Letter in Indy re stolen bikes on Brick Lane

the_hundredth_idiot

Anyone else spotted this letter in today's Indy? A Tower Hamlets' councillor claiming that Brick Lane is no longer a hot-bed of stolen bikes. :? I was part-way through writing a letter ridiculing his naivety but thought I ought to check: is it still as bad as it used to be?*

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/le ... 64168.html
(about half-way down the page)

What about the bit where the councillor claims that bikes which have been seized but are "untraceable" are then "sold back legally on Brick Lane [as] an educational exercise ...". :roll: Am I wrong :oops: in being tempted to buy legally (presumably for a bargain price) such an untraceable bike? The money isn't going to the thieving [insert insult of choice] so ...

The article it refers to was in last Saturday's Indy (see below). Ironically, in the same issue, a columnist in the "Save and Spend" section confessed to buying a stolen bike. :evil:

James Daley's original article here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 55312.html

Alice Azania-Jarvis's somewhat naive opposite article in the same issue here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/money/inve ... 57709.html

THI

* I used to live in Hoxton so would go down to Brick Lane quite a bit but, to be clear, never bought a bike although I've often suspected one each of mine and my wife's probably ended up there.

biondino

Alice A-J is all "oh I'm a ditzy girl" - kind of distasteful. And her boyfriend seriously needs educating on bike brakes.

giltkid

There's certainly far less open selling of bikes there than a few years ago - the whole area has been rather sanitised of late which imo is not an entirely good thing (another bit of 'old' London victim to developers) as notwithstanding the stolen bikes Brick Lane did used to have an earthy charm - nowadays its all gourmet coffee, Hoxton poseurs and gormless girls on multicoloured fixies. I think you'd be much more likely to find a stolen bike being offered at a car boot sale.

simple_salmon

giltkid wrote:

and gormless girls on multicoloured fixies.

How do I get there??? :P

(Don't think Mrs salmon reads this)

Sewinman

Simple-salmon - your picture looks like a brown trout to me.

toontra

A friend was there last week and almost all the bike sellers have gone, including the spare-part sellers that I thought were legit.

Biscuiteer

biondino wrote:

Alice A-J is all "oh I'm a ditzy girl" - kind of distasteful. And her boyfriend seriously needs educating on bike brakes.

Entirely agree with you about Alice. If I were given column inches in a national newspaper I can't say that I'd choose to portray myself as incompetent unless there was absolutely no convincing alternative! And it sounds like she was sold something that was hauled out of a skip, not nicked from anyone! And will the bicycle be thrown away in a future column because the saddle's at the wrong height?

prj45

article wrote:

The front brake wasn't working, he said – although apparently this is a much better scenario than if the back one wasn't.

DUR DUR DUR DUR DUR DUR DUR!