Getting our own back on the pikey b*stards...
itchieritchie
Posts: 332
I've had three bikes nicked in my 20 odd years of riding.
1. Muddy Fox Courier Comp in mad fluoro green (when neon rocked and the name Muddy Fox actually stood for quality)
2. Black Trek with Gripshift (can't recall the model) nicked from Acton Town station (boltcutters used in broad daylight)
3. Dahon Speed Pro folding bike pilfered only last year from outside Waitrose in Bayswater (locked with a New York Kryptonite D-lock, but the t*ssers took the damn thing apart at the hinges I reckon because the lock was untouched, I still use it!)
Each time it tears a little piece from your soul and at least for me, it's the only time I've considered GBH.
But after reading so many sad stories on here, it got me thinking. With the Keystone cops being so useless in the main, surely it's up to us to DO something about it. We are our greatest resource, but we don't really club together in any effective or meaningful way.
So how about the biking equivalent of a honey trap? Microchip a few bikes, make sure they have some unique identifying marks, then leave them to be nicked in known hot spots. Put a lock on, but nothing too decent, so they have to have gone to a purposeful effort to commit theft, then leave them to it.
Sooner or later, when the bikes surface, the police will HAVE to become involved, if the bike has been put on their database and ID'd properly. And just to make doubly sure, place some kind of marker down the seat tube or up the seat post or something.
This doesn't break any known law that springs to mind, unless somebody out there is willing and able to correct me. After all, it's perfectly legal, if naive, to leave an UNLOCKED bike outside and expect to still find it there.
If successful with one or two of these bikes, then what about some kind of mass group trial where a number of people agree to each put a fiver in to purchase some second hand bikes (legally-sourced, naturally) and distribute them to snare in more bike thieves?
It would effectively amount to an alternative form of insurance. With the difference being, that you're not paying for a possible replacement of your bike, but towards putting bike thieves in their place.
If you were one of those execrable thieving morons, and you got word that there were all these bikes out there that were possibly booby trapped...well it would start to make you sleep a little less soundly at night wouldn't it...??
Possibly the ravings of a madman here, but any thoughts? Has anyone heard of anything like this being tried before?
I just feel like they take the p*ss the way they carry on with such impunity. They know full well the police have other priorities and so where's the incentive for them to stop? It's so easy for them to steal and even easier for them to find the necessary outlets to sell the goods on. Some of them are probably making a killing, whilst we're all trying to make an honest living and funding their lifestyles...it's not just the finances either, it's losing your pride and joy, bikes are so personal after all.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and they've p*ssed on my chips once too often....
1. Muddy Fox Courier Comp in mad fluoro green (when neon rocked and the name Muddy Fox actually stood for quality)
2. Black Trek with Gripshift (can't recall the model) nicked from Acton Town station (boltcutters used in broad daylight)
3. Dahon Speed Pro folding bike pilfered only last year from outside Waitrose in Bayswater (locked with a New York Kryptonite D-lock, but the t*ssers took the damn thing apart at the hinges I reckon because the lock was untouched, I still use it!)
Each time it tears a little piece from your soul and at least for me, it's the only time I've considered GBH.
But after reading so many sad stories on here, it got me thinking. With the Keystone cops being so useless in the main, surely it's up to us to DO something about it. We are our greatest resource, but we don't really club together in any effective or meaningful way.
So how about the biking equivalent of a honey trap? Microchip a few bikes, make sure they have some unique identifying marks, then leave them to be nicked in known hot spots. Put a lock on, but nothing too decent, so they have to have gone to a purposeful effort to commit theft, then leave them to it.
Sooner or later, when the bikes surface, the police will HAVE to become involved, if the bike has been put on their database and ID'd properly. And just to make doubly sure, place some kind of marker down the seat tube or up the seat post or something.
This doesn't break any known law that springs to mind, unless somebody out there is willing and able to correct me. After all, it's perfectly legal, if naive, to leave an UNLOCKED bike outside and expect to still find it there.
If successful with one or two of these bikes, then what about some kind of mass group trial where a number of people agree to each put a fiver in to purchase some second hand bikes (legally-sourced, naturally) and distribute them to snare in more bike thieves?
It would effectively amount to an alternative form of insurance. With the difference being, that you're not paying for a possible replacement of your bike, but towards putting bike thieves in their place.
If you were one of those execrable thieving morons, and you got word that there were all these bikes out there that were possibly booby trapped...well it would start to make you sleep a little less soundly at night wouldn't it...??
Possibly the ravings of a madman here, but any thoughts? Has anyone heard of anything like this being tried before?
I just feel like they take the p*ss the way they carry on with such impunity. They know full well the police have other priorities and so where's the incentive for them to stop? It's so easy for them to steal and even easier for them to find the necessary outlets to sell the goods on. Some of them are probably making a killing, whilst we're all trying to make an honest living and funding their lifestyles...it's not just the finances either, it's losing your pride and joy, bikes are so personal after all.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and they've p*ssed on my chips once too often....
0
Comments
-
The cops have been doing something similar for a while and seem to be making arrests. Lets hope the convictions follow.
http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/mt-meets-the-copsycles-pt-20
