A Day In My Life: Motorcycle Towing Vlog #2

A stolen motorcycle in a police department parking lot, a crashed one in a field, and somewhere in the back of a garage, a neglected old motorcycle I could have for free. This sounded like it would be a day worth recording and sharing with you.

NOTE: Before we get started, you should know that this footage is from last year. If you see crazy things happening like friends hugging in the street, couples sitting together at restaurants, and children playing together, all without masks, don’t leave an angry comment. All but the last minute of footage was filmed a year ago, before current lockdown measures were in place. Now on with the show…

10:33 AM – On route to the first motorcycle

On route to the first motorcycle of the day, and it’s at a police station. The motorcycle was found abandoned in a park by police, who were able to track down the owner of the motorcycle. The owner asked me to meet him at the police station for 11:00 am to pick it up for him.

I haven’t picked up a motorcycle from a police station before, but I’m more excited about my last motorcycle of the day which could potentially be a free motorcycle for me. More on that later.

11:06 AM – Leaving the police station

I’ve never been arrested or been in any trouble with the police, but I definitely didn’t want to stay long at the police station. My goal was to arrive early and get out of there as quickly as possible. I parked facing outwards, found an empty part of the parking lot far from the action and away from a locked gate, secured the motorcycle down, and got out of there real quick.

11:14 AM – Unloading the stolen motorcycle

The stolen motorcycle was a Kawi-green Kawasaki Ninja ZX9R. The bright green is a serious attention magnet for thieves, and it was stolen from an underground condominium parking lot, where most motorcycle thefts occur. It looks like thieves drilled through his ignition lock and took the motorcycle for a joy ride until it ran out of gas.

It looks like the thief/thieves then tried to get gas in the tank, unsuccessfully, and left the motorcycle in a park where it was abandoned and reported to police.

11:32 AM – Running an hour early (again)

If you watched my first motorcycle towing vlog, me accidentally running an hour early won’t surprise you. It’s happened before, and it’s still the best problem a guy could have.

My second motorcycle of the day was a new rider who crashed her Honda CTX700 and left it in a farmer’s field. Rather than have her drive out to give me the keys for the bike (she left the steering locked), I decided to save her about two hours of travel by going to pickup the key.

1:27 PM – Crashed Honda CTX700

I pulled over by a solar power farm to take a look at the CTX700. I wasn’t sure if the frame was bent, or if the bike was just so badly damaged that it looked bent. When I rode the motorcycle, it did feel crooked, but that have just been due to the damaged handlebar.

On one hand, you want to give people as much information as you can, but on other hand you don’t want to make people worry for nothing. If you were in my shoes, would you tell the customer her frame might be bent, or would you just bring it to the shop and let them deal with?

3:09 PM – Feedback from the owner

The girl who owns the crashed CTX700 said that the price I asked was $90 less than another quote she got for the job, and thanked me. As much as getting money is nice, I’m not a big fan of taking it from people, so the fact she seemed genuinely happy made me happy.

So what happened with the free motorcycle?

The last motorcycle of the day was supposed to be a free motorcycle. Basically, the owner was moving, had lost interest in the bike years earlier, and needed it to be moved. He said I could have it for free if I took it, or I could move it to a dump for him. He told me that the bike may not start but was complete and rolled smoothly.

 

When we arrived, the motorcycle looked as though a bomb exploded in it, and after the bomb exploded a band of chimps had went wild ripping cables and hoses out. The free motorcycle was a disaster. Panels and fenders and fairings were strewn everywhere. A gas tank was missing.

The cherry on top, the motorcycle was so seized up we couldn’t even get it to roll. At this point I knew for certain I had been lied to, but even if I had wanted to move that motorcycle we couldn’t get it to roll.

The worst part of the whole thing was that my friend Pat was in town, and it was the only evening he had some down time to hang out. Rather than grab some beer and wings, we spent two hours driving to get to and from this motor-statue that couldn’t be moved. It was a waste of Pat’s time, and my time and gas. Sorry buddy.

COMMENTS: Would you have let the new rider know her frame may be bent? Is that best left between her and the mechanic? Let me know what you think in the comments!