I will hunt you down and grind your nuts for espresso

mudcow007

i fecking hate "tea leaves"

my mates house got broken into on the weekend

grr

hope you get your bike back bud

veronese68

vermin wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Nothing on ebay so far.

There's one that is the same frame but looks a size bigger with a different saddle .

Mine's a 56cm

When my bike was list on Ebay the scrote listed it as a 58cm although it's a 60cm. He'd removed the size sticker but the fact that I could see all of my stuff on it and the fact that I knew the frame number narrowed it down somewhat. Presumably it was a ploy to avoid detection, fortunately it failed.

il_principe

Have joined the dots following your PM - hand't realised you'd been the victim of a thief. Bad luck fella. Thieving f*cks.

stuaff

Bastards. Hope you get a good result.

Blonde Cyclist

This website will save you a lot of time hunting round as it compiles all the ebays and gumtrees into one place and shows you pictures... Fingers crossed! I never got mine back, had CCTV footage but all the police could say was that they recognised them as bike thieves but didn't know who they were.

bikeshd.co.uk/

vermin

Blonde Cyclist wrote:

This website will save you a lot of time hunting round as it compiles all the ebays and gumtrees into one place and shows you pictures... Fingers crossed! I never got mine back, had CCTV footage but all the police could say was that they recognised them as bike thieves but didn't know who they were.

bikeshd.co.uk/

Thanks BC; the police advised me to look there too. When did you lose your Spesh?

Blonde Cyclist

July, so a while ago now. I still wonder if I might see it riding around town, but never have. One of the things I was told was that if people want to sell stolen bikes they'll often change simple componentry - like swapping wheels, saddles and pedals or they might try and sell it using a stock photo. I have a suspicion mine got nicked by a local bike "merchant" who offered a range of bikes - all you had to do was ask if they had something. It seemed like they did have a specialised in my size but went quiet when I asked to see it/ where they were. Thankfully it wasn't my nice bike (although that was out having a frame replacement at the time!). I really hope you get yours back!

That reminds me, I need to register my bikes with Bike Shepherd (visible markers and traceability if it ever happens again).

vermin

Merchant? Any details?

Thanks. I live in hope, not expectation, but the rarity of my frame/paint job gives me some hope at least.

Blonde Cyclist

No details - a gumtree one

I really hope you get yours back or at the very least that insurance are good to you. It was all the little extras that started to wind me up - the locks they had broken, the puncture repair kit and the garmin mount that all disappeared.

vermin

Blonde Cyclist wrote:

No details - a gumtree one

I really hope you get yours back or at the very least that insurance are good to you. It was all the little extras that started to wind me up - the locks they had broken, the puncture repair kit and the garmin mount that all disappeared.

Yup, pedals, lock, cadence sensor, light mounts, bits and bobs in saddle bag, little invisible upgrades like tyres, etc... soon adds up.

veronese68

You should get all the extras paid for. For my £750 bike I got £1,100 by the time tyres, guards, lights, lock, rack, etc were added. Then 6 weeks later I found the bike on Ebay. Got it back and told the insurance company as it was technically theirs. They were very impressed, but didn't know what to do so I got to keep everything.

pitchshifter

This sucks! Hopefully the insurance payout quickly.

If I recall correctly, when mine got stolen it took a couple of weeks to sort out. They normally forward such claims onto a bike shop (wheelies.co.uk were the ones I dealt with) who are more than happy to get you the best possible valuation/bike.

Good Luck.

itboffin

Left my bike overnight at the station last night, double locked and in plain sight be even so i'm concerned it wont be there tomorrow morning.

If it is then i fully intend to add a 3rd d-lock

Ben6899

This is shite news, mate.

How many custom-made Callaway golf clubs were in your saddle bag? ;-)

gimmesomeroom

Can you get hold of another decent bike, or know anyone with one that does your same route? I would definitely think about setting the thief up – chances are they know the area well and scout it out and keep nicking from there, and they ain't too clever. Get yourself to that area a few minutes before, get your mate to lock there bike up and walk off then you sit and watch discreetly, wait for the thief, then boom!!!

asprilla

gimmesomeroom wrote:

Can you get hold of another decent bike, or know anyone with one that does your same route? I would definitely think about setting the thief up – chances are they know the area well and scout it out and keep nicking from there, and they ain't too clever. Get yourself to that area a few minutes before, get your mate to lock there bike up and walk off then you sit and watch discreetly, wait for the thief, then boom!!!

In central London you could have a bike nicked from the same spot every day for six months and not see the same bike thief twice.

Flyingbogey

We used to run similar stings around Fulham Broadway, sometimes had to wait ages for a nibble. In the end we had to stop as the powers that be weren't happy as it was a bit entrapmentish. Shame as even if they weren't being locked up everyday they knew we were about and thought twice.

vermin

gimmesomeroom wrote:

then boom!!!

Dynamite down the seat-tube? Good plan.

DonDaddyD

That's really shit.

Hope you get your bike back.

