Cycling UK Forum

I had 4 bikes stolen from my garage. Strangely, a few days earlier I noticed that the door was open when I got up in the morning - perhaps it had popped up and I thought no more about it. This was my first mistake: that was clearly the reccy, making sure that there were no alarms, etc. The following Friday night they came back, removed 4 bikes (three of which were on racks above the car, so they jumped on the car bonnet to remove them).

I reported to the police, and when I saw footprints on the bonnet, insisted that they came and recorded them. SOCO guy was great, and also found a lighter (good for skin DNA off the flint thumbwheel).

My Holdsworth appeared on eBay shortly afterwards, followed by the Dawes. I contacted the police, who put in a request to eBay, but it can take a long time to get the information released, so I made some enquiries myself and got the address of the seller (2 miles from my home). Police got warrants and recovered these two bikes, are charging some people with receiving, and following the trail to find the burglars. I don't expect to see the other two bikes again.

I am transforming my garage into fort knox. I noticed that the door was distorted as I was alarming it - they had driven a car into it to deform it so that the lock popped out of the hole in the floor (so even if it was locked they would have got in). I am getting a steel garage door, alarming it and have put chains/locks around everything inside the garage.

The detective told me that eBay has replaced car boot sales as their nightmare 'fencing' vehicle. My enthusiasm for it has waned as I have looked closely at a number of ads and some of them are definitely dodgy.

If you have unsecured bikes in an unlocked garage, go out and lock them now!

JohhnyP
I'm glad you got at least two of you're bikes back,I too have looked at Ebay and bought and sold things occasionally, I think some of the stuff on there is definetly dodgy too, especially when by the wording of some of the sellers its obvious they havn't a clue about the Item being sold or the classic "I'm selling it for a friend so don't know much about these things"the watch word is be very careful.

I met a member once who had burglar alarms fitted to his bikes and the connecting wire taken up and fitted to the head of his bed. Might be worth thinking about. Also there are lots of dogs who need a good home, and would repay you by listening for footsteps on a gravel driveway. (One of the inmates of Wellingborough prison told a local reporter that the best way to deter burglars is to have 2 alarms, as they wont attempt to dismantle one as this could trigger off the second one, and to have gravel around the house, as they dont know if you have a dog ! ) Good luck.

A friend recently had a bike stolen from his garage in similar circumstances. I have bought a sold secure gold motorbike chain + padlock, and run this through 2 bikes, secured via a sold secure ground anchor. Not infallible, but would require very heavy duty tools to remove.

When it comes to security, the more inconvenient it is to the thief, the more likely they'll move on to another target.

Andrew

I extended my burglar alarm to include the garage...motion and heat sensors.

For the best locks, chains and anchors for home bike security I'd recomend:

http://www.torc-anchors.com/

not cheap, but neither is your bike!

The Pragmasis stuff really is the best stuff I've played with for securing bikes.

(Note: yes, the owners of the company are people I ride with now and then but I don't believe that my view of the products is biased because of this).