Damaged steering lock and ignition

[Technopole]

Hi there,
I went out to start my bike yesterday to find that it seems to have been tampered with. (it's an 05 R1200GS). The cover had been damaged, and the steering lock no longer works. When I tried the key in the ignition I found that it simply does not turn. I can only assume that whoever took the cover off has tampered with the ignition and steering lock and damaged them. Stupid and pointless as there are two chunky locks on the bike, and one on the gate to the drive it was parked in. There is no obvious visible damage.
Anyway, is there anything I can try before I call out the breakdown truck to carry it to a dealership? I don't really have a free morning I can afford to spend dealing with this. If I could at least ride it to the garage that would help a lot.
Any helpful suggestions would be welcome.
Cheers
Ian

 

[radrod]

Happened to me once too. Sorry to hear but at least the bike is still there. Someone tried prying the key cylinder out with a flat screw driver or knife. There were innards and spring mechanisms showing from within. I did manage to work the key to on position with lots of wd40 and gentle prodding. It eventually clicked over and I rode to the dealer for cylinder replacement.

I have since kept the bike covered and there have been no more tamperings since 2007. Knocks on wood. I hope that helps.

 

[Technopole]

Thanks for the comments Radrod.
I finally managed to deal with this at the weekend. The bike had definitely been teh subject of an attempted theft. The steering lock was broken, i.e. both the "peg" and the "slot". So no amount of WD40 was going to get the key to turn.
I called out a breakdown truck, and the guy bent the "peg" so that we could turn the key. I then rode to the dealership. I don't yet know what sort of bill I face, but I will post this when I do, for others to see.

 

[Kamikaze]

Consider yourself lucky.
Happened to me too but in trying to hotwire it, they blew the ECU.
Cost me the best part of a grand

 

[The Nutter]

Consider yourself lucky.
Happened to me too but in trying to hotwire it, they blew the ECU.
Cost me the best part of a grand

Fooking A**holes!!! Pity there ain't a way to wire it up to 50,000 volts to fry the thieving scum. It'd be nice to come out the front door in the morning and see the still smoldering corpse of a now 'overdone' ex-thief lying lifelessly in his own urine.

 

[Kamikaze]

Aint that the truth.

 

[Technopole]

Well, not so lucky after all. It turns out that in breaking the steering lock the eejit who did this also bent the front frame section. So this needed to be replaced, and this cost £933.00. A bit of a blow, coming just when I am a bit short.
I have had it fixed now, but am left wondering whether I can afford to keep the bike. Are we sure I can't wire it up to a high-voltage?