Stolen bikes

STOLEN BIKE! 😥
Taken today between 2-6pm from the British College of Osteopathic Medicine. So much for building up your own bike and being proud of it!

Dolan Pre Cursa 58cm
Campagnolo cranks
R500 Front Wheel
Halo Aerotrack rear wheel
Fizik Antares saddle.

Please share this around!

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Just walked up the shops and seen a guy stipping front brake off a bike as I walked back.

https://twitter.com/Clockwisesss/status/1118256078981087233

Looks on here

I posted on the London Cycling facebook too and it's kinda worrying how many pro-stealing parts people are about.

Meant to post this sooner, but has anyone had a VanMoof stolen, one of the electrified ones, white frame, looked like a large, clocked it on Sunday at Brick Lane and noticed it did have a Bike Register sticker and code on it, so hopefully it might find its way back to its rightful owner.

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Had someone break into my bike shed in Hackney E9 last night and steal my cinelli mash and hoy shizuoka (picture attached). Gutted since I had just put a new set of DD75 cranks and izumi on it a couple of weeks ago!

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A friend of mine has been swindled. He sold a Brompton for £600 cash to a guy named Mike. Turns out Mike provided him with Fake bank notes which he only found out when he tried to deposit the money into the bank. The police say that there is nothing they can do due to lack of evidence despite being handed the notes. Mike is now posing as John on gumtree, shpock, ebay etc and is trying to resell the bike in Fulham West London. Trying to assemble some guys together to get the bike back - anybody up for catching a theif?

Meet him and pay him in the original fake bank notes?

Please post in “Brompton Bicycle” if you use Fbook to warn others!

Please do this

Saw this one Ebay, i'd bet money it's nicked. Who sells a bike like that and doesn't mention the DA/Ultegra components?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cannondale-Synapse-Ladies-Road-Bike-48cm-Orange-and-White/183783993785?hash=item2aca6131b9:g:LfoAAOSwmDJcveGq&frcectupt=true

It's also not a 48cm, a synapse or a ladies...

I posted about my Isla being stolen at the end of January: https://www.lfgss.com/comments/14593184/

Someone contacted me at the end of March after they saw a bike that fit the description of mine being sold on Facebook marketplace.. falsely advertised as an Isla Pro. Of course I immediately contacted the police to inform them, in the mean time I was able to get the seller's phone number / address (based in London Fields - less than a mile from where the bike was stolen) but I didn't want to retrieve the bike myself as didn't want to put my life at risk. Found the seller's Shpock page where other bikes are being sold: https://www.shpock.com/en-gb/users/VwXj-MxzHkZhi0WD

Got assigned a police officer on the 1st of April and the bike was still being sold on Facebook. PC suggested that they would send units to retrieve it. 2 weeks later and me constantly begging for updates/actions, the seller sold the bike to someone on her estate apparently and police did nothing.

Just a note to say police seem pretty hands off, even when you have all the information for them. Such a shame as I could have got my bike back! Anyone had any positive experiences?

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https://m.facebook.com/groups/814243002083663?view=permalink&id=1189627687878524

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48035577

Pretty shitty. Makes London look dreadful, really

Have you filed a complaint? Seens pretty negligent...

How do you know they sold it, did the police tell you that? Just because they no longer have it doesn’t mean nothing should be done. Maybe I’m being naive..

Not filed a complaint yet. Got an email from the sergeant (at 1am last night) to say that they are really understaffed which is why they could not go and retrieve it:

Apologies. We did try to action going to look for your bike but at no
point were we able to do this during our shifts. I’d gotten authority
to pay people to stay on after the shift but by coincidence that was
the day that the bike was sold and was no longer available. Had the
bike still been there our intentions where to try and recover it.
Unfortunately we were not able to do this in time.

As for what happens now. The short answer is that I’m afraid we won’t
be taking any further action or pursuing this matter. We weren’t
intending to arrest or prosecute the woman selling the bike. If we
could have proven that it was your bike then we would look to have
informed the seller of this and then recovered it. As it’s no longer
there we are not taking any action and the matter is being closed.

I found out that the bike was sold after messaging her on the 16th of April to check to see whether the bike was still available. She said that a guy from around her estate bought it.

