Bargains

SteppenHerring

Recently, a club member had two expensive bikes stolen. Clearly, the people who did this are scum. But also it strikes me that this is not simple equipment. TT bikes, for instance, you aren't going to be able to flog for £20 to some chav to ride around the streets. Stealing a poorly secured BSO from outside a pub or station has to be easier.

Someone must be buying this gear.Someone must be seeing disc wheels, TT frames etc. on Fleabay or at Brick Lane market and be buying this stuff. And the people buy it must have an idea what it is. Yet they will still buy the stuff with no provenance.

I know it seems simple, but people are stealing high-end bikes and components and they are doing so because other people will buy them. The people (ultimately) buying this kit must also be keen cyclists, but ones with fairly loose morals.

Or have I missed something.

shockedsoshocked

No you're right. There's been times when riders have turned up with bikes stolen from other lads a few months previously, I kid you not.

Wheelspinner

Yup, the Hawaii Ironman champ for the last two years (Craig Alexander) is an Aussie, lives not far from me. He had BOTH his race bikes nicked from his lockup garage. They were custom Orbea TT machines, with full Di2 shifters, Dura Ace carbon tub wheels, the lot.

Kinda hard to shift those on the open market, so someone must be buying them knowing they are nicked.

Even worse, the suspicion is that the crims are getting info from bike club members (or may be members themselves). Nobody else would know that the things were worth 20 grand each, who owned them, where he lived, and how to dispose of them.

Low lifes. Catch the b@stards and be sure to remove their balls. We don't need scum like that breeding any more little crooks.

System_1

SteppenHerring wrote:

Someone must be buying this gear.Someone must be seeing disc wheels, TT frames etc. on Fleabay or at Brick Lane market and be buying this stuff. And the people buy it must have an idea what it is. Yet they will still buy the stuff with no provenance.

You're assuming that thieves don't know what they have. It's fairly easy to find out what something is really worth on the second hand market and if it's offered at a price that looks genuine and doesn't raise suspicion, it's fairly easy to pretend you are a genuine seller. I'd agree though that there are still those that willingly buy these things, and they're as bad as the theives.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of high end bikes make their way to mainland europe though. Professional bike thieves aren't only after a quick fix. When bikes cost as much as they do these days, it's worth it for gangs of thieves to get together. And unfortunately they're not all stupid junkies looking for enough money for the next fix. You don't have to be a cyclist to know a bikes worth, and with so many high end bikes around these days it's easy money for the scumbags. If it costs maybe £50 to post a bike to France/Holland/Spain etc to your dodgy mate who can then sell it on the local version of Gumtree for close to it's second hand value, then it's worth it for the professional thief who only has to work a few days a week with nothing more than a £30 set of boltcutters or mini car jack and a shitty van, and he's making the kind of money the likes of us do having to bust a gut working 9-5.

Stringing them up by the balls is too good for them. I wish the UK police took bike theft seriously.

finchy

Er, why, exactly, must the buyers know that the bike is stolen?

If I see a bike for sale on ebay, in my local newspaper etc, I have absolutely no idea whether it has been stolen or not. Unless of course it's £150 for an Orbea Orca with Dura Ace, but as you say many of these thieves are professional and will be charging the going rate for what they swipe.

Gazzaputt

johnfinch wrote:

Er, why, exactly, must the buyers know that the bike is stolen?

If I see a bike for sale on ebay, in my local newspaper etc, I have absolutely no idea whether it has been stolen or not. Unless of course it's £150 for an Orbea Orca with Dura Ace, but as you say many of these thieves are professional and will be charging the going rate for what they swipe.

On sight you won't but asking simple questions about receipt of sale, warranty and history would reveal to any cyclist in the know if that bike is stolen.

Pleading ignorance doesn't cut it.

I'd never but a 2nd hand bike without knowing where it was bought originally.

finchy

Gazzaputt wrote:

johnfinch wrote:

Er, why, exactly, must the buyers know that the bike is stolen?

If I see a bike for sale on ebay, in my local newspaper etc, I have absolutely no idea whether it has been stolen or not. Unless of course it's £150 for an Orbea Orca with Dura Ace, but as you say many of these thieves are professional and will be charging the going rate for what they swipe.

On sight you won't but asking simple questions about receipt of sale, warranty and history would reveal to any cyclist in the know if that bike is stolen.

Pleading ignorance doesn't cut it.

I'd never but a 2nd hand bike without knowing where it was bought originally.

Fair enough if the bike is obviously fairly new, but if it's a few years old, out of warranty, etc., do you keep the paperwork? I wouldn't have a clue where all my paperwork is.

passout

I would agree with John Finch on this. It would be easy to buy a bike on E-bay without knowing it was stolen (especially if it was done by courier / paypal rather than face to face). Car boot sales are another way in which this gear could be shifted along with knicked hanging baskets and fake DVDs it seems! I don't have receipts for all of my (out of warranty) bikes which I bought new for instance - moving houses etc etc.

