Stolen Bike Recovered

mtbikerboy

I am just curious. Has anyone ever lost or had a bike stolen then found it in one piece?

I am asking because i know a lot of people that have had bikes stolen, including me, but have never had a story of someone finding the bike again.

Has the stolen bikes section of the forum ever helped anyone? .... just curious

nicklouse

yes have a look through it.

cat_with_no_tail

If you look at the stolen bikes section, you will see. Some get recovered, when they do, most people will post on the forum to let people know they got their bike back and how.

To be honest, most do NOT get recovered. You can only do what you can do, then hope for the best. Post on the stolen forum here, post on local MTB forums, put notices up in local shops, lamp-posts, possibly something in the lost & found section of the local rag. Most importantly, report it to the Police, with as good a description as you can. That way, if they recover it, they can return it to you.

supersonic

Less than 5% get recovered. I got mine back!

whydoesitalwaysrainonme

I have seen a couple of posts on this forum of people who have lost their bike and then found it again, one of them found it on gumtree about an hour after i got stolen.

supersonic

I found mine leaning on a wall outsie a jewellers - just as I walked out of the bike shop across the road from it with a insurance quote in my hand!

Dazzza

And did you ahem claim?

supersonic

Lol, I ran back in the bike shop shouting for help, legged it out, confronted the bloke who came into the shop. We called the police and they gave it me back as I had reported it stolen!

And that was my Zaskar LE.

mtbikerboy

Nice storys. i'v also read the recovery stories from the stolen forum.
any more tales?

CommandoBoy

Heard one the other day from a customer who got his cube attention back.
Although there was only the frame, forks, bars chainset and wheels on it still.
Everything had been stripped. He asked if we would do it under warrenty:| I explainned what warrenty was and he said he was reporting me to trading standards:|

projectsome

I've got my bike back after having it stolen.

Some guy on the forum did see someone on my bike. Shame it was me though before it was stolen

Cps

A couple of weeks ago I chased down a chav on a stolen bike - he ditched it as he couldn't shake me off.

So the owner of that brand new rockhopper had a real result.

scottyjohn

I had my trance stolen before Xmas and a local bike mechanic saw my ad on the stolen section here. He mailed me and I went and got it back from him. Guy brought it in for a repair and he recognised it, and knew from chatting to the guy that he had no idea how valuable it was. The guy threatened the bike mechanic but he still kept it for me, very impressive :-)

deffler

Its great when a story has a happy ending.

Ok I recently got a Genesis Core20 which to me on my budget, riding skills (lack of) and MTBing knowledge is just as valuable and gorgeous as say Supersonics carbon 'supermodel' bike. (if you know what I mean)
So I want to protect her as much as I can. So far Ive took pictures, recorded the frame number, printed of its spec, fitted one of the tracker thingies, keep it locked in the shed chained up, fitted 2 shed alarms & never let it out of my site when im out on her.
Does anyone have anymore suggestions as to anything I can proactively do which could increase my chances of recovery incase some Ned has it away?

carbonfibre

Insure it.

Cycling-Machine

carbonfibre wrote:

Insure it.

Yup - you have to be very, very lucky to get a stolen bike back - especially in a city like London. A Bloody great lock also helps

codyhowler

i got my 2 american bulldogs guarding my bikes,aswell as a few ground anchors chains shed alarms and insurance,

deffler

carbonfibre wrote:

Insure it.

Yeah I forgot that one, need to get onto my home insurer

AndyBeast

deffler wrote:

carbonfibre wrote:

Insure it.

Yeah I forgot that one, need to get onto my home insurer

Having worked for one I'd say don't bother using your home insurer, most of them only do it as an addition to policies (which is expensive) and will only cover quite a limited amount IIRC as low as £250 / bike!! On top of that you'd have to pay an excess on any claim and loose any no claims you have on your home insurance.

My LBS recommended cycleguard? don't know what other people think of them?

Dazzza

http://messengerofdoom.wordpress.com/20 ... rap-avoid/

Tim.s

I use cycleguard, its good for MTBers who dont often leave thier bikes unattended. Probably not so good for commuters.

A chap from my local club got a stolen bike back, a year after he lost it!!!

Turned out a MTBer copper saw some scumbag on it late at night in town and questioned why he would choose a full blown downhill rig to ride around the streets on. He scarpered leaving the bike behind, police posted a picture on the club website and the owner go it back. Of course he had already claimed a new one from his insurers so that one went on ebay for a nice Brucie bonus.

ride_whenever

I do believe that M&S home insurance is probably the best way to insure your bike...