Stolen Bikes

I'm sure they're on their way to Europe or the like but i had some bikes stolen last night (including the kids' bikes - f*ckers) and was wondering which marketplaces to watch. Set up alerts on eBay, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace, any others i should look at?

Ta

Comments

  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    What would you do if you spot them on eBay for example. Apparently the police are not interested if you contact them to say you have seen your stolen bike up for sale.
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,748
    edited June 2021
    I found my stolen bike on Ebay and called the police, they did nothing initially as you say. I made a complete nuisance of myself and eventually somebody gave me the name of a senior officer to complain to. Contacted them and all of a sdden I got a response, they got the seller to deliver the bike to the police station so I could prove it was mine. I turned up and attached my lights and computer to the brackets that were still on the bike. Then offered them a receipt showing the frame number, they said there was no need as it was clearly my bike. Thief was let off as he claimed he'd bought it off a bloke at a market.
    But you have to really pester the police to get them to do anything about it.

    Should have said, good luck to the OP, hope you are successful. Another tip is that my bike was listed wrongly, the seller said it was a 58 but it was a 60 and you could see the size sticker in the pictures. He possibly thought that would stop any alerts or make me think it wasn't mine.
  • ed1973
    ed1973 Posts: 284
    Keep an eye on Shpock as well.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    There's an @Stolenbikes Instagram page as well
  • My mate's flatmate had his bike nicked and it turned up on gumtree. He contacted the 'seller' and pretended he was a buyer.

    Arranged to meet them at a cafe on a busy street (this was in East London). He scoured the place out until they turned up. It was a group of 12-13 year olds. Feeling safe he wasn't going to get robbed he approached them and told them it was his bike and he wanted it back. He didn't want any hassle and paid them £50 (they claimed they had brought it off a guy in the local park for £50). It was a £1500 spesh so probably worked out well for him.

    I am not necessarily advocating this approach and would obviously say call the police if any stolen bike does appear for sale, but there are rare occasions when things turn out in your favour with a DIY approach.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644

    I'm sure they're on their way to Europe or the like but i had some bikes stolen last night (including the kids' bikes - f*ckers) and was wondering which marketplaces to watch. Set up alerts on eBay, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace, any others i should look at?

    Ta

    why do you say they are on their way to Europe or similar?

    why not the north, south, east or west of britain?

    or are bike thieves in your eyes, you know, well.....
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Even if the thieves were British then they would go to Europe as then untraceable. It's sort of how the pros do it.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    are you saying british thieves aren't as good?
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    personally, in the lack of bikes climate over here you could shift them in half the time for half the hassle...
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    I once went to a talk in the 1980’s on the future of British cycling and how to progress in order to be successful at the Olympics. Someone suggested that if bike stealing became an Olympic sport Britain would be world beaters.
    Fortunately someone invented the lottery and marginal gains instead.
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    I think bikes are increasingly dismantled with the parts sold off, as it's harder to trace and the tea leaf can usually earn more money that way
    Felt F1 2014
    Felt Z6 2012
    Red Arthur Caygill steel frame
    Tall....
    www.seewildlife.co.uk
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    So you're saying that bloke selling off random bits of di2 Dura Ace in the midst of a famine of parts is....... ?
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • darrell1967
    darrell1967 Posts: 477
    edited June 2021
    If you manage to find out where the bike is just phone the police and tell them that there are some homophobic racists living there who mis-gendered a couple of Trannys.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644

    If you manage to find out where the bike is just phone the police and tell them that there are some homophobic racists living there who mis-gendered a couple of Trannys.

    can you explain that comment please?
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 13,227
    Prefers Sprinter over Transit?
  • darrell1967
    darrell1967 Posts: 477
    edited June 2021
    MattFalle said:

    If you manage to find out where the bike is just phone the police and tell them that there are some homophobic racists living there who mis-gendered a couple of Trannys.

    can you explain that comment please?
    Sure.
    I’m not sure where you live but round my way (north London) the police are useless. As already discussed in this very thread the only way to get the police to help out when a crime is committed is by badgering and hassling them. You actually have to hassle the police to do what they are paid to do!! I don’t know your line of work but I’m a self employed plumber and if my attitude was the same as the Mets then I’d be out of work.

    In 2018 a friend of mine lost his expensive bike in a robbery. The bike was traced to an address in Paddington. My friend went to the property, looked through the letterbox and saw his bike in the hallway. He called the police and when he gave them the address he was told to go home and let the police do their job. He still hasn’t got the bike and it turns out that the property is owned by a local face.



    Where I live cars are having their catalytic converters stolen on a daily basis and the police do not investigate nor will they attend the scene of the crime until days after.

    Anyway, back to your post. The police are now more interested if you make racist, homophobic or take the mick out of trans this or trans that but I think you know exactly what I mean don’t you. 😏
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644

    MattFalle said:

    If you manage to find out where the bike is just phone the police and tell them that there are some homophobic racists living there who mis-gendered a couple of Trannys.

    can you explain that comment please?
    Sure.
    I’m not sure where you live but round my way (north London) the police are useless. As already discussed in this very thread the only way to get the police to help out when a crime is committed is by badgering and hassling them. You actually have to hassle the police to do what they are paid to do!! I don’t know your line of work but I’m a self employed plumber and if my attitude was the same as the Mets then I’d be out of work.

    In 2018 a friend of mine lost his expensive bike in a robbery. The bike was traced to an address in Paddington. My friend went to the property, looked through the letterbox and saw his bike in the hallway. He called the police and when he gave them the address he was told to go home and let the police do their job. He still hasn’t got the bike and it turns out that the property is owned by a local face.



