Around here I think peeps would be more incline to steal a "beater" because of the simple fact that they can roll into one of the local pawn shops, grab a fast $10 and never worry about it again. It's the $1.5k+ bikes they don't touch for fear of death. The biking community is tight here, and there isn't a big enough population to hide a theft like that. Add in the grand theft option for anything of real value and the average punk won't touch anything that looks nice.