My Suspicious Mind

[dazza500]

I'm amazed when stolen bikes turn up on fleabay or gumtree. What idiocy - unless you can find a patsy to be the vendor.

[ArMoRothair]

Am I being unduly suspicious, or was his behaviour as questionable as I thought?

There's no doubt in my mind he was fulfilling an order.

DON'T lock your bike anywhere near there again, it's obviously of interest to them.

[mercalia]

wow looks like u have been very very lucky! I would have been tempted to take a pic of the guy, if your phone has a camera

the strange thing about these forums I was asking about security abroad and mostly the response here was rather cavalier. Yours is a good case that brings it home the thieving so and so's around waiting to pounce.

this type of thing happened to me with an old not quite vintage motor cycle ( really a junk heap, every thing was truly worn out and held together by rust lol, but did look good) that i had kept out side my flat. I found a guy showing an interest in it during the day; that night it was stolen. though in my case they did me a favour as it really was a junk heap, saved me the trouble of taking it to the breakers.

The trouble with insurance if it got stolen the best the insurance would do would be new for old - I assume the price you paid for it when you bought it? not much good if it was bought long time ago?

so what u going to do now?

[mrjemm]

I thought after that taking a pic whilst lurking would've helped in future, but at the time just wanted to secure my bike and get the hell out of there.

I really don't think he was looking to see if it was his having been stolen and painted over, Edwards, mostly because of how he was describing it over the phone and his reaction to my confrontation. Also it's such a Frankenbike hotch-potch of random parts it'd be very hard to mistake for another bike, if you new the other bike at all/bikes in general anyway.

In the future I'll make sure I leave it in a better place, well locked, and remove the removables; surprising how many folk leave bits on them. And in the meantime I think I'll go and have a chat with the local constabulary, at least to find out more about the local situation regarding theft rates, and any current advice regarding hot-spots, etc.

In the past I've had 1.5 bikes stolen when locked to railings- 1 was Amsterdam, the traditional industrial operation, the 0.5 was when I lived in the South East, they were stripping the parts (manky!) to leave the frame when caught by a neighbour; caught on (crappy) CCTV and polive knew who they were, but went no further, which is probably why these things persist. Most audacious though, was when I stupidly left a mobike locked outside in London over night and some kids were caught revving the scooter they were on to hide the noise of them using an axe to break it free!

Sadly, if it was stolen, the insurance may pay out, but it was a fun experiment to put together, which was surprisingly successful, and I am not sure I'd get it that 'right' again. Like for like or new for old would both be pretty much impossible.

[Colin63]

I'll be interested to hear what the police say about hotspots. There are a few bike stand areas in the town that immediately spring to mind as vulnerable. My reaction to this incident has been to spend a bit of time researching bike locks, and I'm buying an Abus Granit X Plus D Lock this weekend. My current lock suddenly looks much flimsier than it did yesterday morning.
In Leisure Lakes Cycles the salesman showed me something that looked very interesting - a GPS tracker with motion detector that slides into the bottom of the seat post. You set it when you park the bike, and if it's moved you're alerted via your phone and you can have the police find it via the tracker. It's not out yet, but the salesman reckoned it would probably cost about £100.

On a slightly lighter note; While investigating the various locks available I read lots of customer reviews. The best being someone who had bought a D lock and angrily rated it as being very poor as it was too big to fit in his jacket pocket. Another gave a cable a poor rating because a thief, although not cutting the cable, had been able to break open the padlock he'd bought separately to secure the cable.

[Colin63]

Here's the tracker I was shown
http://www.integratedtrackers.com/GPSTr ... atpost.jsp

[mrjemm]

Didn't get to the police today, but was talking to a PCSO who's given me an email to write to, they'll code the bike and give me advice, info. etc. I'll write to them, and see what comes.

