it is with extreme sadness that i share that both of my yfz's were stolen last saturday nite. my garage was broken into and both of my machines were rolled away with the keys in the ignition. they fired them up and went on a several hour riding spree through the back roads in my local area. i didn't discover them missing until after church sunday afternoon at 1pm. made me absolutely sick to see the empty space in my garage. every free moment i had for the last 9 months went into building the 520. every nut and bolt. powdercoated everything just a tragedy! i began questioning neighbors and follow the bread crumbs of sounds that were left in the nite. i found a few tracks and fortuneately i had my 12 paddles on the drag quad still from my silver lake trip and the sparky and quiet cap removed so it was louder than normal. i searched all day and on my way home at dusk i found 2 sets of paddle tire tracks heading back a farm lane about 5 miles from my house. i tracked them back a half mile or so and quit because it was too dark to see. i reported all of this to our local law and state law enforement. since they didn't follow up on the tracks i went back monday morning at daybreak and thank God found my white 480 duner and saw tracks of my 520 leaving the field. i've been looking all over and can't pinpoint where where these crooks ended up. can't find any more tracks. it was a real miracle that i found the one for sure and i'm hoping the other will show up somewhere yet. the real bummer is my homeowners won't cover any of it since it doesn't service the insured property and i didn't have a specific insurance policy on the machines since i only ride 7-8 days a year. my loss and a hard lesson learned for sure. i don't think i'll ever get over this! it really hurts when you lose something that you've invested your heart and soul and money in. i'm sure they have no idea what they have. just really sucks!
a piece of my heart has been stolen. i loved that machine!

OMG dude,,,,,, that really sucks. I feel your pain, and I hope it turns up for you.

I can almost bet its someone who knows you.I hate stories like these i have also had 2 of my quads stolen yrs ago makes you not wanna trust anyone

x2, Sad but true. Most of the time it's someone you know or at least knows you have the bikes and where you live. Keep your eye open and put out the word to every neighborhood kid, people get ratted out all the time and thats how they get caught. Offer up some kind of reward too. Good luck

Sonny

These stories make me sick to my stomach. Hope you get it back how tore up was the one you did get back?

sorry to hear this, it sucks ALOT

you where very lucky to find the one, and I hope you get the 520 back

it sounds like it was kids just ripping around, if it was someone stealing them for part out they wouldnt have left one behind

any chance they get finger prints off the 480?

keep us posted

Man that sucks, nothing worse than thief, work hard for something and then its stolen.
I would keep looking and looking. Get some friends and scour the area, dont give up!

I hope you find your ride!

'''people'''this is why you need to take a chain or cable, and lock your stuff together in your garage''' i have 5 bikes lock't up in my toybox,and my 450 is chained up to my utv in my garage. i dont trust garage doors for nothing. it dont take much to get into em,and roll your bikes out. bottom line'' if you got em,lock em.

that really sucks man!!! hope you recover in tact!!!

I feel the pain man!!

All a chain and lock will do is keep the honest guy from stealing something. A true thief looks at a chain and lock as a challenge.Trust me both of my 250R's were chained up and locked around a 6x6 post in my polebarn they cut the lock off.

all you can do is make it more difficult, hope they deside its too much work to take it

theives are a lazy bunch or they would build their own toys

remove keys, pad lock rear disc brake, cable locks all help

guy outside of town had a hole cut in the side of his trailer because they couldnt get the door locks off
(lost his quads and trashed his trailer) I have no doubt the bodies would not be found if he knew who did it

Bro,I'm so very sorry! I could'nt believe what I was reading. Haven't had my baby stolen but feel your pain. So hope you find the POS who jacked your YFZ. Keep looking for the bike and keep an eye out on the sites/ebay for parts that could be from your bike.

And my guess is the POS who stole it knows you. Either a friend or a friends friend. I never like when one of my buds brings over a "friend". Get a cable and big lock. I know it won't 100% stop them but it takes extra time and that may make a difference.

I have kicked around putting (lojack) (lowjack) on my bike. Not sure what it cost but think I'm lookin into it now.

Best wishes go out to you.

This is true. If some crap bag wants them bad enough, their good as gone!
Sorry for the loss.

VERY sorry to read this horrible dilema.

