For those of you in the Orlando, Florida area, watch your sportbikes. There seems to be a rash of thefts going on down there with 17 bikes snagged in just this past month.

The missing Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Honda and Triumph Daytona motorcycles were valued at $117,000. All but two were parked overnight outside apartment complexes, reports show.

Investigators suspect that chop-shop operations are stripping the bikes and selling the engines and components separately, police Sgt. Barbara Jones said. Used sport-bike engines, such as a 600 cc. Yamaha, are worth $500 to $900 each on the Internet.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, watch your bike. It doesn’t take very long to steal a bike and there are lots of low life thieves who just want to part it out and count the cash. Put it in a well lighted area if possible, have an alarm, lock it to something solid. It won’t necessarily stop them but it might slow them down enough for someone to catch them in the act. You might also try an inexpensive security camera. They don’t cost much and they’re very effective. You can get internet security cameras, too, so you can monitor things from a distance. But, always be alert and if you see something suspicious, report it to the police. You might save someone else’s bike or even your own.

Orlando Sentinel