Houtman_imp said:
The first time I took a motorcycle friend of mine from Israel to Barbers to the Vintage Days he could NOT believe how many helmets, boots , jackets etc. were just left on the parked bikes with nothing to lock them. He took pictures and send them right then to his friends back home to show how honest bikers are in America. I told them not everyone is honest but most bikers are. It made me feel proud ! He told me that back in Israel everything would be stolen very quickly.
In '09 I rode my KLR650 to Mexico. Stopped at a gas station to fill up about a mile before a town where my friend and I wanted to stay. Filled bike, continued on to downtown area of the town. Found hotel, needed to pay up front so I reached for my backpack which had billfold, passport, camera, mc documentation...and it was not there! A sense of disbelief crashed upon me as I remember setting my backpack down and then got distracted by something my riding budding asked me. Well, this is Mexico...what are the chances it could still...never mind. But, why not go through the motions...got back on bike and headed back to gas station. Looked at where my bike was, yep, no backpack.
"I-am-totally-screwed". I get ready to head back to hotel to confirm the bad news to my friend but I decide to head inside of gas station to ask by chance...yeah, right. I open door and ask the lady, and she says "oh yes, I saw you leave your backpack and so I went out and set it on the bench outside so that you could find easily find it" ....you mean, it's outside on the bench (why didn't you just hold onto it?, I want to scream). Fat chance it's still there...I walk outside, and.....there it is. Yeah, but is there anything inside? ....... Open backpack and there's my billfold, my passport, my camera, my mc docs...everything is still there, some 30 minutes after leaving it on the ground in the middle of a gas station and then sitting unattended on a bench.
You would think I would have learned: at a later point in my trip while still in Mexico, I would leave the same backpack--this time with less valuable items at least--on the back of chair of an outdoor restaurant, return three hours later, and the backpack was still there! Never felt so lucky!
A week after I got home (Oregon) from my MX trip, left my KLR in the college parking lot where I work and where dozens and dozens of people are constantly walking about. After work, I walk out to my bike and someone has stolen a custom made aluminum muffler guard off my bike, which they had to loosen three bolts to take. My first thought: "this never would have happened in Mexico!"
hy:
Once my helmet was taken from behind me (literally, it was just 3 feet away, put on the seat while fumbling with the garage door) and some jackass took it. Still remember the frustration and disbelief.
