Burton Speaks

So yesterday, when I left for work, this is roughly what was parked in the street behind my car:


Yup, that's a 2003 Kawasaki Ninja 500R - a decent motorcycle, and one that I've had since August of 2006. (I sold my Triumph Sprint ST to pay for grad school.)

Imagine, then, my surprise as I got home from work late at night to find that particular spot in the street empty. Okay, "surprise" doesn't exactly cover the range of emotions that I felt; there was some "dismay", a little bit of "panic", and perhaps even a touch of "indignation". After checking with my roommate in the morning to see if she'd seen it lately, I made a few calls:

First, I called the City of Portland towing folks, to see if the vehicle had been towed. (The tags were a few weeks out of date, and I hadn't gotten around to putting the new ones on - despite the fact that they were on my desk.)

Second, I called the Portland Police non-emergency number and left a message that went something like, "This is Burton Simmons, my phone number is such-and-such, and I'd like to report my motorcycle stolen. Please give me a call."

I took a quick shower and got out just in time for them to call me back. A few questions later, they were going to send an officer by.

At this point, I called my insurance company to get the claims process going.

With the waiting game started, I walked outside to survey the area and found some debris on the ground. I put a few pieces together, and found what appears to be the parts of the ignition switch that would control the fork lock.


A short while later, a nice police officer (I say this because Portland Police have been anecdotally awesome lately) showed up. He took down the info, offered some sympathy and vague promises of "we'll keep our eyes open, but motorcycles are easy to hide", gave me the case ID, and went to file the report.

Finally, I called Progressive back and got transferred to the local agent already assigned to the claim. I gave her the case number, a little history on the motorcycle, and emailed her a few photos of the bike. From start to finish, this happened in the span of about two hours.

What now?

For now, I wait. If the motorcycle is not recovered in 30 days, Progressive should pay for it (minus, of course, my deductible.) If the motorcycle is recovered, then they'll pay for the repairs (minus, of course, my deductible.)

I guess I didn't want to ride in August after all.