Imagine that you’re a hardworking nurse out there trying to save lives in the middle of a global pandemic. Imagine that you also love motorcycles, and in fact love them so much that you spent a bunch of time fixing up a 2004 Kawasaki Ninja 250 with your stepdad. The two of you put in a whole bunch of work to make it special. There may be many other Ninja 250s in the world, but this one is all yours.
Now imagine that some jerk comes along and steals it. Worse still, they don’t just steal it; they completely trash it. The cops recover the bike and arrest the thieves, but not before your bike is so damaged, it’s going to cost more than the bike is worth to fix everything. You’d be pretty upset, right? Especially if you used that bike to get around and get to work.
Heroes Ride Among Us:
All this did happen to Mercedes Suarez, a nurse from San Antonio, Texas, and an avid rider. Luckily, that isn’t where the story ends. After seeing the story of her beloved bike getting stolen and trashed on the local news, Alamo Cycle Plex owner Dave Sears said he felt like he had to step up. He started thinking about how he could help, and then this Kawasaki dealer got on the phone with Kawasaki North America to see what they could do.
Although they knew it wasn’t the same, Sears phoned up Suarez and said, “Would you like a brand new 2019 Kawasaki Ninja 400?” She couldn’t believe it was real at first, but it was. They fitted a nice tank pad, Akrapovič exhaust, and some frame sliders on it before sending Suarez home with it. You can see a full video here, and it's lovely.
She loves her new bike, and is both grateful and amazed at the generosity of the San Antonio community. A local shop also offered to repair her recovered 2004 Ninja that she’d built with her stepdad, free of charge. I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Sources: Fox San Antonio, My San Antonio, News 4 San Antonio