Stolen Bikes

mac111051

if you look on the stolen bikes thread on this forum you will see the amount of bikes that are being stolen, we have had three grands worth stolen in the last month and its now grown to epidemic proportions, the police have basically given up and the chance of getting them back is as good as zero so I would urge you all to have a look at your bike security before it,s to late

supersonic

What have the police given up on? When I had mine stolen they couldn't have been more helpful.

cat_with_no_tail

Could be worse.......

bennett_346

supersonic wrote:

What have the police given up on? When I had mine stolen they couldn't have been more helpful.

+1

EyesintheSky

Had mine stolen Saturday afternoon at 4pm, thanks to the police's efforts (albeit with a bit of my help) I had the bike back by 9:00 am the Sunday morning. As Supersonic said, they couldn't have been more helpful with me. 8)

Daz555

mac111051 wrote:

we have had three grands worth stolen in the last month and its now grown to epidermic proportions

Sounds nasty. You can probably get a cream for that.

Ryan Jones

Just had a look at my bike security, looks pretty damn good now where did I put the damn bike.....say there's a bit of a draft in the shed too :shock:

welshkev

not a funny response but northern monkey had his boardman pro nicked last night...barstewards!!! :evil:

MountainMonster

Jesus, so many peoples bikes getting knicked. The only down side to me moving back is about bikes. There's no hills in Cambridge, but still wanna stay fit, and having a nice bike living right in the centre of town will end bad, pretty quickly probably. Shame life is like that

spongtastic

Looking at most of the bikes stolen they're valuable and locked with cables in the garage rather than chains to something secure. Obvious fail. Seriously if you're going to have £5k of bike that can be stripped and sold on ebay without any problems you'd put a bit more effort in? It's like having a bunch of £50 notes hanging out your back pocket.

Only one or two seems to have been anchored and chained, which I know doesn't always work against a detemined thief.

Ryan Jones

spongtastic wrote:

Only one or two seems to have been anchored and chained, which I know doesn't always work

But it's still the way I like 'em :twisted:

veronese68

Quite a few bikes have been pinched round my way. The ones I've heard about (including mine) were lacking adequate security. In sheds, but not locked, or in gardens with poor locks.
I got mine back when I saw it on EBay about 6 weeks after it was pinched. The police recovered it, but I really had to push them.
My bikes are now always in the garage and the door has 2 deadbolts in addition to the standard lock.

esspeebee

MountainMonster wrote:

Jesus, so many peoples bikes getting knicked. The only down side to me moving back is about bikes. There's no hills in Cambridge, but still wanna stay fit, and having a nice bike living right in the centre of town will end bad, pretty quickly probably. Shame life is like that

Find a way to keep it indoors and you'll be fine. There's so much low-hanging fruit in the centre of Cambridge for bike thieves that there's not really any incentive for them to go after a nicer bike that's harder to get.

veronese68

I was once told you don't have to make your bike impossible to steal. Just make it harder to get than those around it.

Stuff

My bike was stolen 2 weeks ago. Locked in a shed in a locked garden but they picked their moment well. Sunday morning I went out to Badminton so left the garden unlocked, missus still in bed, they dropped in and smashed the door off and scarpered.
Called the Police and they took some details like 'What colour is it', 'what kind of handlebars did it have' and my favourite 'what colour are the grips' Very little interest in the fact I could name every part of it, the colour and its current state of disrepair. 2 weeks later 2 police men turn up and pretty much tell me the bike is gone to some crack heads and nobody will ever find it and he hopes my insurance covered it. That was it. They had all the wrong bike details down although I had been very specific and the parting bit of advice was "if you see it on ebay let us know as we are not allowed on it in the station and if you see it round town....well its up to you what you do there"

Anonymous

£3k! That's like one or two bikes for some round here. Hardly epidemic

And, down turn, crime goes up - shock! :P

Just prey they'll be nicking the electrified cables on the railway next also.

But anyway, either own something cheap and crap that someone doesn't want to nick or you don't care if it's nicked, or keep it in sight at all times. Shed is easy for them no matter how secure you think it is, quiet, private and few neighbours give a rats about the noise. Indoors, in sight. Sleep with the thing! Else it'll get nicked and everyone cries.

If it's nicked, file police report, yes they won't find it, they have little chance of doing so, but the insurance will pay out. Underinsured, your fault. If you want it back - do the work yourself. Yes, ebay. Turns up a lot of nicked bikes.

Still, ensure you have plenty of photos and as much detail as possible of any bike you don't want to lose. Just describing it to them is not enough. Ensure you have serial numbers, UV mark the whole thing, etc.