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I've always been surprised that more people don't do it (that and seatposts/saddles), given how easy it is to unscrew one bolt and snip four cables (if that), or undo one bolt (for seatposts), and how impossible it is to lock these components. Even claris shifters are worth some money, it seems. And hardly anyone is going to pursue these thefts given value of items.
One of the main reasons why I ride fixed exclusively around town since cockpit with beaten up brake levers hopefully won't be worth jack to anyone. Still always expect to come back to my bike to find the seatpost gone, even if the bike's still there.
youClown-
Yes. That in the past this seems to have happened relatively rarely I've always suspected (as above) that it was just one person doing, and not overdoing, it for years, and I've never heard of anyone being caught for it.
If it's now happening a lot, that suggests the usual patterns with any crime spree, i.e. the perpetrators will either stop again soon or will be caught after a couple of months if the police get a lot of reports of it. Not that I have high hopes of the latter, but it has happened when there's been the same modus operandi over a long time.
Oliver Schick
Sorry to hear that. It happened to a mate of mine 25 years ago. Where was hers taken?
For years, it was a rare theft pattern; it seemed as if there was just one person going around nicking cockpits, mostly in Central London, but I hadn't heard about it for years. With so many in so short a space of time, it looks as if it's resumed, probably with new perpetrators.