The CB1100 Community Forum

I've mentioned before that our shop is in a somewhat unsavory part of Orange County. Years ago, we retired one of our F350 Dually tow rigs to our office to use as a shop truck. It was parked behind our shop. The tailgate was stolen twice. One of the times I went to buy a replacement from a guy on Craig's, he had me meet him at a storage unit where he had dozens of tailgates from several different types of trucks. I had my choice of three different ones from his collection in our color. Wonder where he got them....

The truck itself was stolen four times in two years. The first three times, it was found within a few days, within a few blocks of the office. An older Ford diesel can be breached, started and driven with nothing more than a large, flat-blade screwdriver, and it was taken just to move things - easier and cheaper than renting a truck, I suppose. Once, the thief left us a rather nice set of ratchet tie-down straps in the back.

I got very good at changing out the complete lock set in the truck - Ignition, both doors and tailgate, within an hour. The fourth time, it disappeared for good. We replaced it with the boss' old Honda Odyssey van that his family used to haul the family around with. Their kids were grown and the van was spent. It's beat up, faded paint, and fits the neighborhood. It's had its converter stolen, and the license plate a few times, but, luckily, it hasn't completely disappeared.

(12-23-2022, 02:48 AM)Gone in 60_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I've mentioned before that our shop is in a somewhat unsavory part of Orange County. Years ago, we retired one of our F350 Dually tow rigs to our office to use as a shop truck. It was parked behind our shop. The tailgate was stolen twice. One of the times I went to buy a replacement from a guy on Craig's, he had me meet him at a storage unit where he had dozens of tailgates from several different types of trucks. I had my choice of three different ones from his collection in our color. Wonder where he got them....

The truck itself was stolen four times in two years. The first three times, it was found within a few days, within a few blocks of the office. An older Ford diesel can be breached, started and driven with nothing more than a large, flat-blade screwdriver, and it was taken just to move things - easier and cheaper than renting a truck, I suppose. Once, the thief left us a rather nice set of ratchet tie-down straps in the back.

I got very good at changing out the complete lock set in the truck - Ignition, both doors and tailgate, within an hour. The fourth time, it disappeared for good. We replaced it with the boss' old Honda Odyssey van that his family used to haul the family around with. Their kids were grown and the van was spent. It's beat up, faded paint, and fits the neighborhood. It's had its converter stolen, and the license plate a few times, but, luckily, it hasn't completely disappeared.

For a minute I thought you were going to say he had the very one stolen off your truck!

(12-23-2022, 02:48 AM)Gone in 60_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I've mentioned before that our shop is in a somewhat unsavory part of Orange County. Years ago, we retired one of our F350 Dually tow rigs to our office to use as a shop truck. It was parked behind our shop. The tailgate was stolen twice. One of the times I went to buy a replacement from a guy on Craig's, he had me meet him at a storage unit where he had dozens of tailgates from several different types of trucks. I had my choice of three different ones from his collection in our color. Wonder where he got them....

The truck itself was stolen four times in two years. The first three times, it was found within a few days, within a few blocks of the office. An older Ford diesel can be breached, started and driven with nothing more than a large, flat-blade screwdriver, and it was taken just to move things - easier and cheaper than renting a truck, I suppose. Once, the thief left us a rather nice set of ratchet tie-down straps in the back.

I got very good at changing out the complete lock set in the truck - Ignition, both doors and tailgate, within an hour. The fourth time, it disappeared for good. We replaced it with the boss' old Honda Odyssey van that his family used to haul the family around with. Their kids were grown and the van was spent. It's beat up, faded paint, and fits the neighborhood. It's had its converter stolen, and the license plate a few times, but, luckily, it hasn't completely disappeared.

A few dobermanns maybe?

I teach at a community college and a female student and I got to talking about motorcycles...she asked what I rode and I told her normally I commute on my KLR650 to which she said "so easy to steal...all you need is a flathead screwdriver". Can't remember the exact time-frame, but maybe a year later, I got a stern letter from the college's security citing me for riding my KLR650 through the campus in excess of 40mph, and through grassy areas. I was in class at the time of the incident. I never even knew because the bike was returned and parked where I had left it in the morning. Later I examined the ignition, and, indeed I could see that an object had been inserted...they keyhole was deformed a bit, widened. My key still worked, but I'll always wonder if that young lady went joy riding on my bike.