I say cut their nad sack off and jamb it down their thoats.....after they apologize first though

Best of luck my friend.

agreed, I gone somewhere and come home to a open garage even after shutting it. I have been in my house and grage door opens auto maticly. I put a lock on my garage and keep it locked so it doesnt open. I defently would reccomend not leavn the keys in them.

dozers520,

any update on this, hopefully some good news?

+1 I'm curios...

and do you have any more info on Insurance? I have homeowners ins and was under the impression they will cover the loss if my bike were stolen. Am I dead wrong?

most insurance will not cover theft of an atv (they consider it like a stolen car, not under home owners plan)

there is an exception, if you use it for farm/yard work it would qualify more as a tool like a mower
(making it covered in most home insurance plans)

not sure even a picture of a 450r race quad with a yard trailer attatched would be convencing enough to the insurance company

VERY sad indeed. Many people here know my story, I had a very expensive unique quad, trailer, tools ect all stolen from me 800 mi. away, with no ins.
Another cheep insurance I do is keep a a small radio on in the garage all the time, sounds like someone is out there.

Good luck and keep us posted

I appreciate all the support. not everyone understands, but the people in this community do---so i thank all of you for that!

police have some people in mind who do this kind of thing, one lives near me and the other out near where i recovered my one machine. of course they won't tell me anything other than that.

i keep going back to the area where it was last heard/seen ,but can't come up with anymore leads. all the corn isn't cut yet either so maybe it will be found by a farmer too. i think it's stashed in someones garage or shed though. not really the kind of machine you just leave in a field, of course the other one wasn't either and they left it in a corn field so who knows. i'll let you know if i get any further. thanks again, Tom

I got full coverage on mine through progressive for like $15 a month and in the winter time I bump it down to just comp coverage so they'll still cover fire, theft or vandalism.

Post about your stolen quad on every atv forum you can sign up and register on. Your YFZ450 is pretty one off. I never seen one with Venom graphics and a Venom exhaust. It pays to be different sometimes. I think you have good chance finding your quad unless the people who stole it are parting it out. I hope you find it!

If i were you, I would have left the other back their, and watched it. Mabey they ould have led you to your other quad. Plus then you catch the SOB.

agreed! the emotion of it all got the best of me. i was told that some of these guys camp in the woods so i didn't know if they were close, the gun was in the car and i just jumped on it and took off. i had it in my mind that they were going to be together and i was going to see the second one around the corner of the the corn.

i have gotten a tip recently on who took the machines. the police act like they are following up on it but i'm not sure. i'm getting impatient. supposively these guys were arrested last week for drug charges and the one was busted for coke in 06. so there's a history of crime. i don't think they are in custody now. i'm getting sick thinking about this again.

if they do know who took them (which it sounds like) they are not going to bust them over your quad. very sad but true. most likely, they are watching them, and are planning a bigger bust later.

something similar happened around here with a stolen truck. the owner found it on his own, and ended up wrecking a huge investigation involving drugs and stolen property. most of the tweakers involved never even got arrested.

Lots of luck on the find DOZER

Sorry to read this Tom. I know you have had alot of hard sweat and tears into these quads. I hope they/ you recover the last quad.

Insurance is the best deal for quads. Homeowners will not cover them as previously stated.

Also make sure to keep pictures and parts/ price sheets/ receipts on hand in case you ever have to fill an insurance claim. All that adds up to the quads "current value at loss" and in some cases can return you more money then you think.

thanks terse. there are alot of hard lessons learned here. ultimately no one can steal my love for the sport and the sense of pride that i had in building the entire bike. it really was a runner! i can build another when my finances are better. this has just been a very tough year for me.

thank God i found my 480 duner. it was my original machine and it runs really well. i'm confident it has enough stuff to hand it to my buddies jsr565 and that's all that matters now

my 10 year old son still has faith that we'll find it. so i'm trying to have faith like him. ultimately it's a pile of metal and plastic and not my life. it's taken me a while to realize that. i had been overly consumed with the build for a while. it was just a painful way to have a reality check.

so sorry to hear about your misfortune.. :(

i've always thought that thieves were among the lowest life forms... you could more understand someone killing someone on accident or in a mad fit... than somone who plans\decides they have more right to your hard earned property than you do