Cycling UK Forum

Despite the ease with which all locks are supposed to be broken, I have a had a cursory glance at the stolen bike thread and am struggling to find any examples of locked bikes being stolen. There aren't even many bikes on here - which gives the impression that many stolen bikes weren't even worth the effort of recovery. Can anyone fill in some more background on this?

It will vary from place to place. In Glasgow for example very few low to middle range bikes locked in busy public places are stolen. I think the risk/reward ratio is too high for it to be worthwhile. On the other hand many bikes are stolen while locked in semi public places where a thief can work on the lock out of public view. Places like common stairways and residents parking areas under blocks of flats.



I still wouldn't risk parking my £1200 tourer in central Glasgow for longer than 10 minutes.

Mine had a lock cut off it in a local supermarket car park - turns out it is happening a lot but they didn't bother recording on the cctv camera pointing at the bike parking area (I parked there because of the CCTV camera !)
- This is in a Nottingham suburb

BTW - It was a £10 cable lock though which are easy to cut (I now have a decent lock)
Luckily I had an alarm padlock on the chain ring and this prevented them getting away with my bike

I hear that a spate of locked Bromptons are disappearing in East Kent - Canterbury and Herne Bay have been named to me.

Thanks for the replies. It would be nice to know when bikes are stolen whether the lock had been effective. I also get the impression that many losses have been due to garages or sheds being broken into rather than the traditional street theft we all imagine.

Friends of mine had a new "well & truly locked" Cyclomotion tandem nicked from the bike stands in front of Strasbourg station while they ate breakfast. 6000 euros' worth.

The best way to have your bike nicked seems to be to leave it unattended, padlocked or not, in any city centre.

I'm wondering why so few thefts such as this one appear on the Stolen thread. Does the prospect of insurance mean that people don't make any effort to recover them? Was this one insured?

I doubt if there is any worthwhile general info on this anywhere. The bikes posted on here as stolen represent only a miniscule part of the whole.

I suspect that many reports to the police may be for insurance purposes only and may, therefore, be weighted heavily towards those either where a good lock was in use or is alleged to have been.

My bike was about to be stolen from outside WH Smiths in Gloucester city center. I stumbled upon a scrote about to snip through the cable lock...
A while after, that same bike was nicked from my back garden, again cable locked.
Didn't bother reporting as it was a £50 Claud Butler clunker.

--

Since then I bought a motorcycle chain (18mm links) along with an Abus lock, for the latest bike. 7
It's heavy at 4kgs, but worth it for the peace of mind as I often have to lock up in less desirable areas.
I also have lockable QR skewers. And a homemade "chain" lock for the saddle.
No problem leaving that anywhere. it ain't gonna go walkabouts.

Erm yeah about the chain... this is a interesting video (shows just about every type of lock being broken in a couple of seconds)

http://stolen-bikes.co.uk/the-london-programme-bike-theft/

Erm yeah about the chain... this is a interesting video (shows just about every type of lock being broken in a couple of seconds)http://stolen-bikes.co.uk/the-london-programme-bike-theft/

Iv just had a look at this documetary vid & i think its exellent !