Legally ignorance is no excuse, agreed, but it happens all of the time - I would guess the majority of used bikes (knicked or not) are sold without reciepts/ proof of purchase.

antfly

You only have to ask for the serial number, if they won`t give it you it`s nicked.

Pross

A young GB rider near me had all his bikes nicked last year which almost prevented him going to the Worlds. Fortunately they were tracked down but the thieves knew exactly what they were doing and were stripping the various bikes down and switching the components around. It may even be that with top end bikes they are stolen to order or even by the person who wants to ride them (we suspect this happened to a club mate of mine about 20 years ago but couldn't prove it). It isn't difficult for professional thieves to find a bike someone wants in another part of the country so that there's little chance in the new "owner" being seen on it by the original owner or for someone to steal a bike in Glasgow for example and then sell it in Bristol. As for receipts etc., my bike is only 6 months old and I haven't got a clue where the receipt is although I do have the owners manual / warranty.

Bunneh

The local carboots have quite a few bikes for sale. I look to see what there is and you'd be surprised at some of the cycles on offer. There's rarely visible police at these events, they're usually plain clothes to catch the pirates selling CDs/DVDs etc.

All my bikes are kept upstairs in the room next to my bedroom. Anyone gets in not only do they find nout downstairs but they find me, naked on the stairs with a cricket bat.

cycologist

Bunneh wrote:

t they find me, naked on the stairs with a cricket bat.

Ah yes, the ultimate theft deterrent (even without the cricket bat !

Anonymous

cycologist wrote:

Bunneh wrote:

t they find me, naked on the stairs with a cricket bat.

Ah yes, the ultimate theft deterrent (even without the cricket bat !

The burglar would probably be more disturbed with your cycle tan lines than the cricket bat...............

passout

antfly wrote:

You only have to ask for the serial number, if they won`t give it you it`s nicked.

Excuse my ignorance on this, but how does it work? Does anybody have a list of serial numbers with names against them or would it be traced back to a bike shop by the manufacturer?

Bunneh

When I went to buy my bike they took down the serial number before I left the shop; I'm guessing it's for some sort of database.

Matt the Tester

Bunneh wrote:

The local carboots have quite a few bikes for sale. I look to see what there is and you'd be surprised at some of the cycles on offer. There's rarely visible police at these events, they're usually plain clothes to catch the pirates selling CDs/DVDs etc.

All my bikes are kept upstairs in the room next to my bedroom. Anyone gets in not only do they find nout downstairs but they find me, naked on the stairs with a cricket bat.

LOL

antfly

passout wrote:

antfly wrote:

You only have to ask for the serial number, if they won`t give it you it`s nicked.

Excuse my ignorance on this, but how does it work? Does anybody have a list of serial numbers with names against them or would it be traced back to a bike shop by the manufacturer?

I know I registered mine on the Specialized website when I bought it, but if you report a nicked bike the police will probably ask for a serial no. just in case they find it. Anyway, thieves don`t like giving out serial numbers and e-bay advises bike buyers to ask for one and if they won`t give it to be suspicious.

Ollieda

Its all very well saying that a cyclist in the know would check up before buying an ebay bike but you have to remember that there are a lot of people with money who want to get into cycling and wouldn't be that aware of what they are doing and would jump at a bargain. Especially with TT bikes as many people look at them and think they look cool and "racey", if you have the money to blow you might just go for it!

Could also be breaking them down and selling them on, check for wheelsets on ebay and you'll find plenty of people selling the set they just "don't use" anymore, or selling for a friend. To some it may be obvious it's stolen, others wouldn't think twice and would just believe someone is selling off their kit cheap.

antfly

You mean there are a lot of people who couldn`t give a toss if it`s stolen or not, as long as they get a bargain.

Ollieda

yes, that and that some people who wouldn't even have the sense to consider it might be stolen

I should get used to one line responses and not waffling so much in my posts!

antfly

No, carry on waffling.
I`m just lazy and only type at one word a minute.

Stone Glider

@Bunneh, I have never heard it called that before :? Nonetheless, a scary sight.

Plenty of greedy people manage to convince themselves that their skill at negotiation and wheeler daling has obtained thema "bargaint". Selective blindness is a powerful force.

The general public seems to have little grasp of the cost of high end equipment and cannot imagine what all the fuss is about. Now that bikes cost more than cars one would expect people to take the issue more seriously but they don't.

Mad Roadie

I saw a scruffy Chinese guy in Manchester with a bike like you described - though he looked suspicious!!!!