Motorbike theft is a serious problem in many places, not the least of which is the UK. What possibly sucks worse than getting your motorbike stolen, though? Getting it stolen while you're on a big journey, far away from home.
That's what almost happened to Noraly Schoenmaker, aka Itchy Boots. To be fair, this isn't the first time she's had to deal with thieves trying to make off with her bike. But once again, it showcases the value of hiding a tracker very well somewhere on your bike to help locate it if unscrupulous folks try to make off with it.
Right now, Schoenmaker is in the midst of a UK book tour (you can check out our interview with her about the book on our YouTube channel right now, and also read our review). To get from place to place, Yamaha Europe has lent her a 2025 Yamaha Ténéré 700, since Frankie (her trusty 1987 Yamaha XT600 Ténéré) is in storage overseas at the moment. While staying at a hotel in Swansea, Wales, thieves apparently struck and tried to wheel the loaner bike away in the night.
You don't put as many kilometers on bikes as Schoenmaker has without learning a few things, like how valuable a well-placed AirTag can be. A similar strategy already saved her once elsewhere in the world, and it seems to have also done the job this time around as well. When she walked out to where she'd parked, locked, and covered the bike the night before, she immediately noticed it was gone.
Tracking the AirTag led her to where she believed it was, which was a blue van parked elsewhere in the lot. It later turned out that the bike wasn't actually in the van, but was instead hidden pretty well under a bunch of greenery nearby, in a grassy area in between two parking lots.
A later review of the hotel's security footage showed a scout scoping out the bike ahead of time before thieves came back in the night to try to whisk it away. With the chain lock she'd put on the rear wheel, they ended up just dragging it off to try to bring it to the next parking lot over. For some reason, though, they decided to try to hide it rather than actually loading it into a truck or van and taking it away. They did try to look for a tracker, but luckily didn't find where she'd secreted it away.
While they did do a bit of cosmetic damage, the bike was still mostly in good working order. It's not clear how much the tracker would have helped if they'd actually absconded with the bike, but that's one of those mysteries you'd probably be happy to leave alone.
Do you use a tracker on your bike? If you haven't before, are you likely to start? Feel free to share your stories in the comments.
