How difficult it is to find a stolen bike?

[peetee]

In the course of my work i have had several conversations with PC's about this issue. Some facts about the local situation:
1. Bike theft victims invariably do not know some or all of the make, model or frame number.
2. Bikes reported stolen are logged on the county police site. these sites are not interlinked.
3. Bikes reported found are not recorded by the police. they are retained where appropriate by the council. the council does not pass the details onto the police. If you report a theft of a specific machine and it is found and taken into the possession of the council the police will be none the wiser.

Maaarvelous

[TrevA]

I've had 2 bikes stolen. Never seen again. They even caught the guy who stole the second one and he fessed up, but I still didn't get my bike back. He was a serial bike thief and had about a dozen bikes in his house when police raided, but he'd already got rid of mine.

[SimonCelsa]

I live under the fatalistic premise that the ultimate destiny of every bike is to be stolen. Do not get too attached to your steed, which admittedly can be difficult, and do not spend so much on a machine that it's subsequent loss would cause much angst.

I have had 3 bikes stolen in my 50 years on this Earth and doubtless I will lose a couple more before I go. I could murder the toerags who perform these thefts but at the same time try and pretend the bikes have been taken by some poor unfortunate who will benefit from the machine more than me. Flawed thinking but once it's gone, it's really gone.

My greatest fear now is that my wife sells my bikes when I am working away at sea..........Never a truer word!!

All the best, Simon

[foxyrider]

It's easy to find a stolen bike - go on Ebay or one of the other private sale sites dotted across the interweb.

I see lots of ads for bikes that by the descriptions and excuses for sale are clearly stolen. Same back grounds for pictures are a dead give away as are some of the set ups where they've changed EG the saddle/seatpost and not made any attempt to make it look rideable.

Unfortunately with an increase in riders there's an increase in buyers who are willing to suspend belief to own the latest 'immaculate never ridden' Pinarello or Bianchi for silly money.

I totally agree that there should be more joined up data sharing - there is a national registration scheme but it's not widely advertised and relies entirely on you doing most of the work.

Guess i've been lucky only having had 1 bike taken about 20 years ago, an albeit nice bitsa that had cost me precisely zero to build up.

[mercalia]

I live under the fatalistic premise that the ultimate destiny of every bike is to be stolen. Do not get too attached to your steed, which admittedly can be difficult, and do not spend so much on a machine that it's subsequent loss would cause much angst.

I have had 3 bikes stolen in my 50 years on this Earth and doubtless I will lose a couple more before I go. I could murder the toerags who perform these thefts but at the same time try and pretend the bikes have been taken by some poor unfortunate who will benefit from the machine more than me. Flawed thinking but once it's gone, it's really gone.

My greatest fear now is that my wife sells my bikes when I am working away at sea..........Never a truer word!!

All the best, Simon

and tells you they were stolen - that explains those new designer clothes she is wearing

[Tangled Metal]

It pays to be part of the community the thieves come from. My bike was nicked and never recovered but other bike nicked at the same time was recovered. The owner got the tip off from a mate and he paid a visit. The thief was known by a lot of people but as an "outsider" to them i was never going to be told who.

Police often know the bike thieves too. About half a year later the police raided 4 local properties and recovered £80,000 of bikes and components. My bike was long gone.

BTW i registered my bike complete with frame number on several bike registers together with the number stenciled on by the police under a registration scheme. If it had been recovered i hoped at least one such scheme would be checked by the police.

BTW when they did those raids o contacted the officer down as dealing with the case. He did not know about the police bike registration scheme and had to check. Seems he was based in a main station about 50 minutes drive away so had to call the local Station to find out about it.

So put bluntly you will only get a stolen bike back if you're very lucky but more importantly you know dodgy people who trust you. The last criteria also relies on you being able to assert a degree of authority over the thief. By this i mean you've got a violent rep or have mates with you who have such a rep.

[mercalia]

I've had 2 bikes stolen. Never seen again. They even caught the guy who stole the second one and he fessed up, but I still didn't get my bike back. He was a serial bike thief and had about a dozen bikes in his house when police raided, but he'd already got rid of mine.

trouble is isnt treated as a serious offence and when sentenced they get a bit of community service. I seem to remember a case in London who stole bikes from railways and all he got was a cant go on the railways for a time

If any one here into DC comics we need a Green Arrow to sort these ******** out? "You have failed the city" woosh.......thud

Green Arrow cycle avenger?

