So what's the story then Jonathan?
Well, bike got nicked almost 2 weeks ago. Police didnt bother to look for it, or check for any available CCTV footage in the area. I did put the bike as stolen on ebay (with over 1000 hits and 11 watchers). Last Wednesday while being away on holiday I got a call from NIG insurance (through BMW Motorrad) engineer who didnt have a clue about bikes and/or this particular model, but agreed to do some 'research'. About 10 mins later he called again offering £500 as this is apparently the market-value - I had to refuse this generous offer. This kind of ruined my last day of holidays! and for the last 2 days was in the middle of compiling an official complaint, as well as contacting the Ombudsman services for support with my claim. Until now I had not send anything, such as forms, keys, V5, etc back to NIG as I only received correspondence last Friday when I left to go on holiday - after the engineers call I decided its probably best I hang on to things until the market-value is agreed. Lucky that I did, because strangely I had this feeling all along that I might find it in a nearby park or so (I had previously seen bikes stuck in bushed near here), and indeed this was suggest here on this forum, too. Yesterday was the first day I had time to go for a wander and I decided to go and look around Hackney Marshes 10 min away. So I hopped on my pushbike started cycling down the road and nearly fell stright off it again as I realised that after 150m I had just passed my R80ST parked in my road (picture is where and how I found it). I immediately called the local police station where I reported the theft initially, they didnt bother coming around, but confirmed I was free to take it and recorded that the bike is back in my possession. I asked some by-passers and a parking attendant if they had noticed the bike parked there before (I rarely go down that way), but noone seems to have seen it before. Looking at the petrol marks on the road (form overflowing carbs) it seemed to have been put there not too long ago - as the (not full) tank would have been empty by now. Anyhow, raced back home to dump the pushbike, ran back (fearing it might have been a dream and it would be gone again) and pushed it up the road home to lock it up with all the locks I could find. Its now tied to a lam-post and my other bike. I had a quick look over it, bent the ripped-up instrument shroud vaguely back to where it should be, removed the battery to refill/re-charge and re-fit the seat (broken plastic bit to hold it under the tank). I will have a look at the wiring loom today and temporarily patch it up - just to see if I can get her running. Judging be NIG's disgusting performance so far I think it might be best to cancel the claim entirely and just repair it myself - lets see what they say - probably £50-£175 excess?!
It seems very strange that I felt that I needed to go look for it yesterday only to find it nicely parked in my very road...It looks like it was returned, but obviously they were a little shy so they parked it nearish rather than in front of my door? Perhaps they saw it advertised on ebay, mum made them bring it back? I would guess they never got it running - riding would have been pretty hard with the steering being very stiff, I suspect its the buggered steering lock binding somewhat.
Didnt sleep very well last night - and just checked and its still outside!
Thats what happened so far
Jonathan
Just found my stolen R80ST parked 150 meters down the road
Or is there anyone else (Proff/Rob?) who are nearish and can repair it?
NOW BEFORE Steptoe comes and gets it, put a GET A BIG FÚCK OFF CHAIN on her and fasten it to something solid !!!!
