Just where in the USA was this $hithole location?
Texas
....the whole State ....and if it were different in surrounding States I never heard of it.
"Ahem".... a history of Harley thefts according to Birdwatcher.......
First off, I'm going on the assumption that organized Harley theft has always been a function of the patch-wearing Outlaw clubs, which lower-than-whale-crap activity IMHO tells ya all you really need to know about those particular organizations.
I got into motorcycles right before the Evo motor came in in the early eighties and absolutely turned H-D around. In those years it really was the "Harley faithful", regular blue collar working stiffs who loved their motorcycles and who had scrimped and saved for years, which bikes if they were shovelheads had been rebuilt a few times, the necessity of which could be determined by a quick swipe of a finger inside a straight pipe as an index of soot accumulation.
To steal a bike from a guy like that was like ripping his heart out, I'm still recalling an old biker "Independent" I was talking to one time at Luckenbach, like Mr Bojangles speaking of a beloved bike he had ripped off one time years ago when he left it parked outside a bar. He blamed himself for letting it out of his sight. To the best of my knowledge, stolen Harleys were parted out in those years, such that at big rallies like Sturgis I was told that the Cops would set up checkpoints on the highways to check VIN numbers.
Somewhere since then for a period of time, well into the Evo years (and subsequent permutations) they story was that stolen Harleys were being crated up whole and shipped overseas, a lucrative market. The advice was don't leave your bike parked outside, don't ride the same way to work every day, bolt it down in your own garage and, at the end, there was a spate of running into bikes at stoplights and loading them into vehicles while leaving the rider at the scene. At least two of these happened right here in San Antonio.
Back in my motorcycle years my social calendar was pretty much written by the TMRA, and I would attend several poker runs, rallies, meets etc every year. One of 'em went on until after dark, the typical open venue with live music, the crowd of parked bikes spilling out of the parking lot and along the dark country road. In those couple of hours friggin' three Harleys were brazenly stolen from the road out front. That was in East Texas.
Years back here in downtown San Antonio and acquaintance left his Fat Boy parked out front of a restaurant. Walks out later to find a crew of guys loading his bike into a truck, and it weren't even dark yet. Maybe worse, he shouts out, they look at him, drop the bike, pile into the truck and leave the scene. When they dropped it they cracked the cases.
I say "before the end" because since then at some undefined time, certainly in response to market forces whatever they might be, the rate of Harley theft seems to have quite suddenly subsided. I live in a higher-crime area, and at an apartment I pass by quite often some guy has been leaving his 1200 Sportster just parked out in the full sun (which oughtta be a crime) for at least a couple of years now, and it ain't tied down. It does apparently run because sometimes it ain't there, but as of this writing it ain't been taken.
So ya, back when I was living off of a motorcycle (there I was into my thirties, no furniture of any description in my apartment, and my lighting was provided by mechanic's drop lights
) owning a Harley was pretty much out of the question. They weren't fast enough anyway. A Harley faithful buddy who turned wrenches for a living had a worked over Sporty, we rode in company many times, and his bike topped out at about 110, tops. Says a lot about my riding habits back then that 110 weren't fast enough.
IME,
Birdwatcher
