What motorcycle would you buy next?

[the Ferret]

My wife and I had matching Yamaha 400 Majesty's and they were amazing. Probably too big for Mrs Gone but it opened my eyes to scooter transportation. Part of the reason I got the Honda NC 750 DCT. I'd definitely second GO's recommendations.

[Cormanus]

Gone in 60, Can you please tell me why stealing catalytic converters is a thing?

[Nachodaddy]

Gone in 60, Can you please tell me why stealing catalytic converters is a thing?

Just in case you are serious, the components are worth quite a bit of money so it is one of those things a thief can do better stealing than a wheel or stereo.[/u]

[GoldOxide_imp]

Gone in 60, Can you please tell me why stealing catalytic converters is a thing?

We have the same crime in the greater Toronto, Ontario region too.

Many of the catalytic converters still use precious metals like platinum, palladium, to name a few. So the components are stolen and raped of its precious.

[peterbaron]

I've been with the present dealer since 2004 and we had "lost" more than 30 cats from brand new-unsold vehicles, mostly suv.
A few months ago, a customer picked up his brand new suv and the next day it was towed in with the complaint of running loud....cat was gone as well. Ugly!!

[GoldOxide_imp]

Cormanus: Catalytic thieves are very aggressive and they will cut it out of your vehicle while you eat dinner.

Eventually we'll get off these precious metal-based implementations.

But alas, there is always something else people can't have.

[Gone in 60]

To give an example of what they are worth, I had to replace the converter on my work van when it got too plugged up to continue passing emissions. I got $265 for the old, bad converter from a legitimate recycler. The replacement converter was only on the van a few weeks before it got stolen. Since it sits outside my shop in an unsavory part of Orange County, I installed a flanged pipe in place of the converter - why give them another one to steal? I'll put one in for the next smog check then take it back out for safe keeping. The one on Mrs.' CRV is tantalizingly easy to get to without having to jack it up.

[pdedse]

My daughter uses our 2004 Honda Element--easy access to cat. She and BF went into a fast food place, no more than 10 minutes, cat was gone when they came out. Employees saw the guy under the car cutting it out, but they thought he was "fixing" his car.

Dealership quote was $3500, insurance found aftermarket cat and that brought price down to around $1500. Except...what they don't tell you is that the aftermarket cat converter that was installed in AZ is not good in California, where she now lives. So the vehicle failed emissions inspection--not because it wasn't working correctly--it actually passed on the emissions itself. They failed it because the cat didn't have an OEM stamp on it--they said it had been "tampered with".

Fortuneately, Oregon emissions person (car is still OR registered) says that she's going to over-ride that decision because the report does produce the right low emissions numbers.

[peterbaron]

My daughter uses our 2004 Honda Element--easy access to cat. She and BF went into a fast food place, no more than 10 minutes, cat was gone when they came out. Employees saw the guy under the car cutting it out, but they thought he was "fixing" his car.

Dealership quote was $3500, insurance found aftermarket cat and that brought price down to around $1500. Except...what they don't tell you is that the aftermarket cat converter that was installed in AZ is not good in California, where she now lives. So the vehicle failed emissions inspection--not because it wasn't working correctly--it actually passed on the emissions itself. They failed it because the cat didn't have an OEM stamp on it--they said it had been "tampered with".

Fortuneately, Oregon emissions person (car is still OR registered) says that she's going to over-ride that decision because the report does produce the right low emissions numbers.

One and most likely reason of U$3500 repair is that when the secondary cat is being stolen, the butchers cut it out at most convenient for them spot, very often causing damage to a resonator, muffler and exhaust manifold that is usually one piece with the primary cat, forcing dealerships to replace almost entire exhaust system including one or two 02 sensors.
Most single exhaust vehicles have two cats, V-engines have four.
Aftermarket folks weld in a cat to match the missing length.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Might make one wonder how long cat converters will last on late model motorcycles parked all alone.

Maybe some riders would not be unhappy to see their "lunchbox" gone. However, I suspect there would be a lot of collateral damage.