Calling all bike thieves

Hi all, I'm researching bike theft for a postgraduate anthropology project and trying to find a bike thief to interview. I've been hanging around bike racks hoping to bump into a thief but so far haven't had any luck. Does anyone know of a current or former bike thief that would be willing to speak to me in confidence? If so, please ask them to drop me a line at ryan.dunn.13@ucl.ac.uk

The research is being conducted in compliance with the Association of Social Anthropologists ethical guidelines (http://www.theasa.org/ethics.shtml) and I will not be sharing the information with authorities or any other third parties. As is standard practice in anthropology all informants will have their names changed if quotes are included in my dissertation.

I've been hanging around bike racks hoping to bump into a thief but so far haven't had any luck.

I lol'd

Such were the joys of anthropological research

Do you look especially threatening?

Maybe they're just scared because they don't want to encroach on your turf.

Given that everyone has been unbanned you could contact the user "on one langster"

Brick Lane?

Late 40s Rome?

I can't remember who and what it's called exactly, but there is or maybe was a bike workshop on Walworth Road next to an estate, I think it's call 56 bike room?? The guy who runs it is called Tim, or maybe Simon, I could be totally wrong with his name... He is a top gent and perfectly decent, but I know for a fact he does know what the kids / youngsters are up to in the estate. Let's just say with his help, I managed to buy back my own bike for £40 a few years ago. Not what I would have liked, but £40 without breaking the peace around his workshop and the area was a somewhat twisted worthy price to pay.

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Careful, there are two nasty gangs round there.

brick lane sunday morning
sclater street car park
anyone of the fucks standing next to bike parts stalls
they are all bike thief's and involved in the distribution of stolen parts
ask around there

Blockquote. He is a top gent and perfectly decent

Not if he's knowingly handling stolen goods and making money from it, he isn't. Almost the opposite, in fact.

is a bike thief different from any other kind of thief?

I was about to ask the very same - do bike thiefs only nick bikes or do they nick anything given half a chance?

But he is not. In fact he runs the workshop for free every week to fix bikes for kids who can't afford to go to a bike shop. I do believe he does know what the gangs are up to to a point, and when my bikes went missing, he had a good enough idea who the suspects might be and spread the word for me. Would you really wanna be the snitch if you have to still be around the estate? He doesn't even live there by the way, It's all very well to stand on the moral high ground and talk ideals remotely, like on here, but the reality is if he became the snitch every time petty crime like a bike is stolen, do you think him and his volunteers would still be able to provide for the good kids round there?

Prison?

Cinephile rep: in fact that will be the film I doze off to this afternoon.

Oh yes. This weekend's plans have involved Yojimbo and a load of wine

His shop is at the Walworth road end of John ruskin street. loads of bikes outside, cant miss it

Running workshops and positive interaction is all great stuff. Kudos to thean for that.

Knowing who is nicking bikes is one thing, as is turning a blind eye. But handling those bikes and enabling the thieves?

Maybe your question on morality would be best put to those on the estate too cowed to speak out.

How do you know he knowingly handles any stolen bikes? None of my replies remotely indicate that. If you are referring the incident when I lost my bike and he helped me to find it, all he did was guess and spread the word to the kids so they can do the same, and magically a 'good willing' kid brought my bike back and told me he'd paid some money to buy it. I didn't buy into that bullshit, not did he, but neither of us had any solid proof that kid stole my bike at the first place. What would you have done? Take his word for it and pay a small amount to get the bike back, and call it a day? Or stand there and insist the kid had stolen my bike? Get the police involved? Insist the guy who runs the workshop knows it all? Who knows what and who does what are all guesses at best.

Try and put yourself in his shoes, what would you do? Play detective and police? Every time a kid brings in a bike to interrogate them first?? Ask to see a proof of purchase or show them where the door is? People like him relies in the good nature of people and having a good idea of who is up to what is very different to knowing for a fact someone is up to no good. One is a guess and the other one is fact.

At no point have I said it's ok to turn a blind eye, handle stolen goods etc, but you can't just guess and assume. I would like to think he is a decent bloke as it is my experience with him, I don't know anything more than that, he could be drug dealer for all I care, but I don't have any evidence to proof that so my guess is, he is a good guy and that's all that matters to me, until I am proven and shown otherwise.

Read the book "I Am Zlatan"