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Stolen Bikes Near the Rally

101905 said:
The trooper should have known better. Des Moines has high crime especially that area.
Click to expand...

I don't live in Des Moines so I don't know for sure, but I do not see a lot of crime reports on the local news for that area.
Several times a year I bicycle through that area and don't feel threatened.
I have also stayed in a couple of the motels near the airport for meetings and never worried about it.
 
Lee said:
I don't live in Des Moines so I don't know for sure, but I do not see a lot of crime reports on the local news for that area.
Several times a year I bicycle through that area and don't feel threatened.
I have also stayed in a couple of the motels near the airport for meetings and never worried about it.
Click to expand...

I lived in that crime infested state of Iowa for three years and was pleased to move to the Twin Cities Metro area. With over six times the population of Des Moines, that den of iniquity, the Twin Cities, as the crime map link shows, has absolutely no crime.

It’s a fact.

Look at the map.

It’s on the internet.

:brad
 
I'll send a PM to the OP, asking if he wants the title clarified...NEAR the Rally would be a bit more accurate

Sucks the bikes were taken and the OP's K damaged. Hope justice of some sort prevails

We use Gut feeling and situational awareness when parking overnight in Anytown, USA,( DesMoines is not the only town with crime) has so far served us well. Locks and covers slow...but really will not keep a bike 100% safe if the a$$hats want your stuff and they have air and opportunity.:banghead

If it looks sketchy, regardless of name on hotel...go to plan B, which one should plan on if in urban environments these days...sad truth.
 
On more than one occasion have hotel managers just asked me to park my bike either INSIDE or in front of the lobby, as they knew that their areas weren't safe.
I have also been advised once to just park my bike inside my room provided it didn't leak oil....
Sometimes you can get lucky and get a caring owner/manager who understand you concerns when in less than favorable area's, specially if they are riders too :thumb
Obviously I never planned to be in those 'hoods',but circumstances change and so does a route...
It did make for some interesting conversations the next morning.. :)
 
There is no such thing as “those neighborhoods”. Contrary to the shocked faces on the nightly news saying “that sort of thing doesn’t happen here”...it does happen anywhere and everywhere.

Sharing a beer or a meal with a deputy from even the most rural area and asking about his or her week can be an enlightening experience for some.
 
barryin said:
There is no such thing as “those neighborhoods”. Contrary to the shocked faces on the nightly news saying “that sort of thing doesn’t happen here”...it does happen anywhere and everywhere.

Sharing a beer or a meal with a deputy from even the most rural area and asking about his or her week can be an enlightening experience for some.
Click to expand...

That is the truth :nod! We live in about as good a place as you can in todays society. It is very rural, and for the most part, extremely safe. However, just last week while I had been mowing on the other side of our FENCED IN YARD, I came around a blind corner and there stood a dude I had never seen before in my life! It startled me, then made me mad, and in a very angry voice asked him, " what the hell he thought he was doing?" He replied that he was on his way to the house behind ours (motioning in that direction). I am thinking "what the hell good is a fence?" and "I may have to defend myself, because this guy is obviously crazy." I told him, "You need to go to the road immediately and you certainly don't need to be walking around in peoples back yards." I asked him his name, got a good description and noted the direction he went in. Then I called 911 for a Deputy and had him go to the house the nut went to and give him a stern warning. The Deputy later told me he believed the guy was "hopped up" on something and that he thought he was looking for something to steal (do ya think?) Geesh! I don't like the downturn society has made. :banghead
 
greenwald said:
Lifting entire bikes into pickups is almost unheard of; more common to roll into a van.
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"Thieves have been stealing Harleys for decades so big and heavy and steering locks aren’t much of a deterrent. Three or four guys with a van or trailer can pretty quickly muscle a bike aboard and be gone" and,

"Stealing motorcycles is ridiculously easy.....a van, 4 people and 2 2x4s. Open van doors, 2x4 through each wheel, lift into van, close door and drive away."
 
