Owners of expensive motorcycles who had their prized machines stolen -- and in many cases shipped overseas -- now have an Internet site to exchange information in an effort to find their bikes.

"Your stolen bike is on sale at a shop here," was the message entertainer Supataro Kondo, 39, received in a telephone call at the end of 2001 from a friend who was in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. The friend was there to arrange a motorbike tour.

Kondo had three 250cc off-road bikes -- each valued at about 500,000 yen -- stolen from his home in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, over a two-month period. The bikes, each weighing more than 120 kg, were taken even though they had steering locks in place and heavy iron U-locks, making Kondo suspect underworld involvement.