Not sure about the tracker. The other models are £97.50 and £3.50/month, and I think may be noticeable. The seatpost one looks like it'd be ready built into a BBB post maybe... Also, the poor phone reception round here may hinder the tracking! Worth keeping an eye on when it comes out though.

For now, better locking, in better places.

And yes, there is no limit to the daftness of folk; I've read similar reviews before. Incredible.

[dazza500]

I lock my bike with two of those smaller D locks. What happens is when they see two locks the thieves will invariably move onto the next bike. Sad to say but is sooner see a crap built bike stolen than my own!

[mercalia]

I m sure everyone has seen this TV video about cycle theft in London, made in 2007

The London Programme

Gone In 60 Seconds - The Bike Crime Wave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Cc8hH46t4

whenever I start to get a bit complacent I like to re-view it

I think a sticky should be made to it some where here?

It shocks & frightens me each time, esp the passersby totally ignoring a guy with 4 foot long bolt cutters cutting thru a lock. seems like the only real soln is to get the bikes off the road into secure areas?

[Edwards]

I really don't think he was looking to see if it was his having been stolen and painted over, Edwards, mostly because of how he was describing it over the phone and his reaction to my confrontation. Also it's such a Frankenbike hotch-potch of random parts it'd be very hard to mistake for another bike, if you new the other bike at all/bikes in general anyway

If your instincts at the time told you he was up to no good and his actions confirmed that, then I would say you are correct.

When I was able to ride the local canal before being forced to stop, I used to regularly ride to a park called Cannon Hill and stop at the Tea Shop. One day I was late and it was closed but I stopped for a snack. A man on a bike rode up to the café from the city centre direction and locked a bike to the stand. The bike was nothing special but looked newish and the lock appeared new.
He then walked off back the way he had just come. He was visible for nearly 5 minutes walking away.
It al seemed very strange to me but I had to carry on.
As I was about to leave the park I saw a Policeman on a bike and told him what I had just witnessed e said to me "If something looks suspicious and wrong it usually is".
I have since found out that bike thieves use this technique and get an accomplice to collect the bike later. They tend to go for not very high end bikes as these are easier to sell on.

Unfortunately theft of bikes is not that high a priority for the Police and Crime Commissioners.

[Postboxer]

More secure bike lockers, or bike stands with substantial locks built in would be better, but there would have to be thousands! Can't see the UK bothering with this:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcZSU40RBrg if we got them they'd probably cost more than parking a car.

[rfryer]

The trouble with insurance if it got stolen the best the insurance would do would be new for old - I assume the price you paid for it when you bought it? not much good if it was bought long time ago?

My experience of new-for-old insurance (John Lewis) is that they identify a current off-the-peg bike of a similar spec to the one that was stolen, and the same for any accessories or upgrades. This results in a total up-to-date valuaton to spend on (or put towards) a new bike plus accessories.

I found the system very fair.

[mrjemm]

I really like the idea of http://www.popupbikes.co.uk/ in Manchester, which offers secure daytime storage of bikes, and also is a bike cafe and repair shop. It would probably only really be feasible in larger towns and cities I guess, but perhaps other related businesses could offer such services on the side.

Perhaps the local police could be persuaded to simply make it known they're including the common facilities on their 'beats'- at least the PCSOs who seem to have most of this role now.

[AndyBSG]

Of course, the Japanese solution to bicycle storage puts anything in the UK to shame

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... reets.html

Apologies for the source of the clip!

[Tonyf33]

God I feel so blessed to live where I do, most of the time I don't even bother locking my bike up outside of shops, I know sometimes I'm in and out in a few minutes and/or can see my bike if I'm in the bank. Even the few places where I'd think I should rather than it being an absolute must I've never seen anyone 'around' my bike and it's a pretty decent one.
Maybe the day it does happen I'll change tack but having known theft myself when my first two racing bikes I owned were stolen as a young teen back in Kingston upon Hull, not locking it up I don't feel is a risk..
Anywhere else I don't hesitate.