    Where I live cars are having their catalytic converters stolen on a daily basis and the police do not investigate nor will they attend the scene of the crime until days after.

    Anyway, back to your post. The police are now more interested if you make racist, homophobic or take the mick out of trans this or trans that but I think you know exactly what I mean don’t you. 😏
    no i don't - are you saying that homophobic/transphobic crime is ok but stealing bikes is not?
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644

    MattFalle said:

    MattFalle said:

    If you manage to find out where the bike is just phone the police and tell them that there are some homophobic racists living there who mis-gendered a couple of Trannys.

    can you explain that comment please?
    Sure.
    I’m not sure where you live but round my way (north London) the police are useless. As already discussed in this very thread the only way to get the police to help out when a crime is committed is by badgering and hassling them. You actually have to hassle the police to do what they are paid to do!! I don’t know your line of work but I’m a self employed plumber and if my attitude was the same as the Mets then I’d be out of work.

    In 2018 a friend of mine lost his expensive bike in a robbery. The bike was traced to an address in Paddington. My friend went to the property, looked through the letterbox and saw his bike in the hallway. He called the police and when he gave them the address he was told to go home and let the police do their job. He still hasn’t got the bike and it turns out that the property is owned by a local face.



    Where I live cars are having their catalytic converters stolen on a daily basis and the police do not investigate nor will they attend the scene of the crime until days after.

    Anyway, back to your post. The police are now more interested if you make racist, homophobic or take the mick out of trans this or trans that but I think you know exactly what I mean don’t you. 😏
    no i don't - are you saying that homophobic/transphobic crime is ok but stealing bikes is not?
    Stealing bikes is a crime but the police don’t treat it very seriously do they?

    What is homophobic/transphobic crime?
    i think we'll leave it at this tbh........
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • darrell1967
    darrell1967 Posts: 477
    MattFalle said:

    MattFalle said:

    MattFalle said:

    If you manage to find out where the bike is just phone the police and tell them that there are some homophobic racists living there who mis-gendered a couple of Trannys.

    can you explain that comment please?
    Sure.
    I’m not sure where you live but round my way (north London) the police are useless. As already discussed in this very thread the only way to get the police to help out when a crime is committed is by badgering and hassling them. You actually have to hassle the police to do what they are paid to do!! I don’t know your line of work but I’m a self employed plumber and if my attitude was the same as the Mets then I’d be out of work.

    In 2018 a friend of mine lost his expensive bike in a robbery. The bike was traced to an address in Paddington. My friend went to the property, looked through the letterbox and saw his bike in the hallway. He called the police and when he gave them the address he was told to go home and let the police do their job. He still hasn’t got the bike and it turns out that the property is owned by a local face.



    Where I live cars are having their catalytic converters stolen on a daily basis and the police do not investigate nor will they attend the scene of the crime until days after.

    Anyway, back to your post. The police are now more interested if you make racist, homophobic or take the mick out of trans this or trans that but I think you know exactly what I mean don’t you. 😏
    no i don't - are you saying that homophobic/transphobic crime is ok but stealing bikes is not?
    Stealing bikes is a crime but the police don’t treat it very seriously do they?

    What is homophobic/transphobic crime?
    i think we'll leave it at this tbh........
    If you want to. 🤷🏻‍♂️
  • darrell1967
    darrell1967 Posts: 477
    My Specialized was stolen in London Wall last year between 4 & 5pm. I went to the police station in Bishopsgate, reported it and the duty officer took my details.

    I received a letter 5 weeks later telling me that due to time constraints they couldn’t review the CCTV.

    It was an hours worth of footage!!
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644

    My Specialized was stolen in London Wall last year between 4 & 5pm. I went to the police station in Bishopsgate, reported it and the duty officer took my details.

    I received a letter 5 weeks later telling me that due to time constraints they couldn’t review the CCTV.

    It was an hours worth of footage!!

    tbf, it was a Specialised so you can't really blame them.
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • darrell1967
    darrell1967 Posts: 477
    MattFalle said:

    My Specialized was stolen in London Wall last year between 4 & 5pm. I went to the police station in Bishopsgate, reported it and the duty officer took my details.

    I received a letter 5 weeks later telling me that due to time constraints they couldn’t review the CCTV.

    It was an hours worth of footage!!

    tbf, it was a Specialised so you can't really blame them.
    True enough. Probably shouldn’t have bothered.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    So they didn't.

    Harry von Fairzees really....
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • darrell1967
    darrell1967 Posts: 477
    MattFalle said:

    So they didn't.

    Harry von Fairzees really....

    Who is Harry von Fairwzees?
  • commuterlegs
    commuterlegs Posts: 271
    Thanks for the input (well, some of it), will check out Shpock and the instagram one.

    As well as my bike tools, they also took my track pump and some muc-off sponges I had lying around. Who does that!? Will be looking out for items listed on ebay as cycling starter bundle......
  • ed1973
    ed1973 Posts: 284
    Had mine nicked during a hospital appointment, I informed the police who where very helpful and told me it happens all the time at the hospital, well known van that circles the grounds praying on poor locks (lesson learnt D lock purchased). The Officer checked the CCTV footage and was unable to make out the (what would have been) clear face of the assailant. But I was offered victim councilling due to the theft. Now I’m not knocking the local constabulary as I think they do a great job catching speeding motorists on cameras but there definitely appears to be a misalignment of funds somewhere in the system nationwide that can pump funds into Victim support (don’t get me wrong this is a very well run service) and not put more police in high crime areas. Also I can download HD pictures of the surface of Mars from the new robot but can’t make out a face 10ft away from a camera on earth???