Pretty frustrating, but how did they know it was sold?
I’m not one to bash the police, not an easy job and badly under-resourced, but that’s got to be unsatisfying for you.
Did you know the serial number? Otherwise I get their point to an extent..

I informed the PC that the bike was sold when I found out that it had been sold. I didn't have the frame number but every single part on that bike was added on [custom] and not Isla standard parts. I am 100% certain it was my bicycle. It also had distinguishing marks on it i.e a dent in the top tube.

Let's get this back for him. Unfortunately the article is very scant on details of the bike

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48035577

Pale/lime green Bowman road bike (lettering in slightly darker green), with mavic wheels just stolen from Finsbury Park :(

Very distinctive bike.. please keep an eye out for it.

An interesting turn of events. After my Cinelli got stolen, I put up a couple of posters with my IG and phone number in the local area, offering a reward for the safe return of the bike. Yesterday much to my surprise I received a call from a withheld number with a guy telling me his mate sent him pictures of my poster after he bought my bike. I asked him to send a picture of the bike and call me again, but so far I haven't heard from him. What should I do?

Morning Swistak,

Did you report the burglary?
Have you passed all the information mentioned above to the officer who is investigating your theft?
How long has it been since the bike was stolen and since this person contacted you?

(feel free to PM me rather than start a long conversation here but for the benefit of other forum users:)

Take screen shots of every interaction with the person who called (you will need to provide the exact time you were called as well as your telephone number and mobile phone provider) this will enable a request to be sent to the phone company to release details of the telephone number/subscriber who called you, however, as with many things, it's never as simple as it sounds.

I can't go into too much detail as to what can or cannot be requested but it's the first thing I would do if I were to be assigned this crime.

It is (in my opinion) likely that the person who called you bought the bike in good faith (or why would he call at all) but now has gotten cold feet as to contacting you again. The legislation around property (TORT) law is complex, but it does provide a defense of acting in good faith and this would result in the requirement for you to take the person to civil court. Sadly, it's another area in which the victims of crime are let down. It's a fine line to walk to protect people from malicious claims and to support real victims. After all, the person who paid cash for your bike is likely to be a victim of the person from whom he bought the bike.
I have persuaded people to return bikes, though this really oversteps my role and the official line is to advise them to take out a civil action if there is insufficient evidence to bring charges and we will provide details of the other party once requested through the proper channels.

Just in case I haven't mentioned it before (and unrelated to your case)

Please make a note of your frame number, register it with as many property marking sites as possible. Take photographs of your bike after any significant modifications (perhaps not if you change a bottom bracket) and don't skimp on locks. With regard the frame number, I compare it in part to reporting your car stolen. If I were working in the front office of my local police station (Stoke Newington when I joined) and someone came in to report their car stolen and described it as, "a blue one, with gears" I'm not sure I'd be confident we would ever identify it in a month of Sundays and I'd ask them to return with some more details. Bikes are no different. With no frame number, it would take an officer with a knowledge of component parts to identify a bike (RIP the cycle task force) which cannot be expected of a non cyclist beyond the make and model.

Just wanted to once again ask that people keep on the lookout for this Ritchey ... such a great bike that I'd love to get back. It's been enough time that people might be trying to sell it on ...

https://stolen-bikes.co.uk/stolen-bikes/ritchey-ascent-breakaway/

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I have reported the burglary, but they told me on the day that it is unlikely they will proceed. I have kept all of the screenshots and provided the information below via the online form, but haven't heard back from a human yet

The plot has thickened quite a bit. After the call on Saturday, on Sunday I went to brick lane and started showing the pictures of the bike to the bike thieves. They were aware of the posters I put up in the neighbourhood and miraculously one of them was able to contact the person in possession of my bike and asked them to call me again. We have arranged to meet and I bought the bike back off of him because apparently 'he bought it on brick lane and didn't know it was stolen and didn't want any trouble'. A claim that I find dubious, given that the bike vendor was able to call him, but well. In the process I have also spotted some of my neighbours' kids selling bikes on brick lane...

At least I have been reunited with my bike. Spent most of the sunday taking it apart to the last bearing in an attempt to wash all the evil out of it.