Tea leaves broke my steering lock

6511 Views 10 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Flyerdon, May 29, 2019

rb1983

Discussion Starter · Jul 13, 2018

Hi all,

My XSR700 2017 was pinched from my house last night whist we were sleeping, a good Samaritan contacted the local bike garage to let them know it had been left near his house, so i went and picked it up.

Despite lifting it onto a Van the fuckers have broken my steering lock and left the steering column off center. Is this easy/cheap to fix myself or do i need a Yamaha specialist to pull my pants down and add insult to injury??

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Tigerjohn

· #2 · Jul 13, 2018

If I were you, I'd loosen my belt and take the bike in to be checked over - just in case the steering column has been damaged. A frustrating experience for sure, but at least you got it back immediately and it hasn't been crashed.

On a separate note, our mainland European and North American members may be scratching their heads, wondering how tea leaves got into your steering lock and caused so much damage in the first place! Credit to the Julius who had the sense to use their dog to contact the Steve Claridge.

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hombacher

· #3 · Jul 14, 2018

...I do not know what tea leaves means, and do not understand the description of 'steering column off center'

I do not know, what those good-for-nothing did in the night. When they tried to unlock the steering lock by pushing the handle bar, maybe only this is out of center. Loosening the screws from bar and fork clamps may relocate the steering into center?

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DaveO

· #4 · Jul 15, 2018

Tea leaves = Thieves

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Munkul

· #5 · Jul 16, 2018

I wonder why they dropped it off instead of stripping for parts or export or whatever else professional tea leaves do with them these days.

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Lucas Tetreault

· #6 · Jul 20, 2018

I had some thing similar like this happen to mine.. the bars and wheel were not lined up as they should be after but i ended up being able to drive it for a day or two until my dealership could get me in. Long story short we call it the " Triple Tree" out here in Sask. and it requires a special alignment tool to get the steering column and forks to line back up again properly. easy enough job for someone with the right tool and know how.. but it was not cheap as they had to take the tank covers and pull tank back to get at the main nut on the center column. So quite the job to get done but it has been done by the yamaha specialists so i have that piece of mind even tho it may be hard to ride with the sore behind.
Good luck from Western Canada!!

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tabspeed

· #7 · Jul 22, 2018 (Edited)

Sorry to hear of your damage.
I had mine stolen 3 month ago, they destroyed the ignition lock which I think is combined with the steering lock.
Because my ignition was destroyed I had to have a new ignition fitted. BUT........it's not that simple, the ignition is coded to the ECU therefore I needed a new set of locks (ignition, seat lock, and filler cap) + and here's the big one....a new ECU because they are coded to the keys.
You cannot buy the locks and have them coded to your original ECU.

It cost me £1500 at stealers, but I needed a new headlight and screen, so would be a bit less.

I hope your not in the same position I was in.

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rb1983

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 25, 2018

Thank you all for your responses,

As DaveO pointed our a tea leaf is cockney rhyming slang for a thief, a dirty no good thief who are also known as oxygen thieves..

Anyway so i took my bike to my local honda garage who quoted me £2700 to repair as they had completely split the key barrel and caused a hairline crack on the frame. So i took the bike back and have managed to straighten the alignment by loosening the screws around the yoke and the forks. I do now however have an issue with the indicator which is now very sensitive and requires the key to be in a very specific position so quite often doesn't work at all, but after fixing the steering and replacing the broken mirrors i will persevere with the bike and no steering lock etc.

I feel very let down by the police who closed the case after 3 days due to insufficient evidence despite not even having a conversation with me about CCTV footage which we have and they haven't seen. So they either cannot be bothered or have a lot more serious crimes like the rise in knife murders to deal with, either way it is understandable how people feel it necessary to take matters into their own hands, which could ironically lead to a vicious circle if those victims of injustice reach for a knife.... I might be onto something here

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rb1983

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 25, 2018

@Munkul - Apparently they leave them out of sight for 24/48 hours to see if they have trackers, if its still there then they take it. Same with some cars apparently. I dont understand why they broke the steering after successfully stealing it form my house but i am sure the C U next Tuesdays had their reasons.. I just hope they slip and fall in front of train

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Sculptorini

· #10 · Sep 20, 2018

Oh no.... Worried mine is going to be the same. Not even 2 years old... Caught them in the act of trying to drag my bike from between my garden wall and my wife's car. Obviously it got stuck (which was the point of the car parked where it was) but they broke the steering lock. And scratched and dented wife's car. They took off on a scooter. A witness got there reg number but the police said it was fake.... So that's that.
My mechanic says it just needs the ignition barrel changing but is struggling to buy this part alone without the antenna and ecu parts too....which is £900.... Nightmare. So just waiting to see if he can get the stand alone part now.

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Flyerdon

· #11 · May 29, 2019

Sorry to hear about the theft of the bike. I carry $1000 deductible on my insurance to keep the premiums low and I also have a Scorpio alarm fitted to the bike and they work because I've been lucky enough to actually witness the results when the culprits too off when the siren sounded. Heck, it even scares me when I forget it's alarmed and I hop on the thing and it starts to scream at me. Best $500 I've spent on a bike add-on. I've moved it from bike to bike on my last four motorcycles so it is pretty cost effective when you can do that.

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