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Smashed spark plugs... WHAT THE HELL!?!?!

ctepher

New member
Joined
Jun 10, 2003
Location
Oakland
Moto(s)
1979 Honda CB 400 / 1999 Suzuki SV650
I parked my beater bike on the opposite side of the street from my usual one a few days ago, and when I got on it the next day, one of the spark plugs was smashed to bits. No biggie, I thought, someone probably bumped it trying to park. Put in a new one, no problem.

Last night I parked the bike in the same spot, and today... both plugs where completely shattered and I'm filled with murderous rage.

Questions:

1. Could this be a natural phenomenon of the colder weather? (I doubt it, but I'd like to believe it.)

2. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I've heard of crackheads using bits of ceramic to break car windows quietly, maybe that's what is going on.

3. If someone is doing this to my bike, how do I catch them so I can hit them until candy comes out?

Thanks, -Steve
 
PS: There were no bits of ceramic on the ground under the bike, so I'm thinking it's probably the crackhead thing.

-Steve
 
From what I've heard, they are used for crack pipes.

The trick is to get some used spark plugs and leave them sitting on your motor each night where the crackheads can find them. If you need used spark plugs, stop by. We have lots of them (free).

-Paul
 
Crackheads.. Take the ceramic part to do there crack smoking, we assume. A good beating should stop it but might also target your bike for future abuse.
Leave them some old plugs?!
 
it's an epidemic in SF for a motorcycle to get their sparkplugs stolen.....

damn asi....

oops...I meant damn crackheads...
 
yep crack heads for sure.
Not much fun to put used pre-broken sprak plugs in every night
 
We need to make one of those stepup voltage transformers we used to make as kids. Take a couple of D cells, get a big stepup transformer, ground one side, other side goes to the spark plug wire. When someone touches it, it completes the circuit and zappo! a few hundred volts. It's low current so not dangerous, but really zaps ya.
 
What happened to using a Sprig air freshner glass? Damn what the world coming to? =:-D
 
I thought this was pretty funny and your not alone:


Hey Crackhead

Yes, you. You sick fucker. On Wednesday morning I emerged from my girlfriend's building by U.N. Plaza to find that you had sawed the tops off both the sparkplugs on my motorcycle. At the time, I had no idea why anyone would do that. Other than the sparkplugs, the bike was untouched. Some kind of bizarre vandalism? A fraternity prank gone awry? I had no idea. All I knew is that I looked like a huge douchebag riding the Muni to work in a padded motorcycle jacket and helmet.

Because the bike was immobilized I got a $35 street sweeping ticket that night. Thursday I had it towed to the shop ($45) where they replaced the sparkplugs and the boots ($50 including labor). They explained to me that "people" - I use the term loosely here - like you break off the tops of spark plugs and use the porcelain tubes to smoke crack. As an engineer and former MacGyver fan, in a way I think this is kind of cool. But then I remember that I just paid $100 for YOUR crackpipes, and I get angry again.

Crackhead, it was really good to have my bike back though. I rode home from the shop with a couple of spare sparkplugs and a smile on my face. I figured the next time I parked at my girlfriend's place overnight I would have to buy some crackpipes and tape them to my bike as a peace offering. Overall, I wasn't that upset. Despite having to ride the bus for three days and dropping a hundred bones at the shop, I had gained some fascinating knowledge, a new set of sparkplugs, and a pretty funny anecdote about how fucked up you are, and how our paths once crossed briefly in the night.

But you couldn't just let sleeping dogs lie, could you Crackhead. You couldn't just stay in on Friday, watch Letterman through the window of a home electronics store and then call it a night. You couldn't rest on your laurels. Two porcelain sparkplug crackpipes just wasn't enough for you, was it Crackhead? You just had to come back for more.

This morning, a scant fifteen hours after I rode it out of the shop, I found my motorcycle violated once again. This time you only took the right one - maybe you were having an off night. At least this time I had a spare sparkplug and the tools to fix it - or so I thought - having ordered a 73-piece toolset from SEARS.com last week. But no, the sparkplug socket in my new toolset was for American sparkplugs. So I had to go down to the neighborhood Ace hardware. They had an 18mm socket that would fit over my sparkplug, but it was for a 1/2" drive ratchet. My toolkit only has 1/4" and 3/8" ratchets. So I had to buy a 1/2" ratchet along with the socket. Even though the clerk took pity on me and gave me the senior citizen discount (I'm 25) it still cost me $22 all told. Now, you might say that I should have just gotten a 3/8"-to-1/2" drive adaptor instead of springing for the whole ratchet. And to that I say "Shut the hell up, Crackhead, I'm not finished. And besides, I was eventually going to buy a 1/2" ratchet anyway so it's probably not worth it to take it back now."