[TrevA]

A friend of mine did get his bike back. It was a carbon Orbea, stolen from his house. It turned up about 18 months later, abandoned in an empty house on the other side of the city. A member of our club who's a policeman posted it on our club's Facebook page and I made the connection. The bar tape had been changed but it was otherwise the same bike, frame numbers matched.

[Elizabethsdad]

I got my bakfiets cycle coded by the police - it would interesting to find out if there were any figures on how many bikes that have been coded get stolen and what percentage get recovered.

[RodT]

I got my bike back. I came out of the local wine shop, bottle in hand, no bike. Nipped back into the shop, told the owner my bike had been nicked, went out again and saw my bike being ridden back down the road and about to pass me. I shall never know why the thief was returning to the scene of the crime because as he passed I stepped off the kerb and gave him a whack. He fell off and ran away.
I later described the incident to the police. When I got to the part about giving him a whack, they corrected me by saying 'you apprehended him, sir.'
I have to confess that I hadn't locked the bike. I live in Truro, where you don't expect that sort of thing. Well, of course, I expect it now.

[Cyril Haearn]

In the course of my work i have had several conversations with PC's about this issue. Some facts about the local situation:
1. Bike theft victims invariably do not know some or all of the make, model or frame number.
...

I imagine many users of these fora could describe their bikes fully with frame numbers, types of tyres and brake blocks etc

I left my bike in a dark corner near the station, when I got back the front wheel had been nicked. Didn't bother reporting it. Many thefts of complete bikes are not reported so the figures are much too low.

I learnt: leave it in a bright place where many people go by, and secure both wheels to the stand.

Using two or more locks of different types may help, the criminal realises cutting them would cost valuable seconds.

[700c]

It rather depends on who has stolen it.

A junkie who needs his next fix - will sell a £1000 bike for £20 to the local second hand emporium.
A junkie who needs his next fix - will sell to his mate who then rides it around the same town.
Opportunistic nerdowell who wants a better bike than he already owns...will nick it, bling it a bit and ride it around.

All of the above...are get-back-able.

Someone who has to get from A to B. The bike is usually dumped somewhere not get-at-able at point B (eg in a canal).
Stolen to order by pro's. Your bike will end up at the other end of the country or elsewhere in Europe...

In both these cases, especially "pro" ... you'll never see it again.

[RickH]

Back in the early 80s I was a student in Manchester. I must have been relatively well off as I had 2 bikes - a black Sun badged Raleigh & a newer 2-tone green Dawes (I went to the bike shop to get some brake blocks & came back with them attached to a new bike! ). I lent the Sun out to one of the guys I shared a house with & someone cut through the lock & pinched it. A bit annoying but I had insurance & they stumped up.

Fast forward a few years & I was helping to run a youth club on a council estate, with a poor reputation, in Bolton. One night one of the youth turns up on, you've probably guessed it, a black Sun identical to the one I'd lost. Bearing in mind that I'd never seen another the same, I was tempted to check if it was mine, as I still remembered the frame number. In the end I didn't, I decided it would cause more problems than it solved. I never saw the bike in Bolton again!

[Tangled Metal]

Just like to say that knowing everything about your bike doesn't help. I gave the police officer who rang me to get a description a full list of bike, components, accessories attached, frame number and his2I'd registered it as stolen on a number of sites. In fact i was still giving her a description when she interrupted and told me that she thought she'd got enough details to identify it.

I never got it back. It was a £550 hybrid but my weekday transport. It was a lot better bike than the other one that got nicked at the same time. That other bike was recovered by the owner with a degree of prejudice against the idiot who was still riding it. Seems a cheaper mtb looks to a scrote a better bike to keep than a better specced hybrid. Philistine!

[landsurfer]

Your bikes are not stolen as assemblies ....
They are stolen for the components.
Harvested and sold on ebay etc
I wonder how many of us have actually bought our own components from an auction site ?????
Or had them fitted by a LBS .....