mcatrophy
Privileged to ride a 2018 FJR1300AS
Friday I went to the motorcycle show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham (UK). Went with my son, he was looking to change his bike, so wanted to sit on anything, I wanted some new kit, so wanted to try on stuff.
We arrived, found the motorcycle-specific parking area, they always put aside one of the halls for motorcycle parking. As you arrive, they put a tag on the bike and a matching one on your wrist, and you are guided to where you park, in nice neat lines. You then walk through a pedestrian exit, past a security point, onto the main concourse, from which you gain entry to the show.
So we did the rounds. All went well (Son sat on some bikes, only a couple could he get his toes on the floor, he's of small stature), I tried on some kit, didn't find anything I liked.
Came out, back to the bikes. I unlocked the cable tying our helmets to my bike, got my jacket and trousers out of my panniers, got togged up.
Went to put my Tomtom onto my bike. It wasn't in my jacket pocket, where I usually keep it. "Ah", thinks I, "I wouldn't have put it in my jacket pocket because I was folding jacket up to put in my pannier, I'll have put it in my back-pack". So I search my back-pack, throwing out cameras, water bottles, goodies picked up in the show ... no Tomtom.
Search through everything. Not there. B*gg*r.
I am a creature of habit (not all of them bad). When I finish a ride, I take my helmet off, then remove my earplugs. These I keep in a small box in the left-hand jacket pocket. In that pocket I have Tomtom's cover, so I find the cover when fishing for the earplug box. This reminds me to take the Tomtom off the bike, put it in the cover, and put that in the same pocket. This time I will have placed the Tomtom in its cover, and laid it onto my bike's seat while I sorted everything else out. Then FORGOTTEN TO PICK IT UP! My only excuse is the cover is black, the seat is black, lighting was poor, so it wasn't obvious.
Anyway, what is obvious is that when I came back to the bike, some four or five hours later, the Tomtom had disappeared.
I reported it to the security person. He sent me to the security office of the NEC. They phoned/radioed all security points to see if it had been handed in. Nope. Gave me a contact to the real police to report it as a crime.
When I got home (having taken a couple of wrong turnings
), I phoned the police. They were as helpful as they could be, took all the details, said they would liaise with the NEC security to look through any CCTV, gave me a crime reference number - would be useful for insurance purposes, though it wash't covered by any insurance.
The police were a lot more understanding than the other person I reported to. SWMBO was not at all happy with me
.
Sunday the security man at the NEC phoned me to say they'd trawled through the CCTC, nothing suspicious was seen. He also said he'd walked round all the bikes in the parking area after we'd gone, said he'd found couple of other bikes there with satnavs still with the bikes and stealable, though I'd guess they were in their holders, not loose on the saddle.
Monday (today) I phone Tomtom. "Can you trace my Tomtom if someone tries to access through the Tomtom Home software?" (I know that the Tomtoms are individually tied through an email address). "No" came the reply, "but if you send me the Crime Reference Number I can at least block it from any web-based live service". Better than nothing, I suppose.
After further discussion about maps and memory sizes of the newer Tomtoms, and recovering data from backups of my stolen device, she said they'd give me a discount if I bought a replacement. Which I thought was very reasonable of them.
So here we are, lost without a satnav, and feeling thoroughly stupid.
And, if anyone sees a Tomtom Rider with this opening screen, it's mine.
May the laughing and general ribaldry begin ...
We arrived, found the motorcycle-specific parking area, they always put aside one of the halls for motorcycle parking. As you arrive, they put a tag on the bike and a matching one on your wrist, and you are guided to where you park, in nice neat lines. You then walk through a pedestrian exit, past a security point, onto the main concourse, from which you gain entry to the show.
So we did the rounds. All went well (Son sat on some bikes, only a couple could he get his toes on the floor, he's of small stature), I tried on some kit, didn't find anything I liked.
Came out, back to the bikes. I unlocked the cable tying our helmets to my bike, got my jacket and trousers out of my panniers, got togged up.
Went to put my Tomtom onto my bike. It wasn't in my jacket pocket, where I usually keep it. "Ah", thinks I, "I wouldn't have put it in my jacket pocket because I was folding jacket up to put in my pannier, I'll have put it in my back-pack". So I search my back-pack, throwing out cameras, water bottles, goodies picked up in the show ... no Tomtom.
Search through everything. Not there. B*gg*r.
I am a creature of habit (not all of them bad). When I finish a ride, I take my helmet off, then remove my earplugs. These I keep in a small box in the left-hand jacket pocket. In that pocket I have Tomtom's cover, so I find the cover when fishing for the earplug box. This reminds me to take the Tomtom off the bike, put it in the cover, and put that in the same pocket. This time I will have placed the Tomtom in its cover, and laid it onto my bike's seat while I sorted everything else out. Then FORGOTTEN TO PICK IT UP! My only excuse is the cover is black, the seat is black, lighting was poor, so it wasn't obvious.
Anyway, what is obvious is that when I came back to the bike, some four or five hours later, the Tomtom had disappeared.
I reported it to the security person. He sent me to the security office of the NEC. They phoned/radioed all security points to see if it had been handed in. Nope. Gave me a contact to the real police to report it as a crime.
When I got home (having taken a couple of wrong turnings
The police were a lot more understanding than the other person I reported to. SWMBO was not at all happy with me
Sunday the security man at the NEC phoned me to say they'd trawled through the CCTC, nothing suspicious was seen. He also said he'd walked round all the bikes in the parking area after we'd gone, said he'd found couple of other bikes there with satnavs still with the bikes and stealable, though I'd guess they were in their holders, not loose on the saddle.
Monday (today) I phone Tomtom. "Can you trace my Tomtom if someone tries to access through the Tomtom Home software?" (I know that the Tomtoms are individually tied through an email address). "No" came the reply, "but if you send me the Crime Reference Number I can at least block it from any web-based live service". Better than nothing, I suppose.
After further discussion about maps and memory sizes of the newer Tomtoms, and recovering data from backups of my stolen device, she said they'd give me a discount if I bought a replacement. Which I thought was very reasonable of them.
So here we are, lost without a satnav, and feeling thoroughly stupid.
And, if anyone sees a Tomtom Rider with this opening screen, it's mine.
May the laughing and general ribaldry begin ...
Last edited by a moderator:
. The maps in it are quite old, never updated, and Tomtom have blocked it for any updates, so there's always a possibility.
