Scooter stolen, and recovered. 2nd time in 2 years. =[

[xteraco]

Well the title says it all. Last year my wife's scooter (we called it Bubblegum because of the custom paint) was stolen, stripped down to the frame, and bent/broken beyond recognition. Here is a before and after.

before

after


They caught the punks who stole that scoot and gave em a slap on the wrist. We got enough money from our insurance to get a new scooter for poor fr0zen. Here's a pic of the then new scoot.



Well this morning, not sure what time, but the sun wasn't up yet, I hear pounding on the door. I shout "who is it" and get "Burlington PD". Well anyway it turns out they found fr0zens newish scooter 2 blocks down the road beaten and laid over. Here are the pics.




















As you can see there isn't a panel that hasn't been cracked. Both tires are flat. One mirror is missing. One mirror destroyed. The speed'o and gauges are destroyed. The post that the seat bolts to has been bent, and the bolt on the seat has been destroyed. One panel is missing. The rear light is busted. The exhaust is scraped. They unpackaged and destroyed a bran new Stebel 139db horn.

Surprisingly its in a lot better shape compared to the last time this happened. Its still really frustrating. She put so much time and effort into painting and modding her yellow and pink scooter, and she did all the work herself. It feels like she's ready to give up on scooting and I keep telling her not to. We've just gotta move out of this hellhole.

Oh about the last pic. It looks like they used up all of our gasket sealer. I hope they were dumb enough to try and eat it. "Oh look candy!"

[Kaos]

Wow, thats awful! Have the cops checked with the lowlifes who did your first one? Wouldn't surprise me if they did the second too.

[nissanman]

There has to be something better to do in Burlington other than steal scooters... Like hunting down scooter theives

just kidding... maybe

[Sparky]

Pardon the stereotyping...but "Burlington, Vermont" does not immediately spring to mind when one thinks of hives of scum and villainy. I've been through the city several times. Nice and fairly clean, if a bit more commercial and urbanised than I recall from trips back in the 80's.

I suppose you get idiots in any large settlement of people, or smaller ones for that instance.

Personally, I prefer Montpelier to Burlington these days. There's a great diner there--the Green Stop, I think--I chow down at whenever I pass through.

[xteraco]

Burlington is a good example of a rust and rot being covered with a nice glossy paint job. It may look shiny but its still rotten underneath.

We've had 2 scooters stolen, had our car keyed, then later broken into and the stereo was stolen. Don't even get me started on how bad the rental situation is. I'll just say our hot water heater hasn't worked in months, and we have no refrigerator. 400sqft all for 850/mo!

I think the reason there is so much vandalism is because there's no culture here. There really is nothing for kids to do on spring break. Any events going on are way overpriced etc...

Also the cop told me he didn't think it was the same people. That was my first idea too.

[Lil Buddy]

Hey xteraco,
Im curious about something..... you said this was your wives scoot. Do you have one as well? Do you store yours in a different spot than your wives?

[fr0zen]

I'm his wife. Yeah, mine was in a different spot. They've told us we aren't allowed to park up front. We'd been using his a lot and it was parked up front, but mine was in the back.

I think the only thing I can do is get an alarm. I'm just so tired of the crap we're going through at this apartment complex. They've actually told us to put them with the bikes at the bike rack. The maintenance guy gave me crap for riding all winter.

We're moving as soon as we have enough money. Seriously, my next paycheck was going to be enough saved and we were going to move across the country to live somewhere where we can afford a garage or a complex that has decent lights in the parking lot.

[r0sa]

that is horrible!

from the pictures, it looks like the handle bar is bubbled up, was the scoot on fire?

[Hipnerd]

Every time something like this happens to me, I move one step closer to dressing up like a bat to fight crime.

[StL_Stadtroller]

$850/mo !!!!!!

That's literally 2x what my house payment was for 900sq/ft 4-room brick 50's bungalow with a ONE-THOUSAND sq/ft garage in South St. Louis!

Y'all need to MOVE, immediately!

Sorry about your scoot, that's some terrible luck you're having there.

[Tocsik]

Hey, I am so sorry to hear of this. I sure would hate to see you give up scootering because of some @$$hole, knuckle-dragging, monobrow, half-wit, useless, brainless, Neanderthal cowards.