What insurance company are you with?

mtb-idle

Flyingbogey wrote:

We used to run similar stings around Fulham Broadway, sometimes had to wait ages for a nibble. In the end we had to stop as the powers that be weren't happy as it was a bit entrapmentish. Shame as even if they weren't being locked up everyday they knew we were about and thought twice.

Really? Isn't entrapment just one of those 'laws' that people think exist cos they watch american cop shows and it has no basis in the UK?

One of my cycling buddies is on the Met Cycling task force and they regularly undertake these type of stings and very successfully too.

vermin

MTB-Idle wrote:

One of my cycling buddies is on the Met Cycling task force and they regularly undertake these type of stings and very successfully too.

Um, can we talk?

Headhuunter

Veronese68 wrote:

You should get all the extras paid for. For my £750 bike I got £1,100 by the time tyres, guards, lights, lock, rack, etc were added. Then 6 weeks later I found the bike on Ebay. Got it back and told the insurance company as it was technically theirs. They were very impressed, but didn't know what to do so I got to keep everything.

How did you get it back off ebay? My dad had a bike stolen and saw it listed on ebay by a pawn shop shortly afterwards. He phoned the manager of the pawn shop to tell him and he was good enough to take it off the site pending investigation by the police. He told the police who told him they would get onto it and basically they never did. The ebay auction was due to end in about a week and it took them about 2 weeks of constant nagging and badgering before they bothered following up. If it hadn't been on sale through an official merchant/pawn shop, the auction would have ended, the bike sold and that would have been that because the police simply refused to act... I've only ever heard this about the police and retrieval of stolen goods on ebay, they simply don't bother to follow up so if you want your stuff back you have to take matters into your own hands so to speak...

SimonAH

I keep seeing additional posts on this thread and keep looking in the hope that it will be a photo of Vermin enjoying the nutty aroma of a cup of testicle espresso......

DrLex

SimonAH wrote:

I keep seeing additional posts on this thread and keep looking in the hope that it will be a photo of Vermin enjoying the nutty aroma of a cup of testicle espresso......

I now have been put off the rest of my lunchtime espresso.

Fingers crossed for a positive update from OP, either re:bike or beverage.

veronese68

Headhuunter wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

You should get all the extras paid for. For my £750 bike I got £1,100 by the time tyres, guards, lights, lock, rack, etc were added. Then 6 weeks later I found the bike on Ebay. Got it back and told the insurance company as it was technically theirs. They were very impressed, but didn't know what to do so I got to keep everything.

How did you get it back off ebay? My dad had a bike stolen and saw it listed on ebay by a pawn shop shortly afterwards. He phoned the manager of the pawn shop to tell him and he was good enough to take it off the site pending investigation by the police. He told the police who told him they would get onto it and basically they never did. The ebay auction was due to end in about a week and it took them about 2 weeks of constant nagging and badgering before they bothered following up. If it hadn't been on sale through an official merchant/pawn shop, the auction would have ended, the bike sold and that would have been that because the police simply refused to act... I've only ever heard this about the police and retrieval of stolen goods on ebay, they simply don't bother to follow up so if you want your stuff back you have to take matters into your own hands so to speak...

I saw it on Ebay and then really had to pester them. I know they are busy but a friend of mine that is in the police said you have to bother them so much they have no choice but to follow it up. It's a case of the squeaky wheel getting the oil. I think a better option would have been to contact the Cycle Task force, but as I had started with locals I carried on that way. They asked the guy to bring the bike in for them to have a look, he claimed he'd bought it at a market and he often bought bikes to fix and sell. He even claimed to have replaced some bearings, he hadn't. I turned up with a list of about a dozen identifying features that deviated from standard that I gave the policeman before I'd seen the bike. He was convinced it was mine before I even gave him the frame number. So I got the bike handed straight to me.
Sorry Si, no nut roast in this post either.

kelsen

By the way, anyone else thinking 'Taken' would have been an even better film if Liam Neeson had used this thread title instead?

mtb-idle

vermin wrote:

MTB-Idle wrote:

One of my cycling buddies is on the Met Cycling task force and they regularly undertake these type of stings and very successfully too.

Um, can we talk?

I'll get his work e-mail address and you can contact him directly.

vermin

Thanks. No nutty espresso yet, but this it's encouraging news...

http://lcc.org.uk/articles/70-arrests-i ... ter-london

cyclingprop

MTB-Idle wrote:

Flyingbogey wrote:

We used to run similar stings around Fulham Broadway, sometimes had to wait ages for a nibble. In the end we had to stop as the powers that be weren't happy as it was a bit entrapmentish. Shame as even if they weren't being locked up everyday they knew we were about and thought twice.

Really? Isn't entrapment just one of those 'laws' that people think exist cos they watch american cop shows and it has no basis in the UK?

One of my cycling buddies is on the Met Cycling task force and they regularly undertake these type of stings and very successfully too.

But they will have some higher authorisation or warrant.

pangolin

So I lent a friend my ss a couple of months ago. Saw the awful cable lock he had bought and told him to get something better or it would be nicked. He didn't. It got stolen yesterday.

FFS.