Empathy

Myself and Brian Hinton, the Rally Chair are working our way home at this time. Currently at a hotel with our bikes parked in the lobby entrance. Hopefully, our bikes, will be safe for one more night on the road. The MOA leadership, was aware of the situation along with the staff. It really sucks to see one of our members rally get ruined by the criminal element of our society. I hope Law Enforcment and Insurance takes good care of our members. I know for quite a while we were working on getting a ride home by those affected, not sure, if the loop got closed on that, but I have confidence, that if there were members there that could help they did.
If there is resolution on this issue that someone knows about please post updates here.
 
One rider back to NE

rangerreece said:
Myself and Brian Hinton, the Rally Chair are working our way home at this time. Currently at a hotel with our bikes parked in the lobby entrance. Hopefully, our bikes, will be safe for one more night on the road. The MOA leadership, was aware of the situation along with the staff. It really sucks to see one of our members rally get ruined by the criminal element of our society. I hope Law Enforcment and Insurance takes good care of our members. I know for quite a while we were working on getting a ride home by those affected, not sure, if the loop got closed on that, but I have confidence, that if there were members there that could help they did.
If there is resolution on this issue that someone knows about please post updates here.
Click to expand...

Reese, my wife drove over to DSM for the rally. So the rider from NE returned home in air conditioned comfort Sunday with an RT escort.
 
nyfty said:
Reese, my wife drove over to DSM for the rally. So the rider from NE returned home in air conditioned comfort Sunday with an RT escort.
Click to expand...

And this is the reason the MOA exists!!! Great job Jim. It was good to see you at the rally. Thanks for helping out a fellow member in need.
 
Last edited:
Sad turn of events, to be sure. However, it's good to learn that members stepped in to help where they could.
It's tough to know exactly how at risk you are in a new town, despite what the surroundings may suggest. Years back I rode up to see the races at Laguna Seca. A large group of us stayed in the Hyatt or some such reputable hotel in Monterrey. The bikes were left in the underground parking for the hotel guests. Come morning we discovered thieves had struct. My take away from that was to never assume my bike was completely secure, no matter the neighborhood. That sense was reinforced when I discovered what lurked around the MOA rally in Salt Lake.
 
walt3022 said:
My take away from that was to never assume my bike was completely secure, no matter the neighborhood. That sense was reinforced when I discovered what lurked around the MOA rally in Salt Lake.
Click to expand...

Just what was lurking around the rally site in Salt Lake?
 
crucian said:
Just what was lurking around the rally site in Salt Lake?
Click to expand...
The rally site (fairgrounds) is surrounded by what may not be the most attractive neighborhood. It has many homeless wandering around and prostitutes on the corners. Every time I ventured out of the rally grounds to find some non-rally vendor food , I was approached by panhandlers. One encounter I had in a restaurant was particularly memorable. The guy was clearly in an advanced state of meth use, with open sores on his exposed skin - not a guy you would want to have lunch with. He wasn't aggressive or anything, just profoundly depressing. Some rally goers reported that they found strangers in their tents, but I didn't personally witness that.
That particular rally was a real eye-opener for me, as I had naively assumed the powers that be in Salt Lake would have done more to address what is a serious social/economic problem.
 
walt3022 said:
The rally site (fairgrounds) is surrounded by what may not be the most attractive neighborhood. It has many homeless wandering around and prostitutes on the corners. Every time I ventured out of the rally grounds to find some non-rally vendor food , I was approached by panhandlers. One encounter I had in a restaurant was particularly memorable. The guy was clearly in an advanced state of meth use, with open sores on his exposed skin - not a guy you would want to have lunch with. He wasn't aggressive or anything, just profoundly depressing. Some rally goers reported that they found strangers in their tents, but I didn't personally witness that.
That particular rally was a real eye-opener for me, as I had naively assumed the powers that be in Salt Lake would have done more to address what is a serious social/economic problem.
Click to expand...

We were at the Econolodge about 6 blocks from the rally site in Salt Lake City. Yes, a few homeless were about. Maybe even a (gasp) hooker or two. They didn't bother us. We didn't bother them. All in all, the Des Moines site was in a better neighborhood than the site in SLC.
 
Last edited:
walt3022 said:
prostitutes on the corners. I was approached by panhandlers. The guy was clearly in an advanced state of meth use, with open sores on his exposed skin .Some rally goers reported that they found strangers in their tents ..
Click to expand...

I knew my neighbors were gone for a few days! :laugh
 
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