While not something I would personally have, that bubblegum paint job was uber-cool!

I sure hope you are able to move rather than change your life.

Wishing you the best of luck.

[ScootStevie]

This is the kind of thing that makes me want to punch someone (them) in the face. Sorry about your bad experience, I wish you well in your move to a theft free town

[pugbuddy]

I can tell you Tulsa's a much nicer place and affordable. But it depends on what you want in a town, of course.

Take good care of your scooter! Sorry for all the rough times....

[lmyers]

I can tell you Tulsa's a much nicer place and affordable. But it depends on what you want in a town, of course.

Take good care of your scooter! Sorry for all the rough times....

+1 on that and we've got some really good shops here as well.

[jmkjr72]

dang x you and frozen have had some bad luck
its definatly time to ditch the area and find a nicer place to live
i remember when the first one got stolen from your post over on scootertime
hope things get better for you

[xteraco]

Well we still managed to make a good day of it all. We went for a 45mi scoot (2 up) and we talked to a guy who is selling a '62 Vespa. We bought some wine and turkey dogs and we're trying to take it easy.

[Sparky]

Quick question: were the suspected perps local bored youth or drunken uni students out on a tear?

Sorry to hear Vermont's not treating you right. I do have fond memories of Burlington in the "old days". Hell, I have a slightly hazy memory of the original Ben & Jerry's store in the gas station, with the ice-cream maker rattling by the front window. The scooter rally I attended a couple of years ago was pretty fun, if a trifle rain-soaked at times.

Hmmm. Your problems with vandalism might explain why the Sunday I left, my routine tire pressure check found that someone had deflated the rear wheel...

Hope you enjoy riding around the state while you can. Assholes or not, Route 100 and the App Gap Run are strong temptations to tough it out!

[Stormswift]

I am sorry to hear and see what they did to your scoot. Mine was almost taken this January.

[jasondavis48108]

That totally sucks, I understand why kids would steal a scooter if they can't afford one (not that that makes it right) buy why the hell destroy the scooter. Hope they catch the folks who did this and hope you find a nicer neighborhood to live in soon.

[Sailboat13]

I feel like I could smash someones face in for doing that. I am so very sorry this has happened to you guys. I feel so darn bad for you. Move as soon as you can afford it. Good luck, you've sure had enough bad luck.

[un_designer]

wow. bummer... sorry to hear and see the carcass of your buddy...

idk what your exact situation is, if you always park it in the same location or not, but if you do... maybe invest in a cam. it's not for security but more to find out who's doing this and cut it at the source so that it stops happening to you and to anyone else in the area.

[xteraco]

Wow. I got a shock yesterday.

The first time this happened to fr0zens scooter, we were insured through Progressive. The adjuster came to take a look and was kind of rude to us. He was a Harley guy, and you could tell he didn't like scooters. Any way, supposedly covering all the mods we did to the scooter we only got 1700 for the totaled scooter.

Because of the bad service and high price we switched to Geico.

The day before yesterday the adjuster for Geico came out to take a look at the scoot. You could tell he was rushed, but he actually talked to us about the scooter. He said he and his wife were considering a scooter for their commute. Pretty cool. Before the adjuster left he told us that the scooter is a total loss, and that NADA is 1899.

Any way. The day after we got a call from the adjuster telling us we'd be getting paid 1900 - our deductible which is only 100 dollars. So they are actually giving us 1 dollar more then NADA, and we're walking away with 1800 bones.

Not bad considering we bought the scoot used for 1700. Now that's good luck! LOL

The only down side is that my Vino needs a new clutch, top end work (new head gasket most likely), new tires, and a new belt. We wont have enough left to get fr0zen a scooter with the cash, but thats what credit is for.

[Lostmycage]

From what you've said, I'd pocket the money, stow the Vino and use that money to get yourselves to a better place.

I'm glad your insurance company is taking care of you decently. That's usually more of a pain than any other part of a theft or (light) accident.

Now, get out of there!

[gearhead]

glad the caught the people who did it the first time. may i ask how they found out who did it? sorry about the 2nd time. hopefully they find them too.