my bike is a bit unique, I decided to start calling impound yards to see if an “unidentified” bike had shown up. It’s worth a shot and with so many stolen vehicles, it’s easy for one to slip through the cracks. Here is a link to the Portland Impound Yard – I had good luck calling them at 503-823-0044, they were really helpful there. Your mileage may vary.
Keep It Up and Help Others
If you are lucky, your bike will have turned up with a few days and you can start repairing and rebuilding. If you aren’t lucky, you are going to keep this search up everyday. I have, but it is important to note that many bikes turn up weeks or months later.
In your daily search, you can become a invaluable tool to others who have been ripped off as well. Keep note of other stolen bikes you find in your Facebook searches, then watch for them as much as you watch for yours. Like it or not, you are now part of a network of victims that rely on the kindness and help of others in similar situations.
I found my bike! What Now?
This is the part where I wish I could tell you what to do once you see your bike on Craigslist or OfferUp. I don’t have any solid advice here, as my bike is still a ghost on the highway. However, once I do find my bike online, I will immediately call the cops and update my Police case, as well as screenshot and take note of the ad and the person who posted it.
Things can get messy and complicated if you take things into your own hands, and that’s just not a place where I’m qualified to offer any advice. Call the cops, gather as much info as possible, and be smart about getting your bike back.
Once it is back in your possession, be sure to update the hundreds of people who have offered to help you, and share any info that may help in their own situation.
What Did I Miss?
This is my first Portland experience with a motorcycle theft, and I hope it’s my last. If there is anything that I missed or didn’t think of, please comment either here or on my Facebook page and I’ll update this article. I hope that the readers of this article never need the advice offered.
Lock up your stuff, keep an eye out, and thanks for reading!
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I’m sorry to hear about your bike, man. My bike got stolen last night in Portland and it’s a real bummer. Thanks for these tips—didn’t even think about Nextdoor. I hope you find/have found yours!