(12-23-2022, 03:39 AM)pdedse_imp Wrote: [ -> ]

(12-23-2022, 02:48 AM)Gone in 60_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I've mentioned before that our shop is in a somewhat unsavory part of Orange County. Years ago, we retired one of our F350 Dually tow rigs to our office to use as a shop truck. It was parked behind our shop. The tailgate was stolen twice. One of the times I went to buy a replacement from a guy on Craig's, he had me meet him at a storage unit where he had dozens of tailgates from several different types of trucks. I had my choice of three different ones from his collection in our color. Wonder where he got them....

The truck itself was stolen four times in two years. The first three times, it was found within a few days, within a few blocks of the office. An older Ford diesel can be breached, started and driven with nothing more than a large, flat-blade screwdriver, and it was taken just to move things - easier and cheaper than renting a truck, I suppose. Once, the thief left us a rather nice set of ratchet tie-down straps in the back.

I got very good at changing out the complete lock set in the truck - Ignition, both doors and tailgate, within an hour. The fourth time, it disappeared for good. We replaced it with the boss' old Honda Odyssey van that his family used to haul the family around with. Their kids were grown and the van was spent. It's beat up, faded paint, and fits the neighborhood. It's had its converter stolen, and the license plate a few times, but, luckily, it hasn't completely disappeared.

For a minute I thought you were going to say he had the very one stolen off your truck!

(12-23-2022, 02:48 AM)Gone in 60_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I've mentioned before that our shop is in a somewhat unsavory part of Orange County. Years ago, we retired one of our F350 Dually tow rigs to our office to use as a shop truck. It was parked behind our shop. The tailgate was stolen twice. One of the times I went to buy a replacement from a guy on Craig's, he had me meet him at a storage unit where he had dozens of tailgates from several different types of trucks. I had my choice of three different ones from his collection in our color. Wonder where he got them....

The truck itself was stolen four times in two years. The first three times, it was found within a few days, within a few blocks of the office. An older Ford diesel can be breached, started and driven with nothing more than a large, flat-blade screwdriver, and it was taken just to move things - easier and cheaper than renting a truck, I suppose. Once, the thief left us a rather nice set of ratchet tie-down straps in the back.

I got very good at changing out the complete lock set in the truck - Ignition, both doors and tailgate, within an hour. The fourth time, it disappeared for good. We replaced it with the boss' old Honda Odyssey van that his family used to haul the family around with. Their kids were grown and the van was spent. It's beat up, faded paint, and fits the neighborhood. It's had its converter stolen, and the license plate a few times, but, luckily, it hasn't completely disappeared.

A few dobermanns maybe?

I teach at a community college and a female student and I got to talking about motorcycles...she asked what I rode and I told her normally I commute on my KLR650 to which she said "so easy to steal...all you need is a flathead screwdriver". Can't remember the exact time-frame, but maybe a year later, I got a stern letter from the college's security citing me for riding my KLR650 through the campus in excess of 40mph, and through grassy areas. I was in class at the time of the incident. I never even knew because the bike was returned and parked where I had left it in the morning. Later I examined the ignition, and, indeed I could see that an object had been inserted...they keyhole was deformed a bit, widened. My key still worked, but I'll always wonder if that young lady went joy riding on my bike.

For a minute I thought you were going to say he had the very one stolen off your truck!

(12-23-2022, 02:48 AM)Gone in 60_imp Wrote: [ -> ]I've mentioned before that our shop is in a somewhat unsavory part of Orange County. Years ago, we retired one of our F350 Dually tow rigs to our office to use as a shop truck. It was parked behind our shop. The tailgate was stolen twice. One of the times I went to buy a replacement from a guy on Craig's, he had me meet him at a storage unit where he had dozens of tailgates from several different types of trucks. I had my choice of three different ones from his collection in our color. Wonder where he got them....

The truck itself was stolen four times in two years. The first three times, it was found within a few days, within a few blocks of the office. An older Ford diesel can be breached, started and driven with nothing more than a large, flat-blade screwdriver, and it was taken just to move things - easier and cheaper than renting a truck, I suppose. Once, the thief left us a rather nice set of ratchet tie-down straps in the back.

