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How To Check If A Motorcycle Is Stolen


f1wade
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  • 6 months later...

Yes, I'm wondering this too. I'll be buying a trials bike for the first time soon. The last thing I want to do is buy a stolen one.

 

I assume that since it's an offroad bike without a number plate, that it won't be 'registered', and so I won't get a registration document.

What is there to prove that the guy selling it to me is the owner? Sure, if he comes across as Delboy, selling it from the back of his reliant robin, I'd be suspicous, but even if he appears to be genuine, the bike itself could be stolen.

 

After all, the bike I'll be buyting (as a first/learner-droper bike) will probably have passed through a number of hands. Even if the guy I buy it from is honest, the bike itself could have been knicked earlier in the chain of 'owners'.

 

I'm from Ireland by-the-way. I guess I could check the UK sites above to see if it was a bike stolen from the UK and brought into Ireland but I guess I'm more likely to run into a bike stolen closer to home.

 

So are there any tips for spotting a stolen trials bike?

 

Or to spot a genuine one? (I guess if he had the original manual, and other papers... anything else?)

 

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I have no idea about the UK, but in the US, all off-road motorcycles (bikes that can generally never be road registered) are sold with an MSO (manufacturers certificate of origin). It's roughly the equivalent of a title for a vehicle that would be road registered. It looks roughly like this: http://www.motorcycle-manufacturer-license.org/MCO-Sample-blank-front.jpeg

 

Because they're never used in the registration process, people tend to lose MSO's, but I wouldn't buy a used bike from anyone that didn't have it. It's pretty much the only semi-guarantee I have that it wasn't stolen.

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  • 11 months later...

First, you should check if it's an old bike or not. When you are checking for a newer model, you should check for the name of the manufacturer on the frame. Next, you should start with the frame, checking for scratches on the frame near the wheels. If it's an older bike, you should check the engine for any signs of tampering. If it is a newer bike, you should check the engine for oil leaks or anything that might have been tampered with. Additionally, you should look into the saddlebag for anything that was put in there. Lastly, if it's an older bike, you should look for the VIN number on the frame near the frame's engine

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Nothing piques my interest quite like a trials bike with a rack on the back :)

In other news, there's no shame in asking that a used bike comes with some sort of extra documentation.  When I got my Gasgas it came from a retired trials specialist who had originally sold the bike new, so I got a copy of the original sales invoice, for instance ... these days I wouldn't buy a bike that's not road registered.

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1 hour ago, pschrauber said:

Never buy bikes without any documentation or "papers" like bill of sale, even a not road registered bike had once a bill of sale with a serial number, period.

I fear then that very very few bikes would ever change hands.  I doubt I can find the receipt for my bike and the missus' was without any paperwork off eBay.  I would now be unable to sell them.

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4 hours ago, ChrisCH said:

I fear then that very very few bikes would ever change hands.  I doubt I can find the receipt for my bike and the missus' was without any paperwork off eBay.  I would now be unable to sell them.

What is so difficult to save one sheet of paper? Many people have so many so in detail going advices how to handle this and that to their bikes that is near an ideology. But can't save one sheet of paper that is something I can not undestand.

And by the way especially you have very in depth going comments and demands depending bikes.

As mentioned everyone can run his household in their own way but too have to deal with the outcome of their actions or failed actions and not to blame other or the "circumstances". 

Edited by pschrauber
misspelling if words
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