OK, now I'm rambling. But the point is, Crackhead, that you have done me wrong. Now, I get that you love crack. That is totally understandable. I've heard it is really fun, at first, and quite addictive. What I don't understand is,

YOU ARE A CRACKHEAD. WHY DON'T YOU OWN A CRACKPIPE?

I am an engineer. Do you ever see me shaking down bums in the Loin for a calculator and sliderule? No, you don't. Because engineering is the main thing I do, I went and bought myself a calculator. The main thing you do is crack. How do you get by without a crackpipe? The other crackheads must clown on you non-stop. I mean, the fucking saw you used to saw off my sparkplugs is probably worth five or ten bucks. Why not sell or trade it for a crackpipe? You really haven't put much thought into this, have you?

Please, Crackhead, please don't tell me you sold your crackpipe to buy crack. Even a stupid crackhead such as yourself couldn't possibly be that stupid.

I've decided that taping crackpipes to my motorcycle would be tantamount to appeasement. You have crossed a line, Crackhead - specifically California Street. You have come onto my own street and you have desecrated that which I hold dear. You have stolen from me, and you have caused me to spend the last half hour writing this post instead of engineering shit, and it is concievable, if not likely, that my boss could find out about this and fire me. I am hella pissed at you dude.

Here are my options as I see them:

1. Write a note saying that I have coated both of my sparkplugs in rat poison and tape it to my bike at night. You can thank Tim for that one, it was his idea.

2. Don't write a note, but just coat both sparkplugs in rat poison. This is probably closer to a punishment that would fit your despicable crime. I'm sure this is super illegal and shit, but it's not like anyone is going to miss you, Crackhead. Don't fool yourself.

3. Wait in an alley near my bike armed with my new stainless steel mirror-finish Ace Professional brand 1/2" drive socket wrench, my 18mm sparkplug socket, and my searing rage. It's pretty heavy and well balanced. I am not a large man, but I am angry.

In conclusion, Crackhead, why don't you just do both of us a favor and buy yourself a crackpipe? It will both enhance your crack smoking experience and save me a lot of time and felony assault charges. Think about it.

Sincerely,
Matt

*** If you are not the Crackhead that took my sparkplugs, please disregard this posting ***
 
if crack heads had acomputer they most likely sold it for some crack ...


i might have seen your plugs on the ground today in dt sf ....while i was parking my bike ....

i ve never had it happen to me ..my plugs are kind hard to get at ..unlike airhead bmw and etc ....
if your really mad you can always poison the old plugs that your gonna leave on your bike ...
not recamended to deal with party animals gone bad ...
 
So that's why they designed the heads on my bike so the plugs are in incredibly deep wells!


(j/k, I know about the dual overhead cams and other issues effecting the shape of modern cylinder heads.)
 
Drugs are bad MMMMMmmkay?

Wanna screw with them?

Get some FRS walkie talkies and a laser pointer- put one under the seat and leave it on.

Watch the bike from a distance- when said crack head gets near the bike- announce over the radio- I'm a profesional sniper and I see you... if that doesnt work- point the laser at your bike... :sniper
 
Dragon-
That's a GREAT idea.
Crackheads are super paranoid. Hell, they may even think the bike is Haunted and never come back.

The only good crackhead is a Crackho!!!! JUST KIDDING!!!!!!
 
GozZoom said:
Crackheads.. Take the ceramic part to do there crack smoking, we assume. A good beating should stop it but might also target your bike for future abuse.
Leave them some old plugs?!

They tend to use bricks to break them off, often breaking off bits of cooling fins (air cooled bikes) along with the spark plug. As much as it sucks to be handing out free crack pipes on your motorcycle, setting out old plugs like cookies for Santa is the only suggestion I've heard of (aside from pager alarm and sniper rifle) that keeps bikes from getting cooling fins broken.
 
I'm all for poisoning the extra plugs. Anyone have a suggestion on what to grease them with?
 
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