I got very good at changing out the complete lock set in the truck - Ignition, both doors and tailgate, within an hour. The fourth time, it disappeared for good. We replaced it with the boss' old Honda Odyssey van that his family used to haul the family around with. Their kids were grown and the van was spent. It's beat up, faded paint, and fits the neighborhood. It's had its converter stolen, and the license plate a few times, but, luckily, it hasn't completely disappeared.

A few dobermanns maybe?

I teach at a community college and a female student and I got to talking about motorcycles...she asked what I rode and I told her normally I commute on my KLR650 to which she said "so easy to steal...all you need is a flathead screwdriver". Can't remember the exact time-frame, but maybe a year later, I got a stern letter from the college's security citing me for riding my KLR650 through the campus in excess of 40mph, and through grassy areas. I was in class at the time of the incident. I never even knew because the bike was returned and parked where I had left it in the morning. Later I examined the ignition, and, indeed I could see that an object had been inserted...they keyhole was deformed a bit, widened. My key still worked, but I'll always wonder if that young lady went joy riding on my bike.
Ha Ha! I was really looking closely at the tailgates the guy was selling. We had an F350, the badges on the "ones I just picked up from body shops, I didn't steal them" Had F250 badges, so I couldn't accuse him of stealing OUR tailgate. We didn't think about dogs, but the boss suggested putting a Club on the steering wheel. I said that if we did, the thieves would just bend and deform the wheel to get the Club off, making one more thing that would need to be replaced. I did get a little smarter with the Honda van. If anyone does try to steal it, I installed a very archaic system of kill switches in hidden locations, sort of like Furiosa starting the War Rig in Fury Road. And the cat converter is only installed for inspection time, then removed and replaced with stratight pipe so there is nothing to steal.

Your story about being cited for the KLR joy ride reminds me of an incident that happened to me not too long ago. There are still some red light cameras near our office, and I do drive my car to work when it rains. Checking my mail, I got a red light ticket with a very hefty bill. The ticket included three photos of my car running the red light, showing the plates on the front and back of the car. The third photo was though the windshield, showing the face of a coworker who had apparently borrowed my car without asking.

The verbeage in the ticket said that if I wanted to contest the violation based on not being the person in the facial photo, I could hand the ticket to the guilty driver. I put the ticket on his desk, with a note saying that I would be hiding my car key from now on.

(12-23-2022, 12:01 AM)mtneers_imp Wrote: [ -> ]In 2002, I bought from the original owner a 1970 Honda CT 7O Mini-Trail…with the title. It ran (sluggishly) and shifted but had been stored outside and neglected cosmetically…a lot of scratches, rust, seat needed repairs, etc.
I brought it home in the back of a RAV4 with my oldest son, who was about 17 at the time.
I disassembled it down to the last bolt. Took the frame to a body shop and had it painted the original gold color. I shipped the engine to an individual who specialized in mini-trail engine restorations to have it rebuilt and the engine cases refinished. I eventually had to contact the Texas Attorney General’s Office to get the engine back. It was rebuilt and refinished but what a pain.
I polished, cleaned, had parts rechromed, and purchased new OEM parts as needed. No expense spared.
When it was all assembled, I couldn’t get it to idle correctly. I took it to a nearby Honda dealer. In a couple of weeks, I called to see if it was ready.
The owner said they couldn’t find it. I don’t remember the conversation I had with him, but you can imagine. He had little remorse and offered little help.I put $250 reward posters in the area and ran an ad in a local newspaper. Eventually, someone called and said they knew where it was but didn’t want to tell me for fear of getting arrested should I turn them in. I told them I just wanted the bike back…no questions asked. As it turned out, someone in the Honda shop had traded it out for cocaine. At the time, I worked for the WV State Police. I told them to call off the investigation because I had found it and was not pursuing any charges. My wife was concerned we may end up having some sort of encounter with drug dealers. The Honda dealer reimbursed me for the reward gave me new parts to replace the damaged ones.
I repaired the minor damages and sold it. The bike seemed “snake bit”.
I’m sure you can now understand why I drive 40 miles to the next nearest Honda dealer…passing and up the one closest to where I live.








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Some bikes are just born bad!

Thanks for sharing.