Stolen bikes

maybe we could get together a list of all bikes stolen and mount watches on brick lane each sunday
i think we need to get organised on the bike theft front. am thinking about buying a tracker devise for a bike of mine and trying to get it stolen then and see where it ends up
there might be a repository of bikes somewhere which is just waiting to be found.
i will be in maplins shortly seeing if they do one of those build it yourself kits
if the bikes aren't being sold down brick lane where do they go
spares ? out of london ? abroad ? i think they would have to be pretty organised to get these bikes outside of the locale they people stealing them must be unemployed drug addicts so they'll be wanting to get the bikes sold asap for their fixes ( excuse the pun ) so they should e appearing on the market quickly
LETS GET ORGANISED AND BEAT THESE FUCKERS

One of the many reason why I fancied going fixed, was cause they weren't stolen as much as 'normal' bikes. Seems that's changed, if it was true!

I'm up for a bit of tracking!!!!! I'm about most weekends in the Bricklane area!

Is it worth DataTagging my bike?

if that is an option i think it would be good to get some kind of vigilante posse together go out and " set up a few bikes " if we had a group of people together we could get security in numbers and i don't think anyone would get away from 3-4 serious riders i'll check into some kind of tracking devise and see whats out there on the market if anyone else knows of any tracking devises please let me know
i want to set up a bike outside my library here it may get me back to my gazelle
yours
julian dicki kray

I think that dicki has a great idea.
Could a Flikr page be set up purely for a database of stolen steeds?
I realise there is this thread, but maybe if we had some stuff the Brick Lane regulars could refer to (maybe a picture, contact nos, etc) it might go someway to getting these little fuckers, and more importantly, getting the bikes back to their owners.

More than happy to join in the bike recovery posse. This is (only) the second bike I've lost in 13 years living in London, so I'm pretty lucky all round. Still want to maim some scrotes - could we do a sting operation in one of the hotspots?
Nothing official - just make the criminal fraternity aware that if they go to steal a bike they might get a serious kicking into the bargain.

I'm sure plod would turn a blind eye to that as much as they don't give a toss about stolen bikes.

Having said that, they were round yesterday to interview me and take prints from the shed so either the tide is turning or it was a slow day for them.

Vigilante law rules.

I have not seen and fixed or S/S bike in my last few visits to Brick Lane, always looking? The yoof with snide rides always seem to be selling lo/mid range mountain bikes!
I might be down there this weekend too, if so i'll keep my eyes peeled. Is it me, or does it get worse that place, lot nastier than it was 5 years back, lot of edgy looking folk!

now i'm thinking about some blog, where people send in their pictures of their stolen bikes, and we advertise the site, so more people become aware of it. hand out flyers and stuff around brick lane, you know how many people there are looking for their stolen bikes!
can also use cameras and shoot those fuckers selling bikes posting it up. it's all evidence.

dicki, you got 6 more posts and you'll be 1000

Martin, I had a similar experience, I got a BMX stolen from my terrace. I mean, this is BURGLARY, it's serious crime, it's not just about bike theft.

tom, I saw a brakeless conversion once with rather nice wheels going for 200... those guys are really getting organised and as much as i would like to think that we have the power to force them to hand over their stolen goods, you never know who you're dealing with... they do look a lot nastier these days.

994

995

says on my members profile i am over 1000 but on my personal details under 1000
could it be pm's or something like that !

i have been looking at maplins website thay have a tracker for 100 ish quid and some tags / emitters
only good for 183m though i guess that would be enough
we would need to let them take the bike away and follow at a discreet distance back to the hoard
anyone free for some ass kicking fun later in the week
would like to have stef ( or some other martial arts expert with me too )

edmundane now i'm thinking about some blog, where people send in their pictures of their stolen bikes, and we advertise the site, so more people become aware of it. hand out flyers and stuff around brick lane, you know how many people there are looking for their stolen bikes!
can also use cameras and shoot those fuckers selling bikes posting it up. it's all evidence.

dicki, you got 6 more posts and you'll be 1000

I agree.

What I don't understand is that Sunday Supplement articles aside, the FGSS community in London is relatively small... Where is the market, outside ourselves? Even given the fact that most bikes are probably stripped and rebuilt, it is only people like us that will buy components second hand...

Should we come to some sort of Gentleman's Agreement where if we make a new purchase we post the frame number on a thread, to check whether it is stolen?

Also, if we are browsing for bikes, we note down any frame numbers (even if we don't buy) and post these aswell?

(I don't understand why it isn't a requirement on ebay to post frame numbers as part of the decription - surely that would start to cut down the trade in illeagal machines...)

That's not a bad idea. Tracker hiden at the bottom of the seat tube. Packed out so it stays there.
What about a small gps transmitter? It would have to be a rebadge frame to ensure it was stolen. Maybe an old crapper dressed as cinelli?

tomiskinky I have not seen and fixed or S/S bike in my last few visits to Brick Lane, always looking? The yoof with snide rides always seem to be selling lo/mid range mountain bikes!

I read somewhere the other day that sub-£100 MTBs represent the largest proportion of stolen bikes. I don't know whether that's because they're typically poorly secured, because they are easy to sell on, or because they represent the majority of bicycles period.

Must be they represent the majority of bicycles surely? Most i've seen look like they were bought at Tesco!
Like you say, who is the market for these bikes - Us? But I for one wouldn't buy a bike there, bits maybe? And only from a stall, mind you, they ask some crazy prices for some stuff!
Would a transmitter work? 183m doesn't seem much, unless you track em straight after it was nicked!! Not much use if taken in the night?

Hi all,

I lost my '06 Langster on Saturday afternoon - well, my brother did whilst watching the football in Covent Garden - and would be grateful if you can keep your eyes open 'cause it's fairly distinctive;

Black, Specialized frame with red carbon Sp forks (from my Tarmac comp) and overlaid red Sp sticker on the headtube ...like a red-baron paint job. Biggish frame, (59cm I think) Black DMR V8 pedals and ITM Wingshape Lite Luxe handlebars. Also the word 'human' laid over the top tube in black vinyl-cut lettering.

...I know that there are far better bikes out there, but I loved it dearly and it looked pretty awesome - I'll happilly pay a reward if anyone can help recover it. To top things off, I've just this afternoon found a crack in the down-tube of my hack bike :_(

Many thanks,

mr_rablah@hotmail.com

Sorry to hear that mr rablah. Sounds like you'd put some love into that there bike.

I'll keep my eyes peeled.

edmundane now i'm thinking about some blog, where people send in their pictures of their stolen bikes, and we advertise the site, so more people become aware of it. hand out flyers and stuff around brick lane, you know how many people there are looking for their stolen bikes!
can also use cameras and shoot those fuckers selling bikes posting it up. it's all evidence.

i like the blog idea. what about a registry? that could also be helpful in proving ownership. in s.f., sometimes bikes that would get stolen would indeed end up in other cities. i think the sting op is a good call, but not sure about the chop-busting... i think that documenting the theft (like video it as it's happening), and pressing charges is best, especially b/c if the theive(s) are organized, one smack-down prolly won't be enough to stop it. if you need an inconspicous by-stander/cameraperson, lemme know.

Cheers for your comment mashton, much appreciated - it was more a case of the love being wrung out of me on the North Downs.

Re sting ops; (Not that this is by any means the answer) but did anyone see the tar-and-feathering that recently happened in Northern Ireland? I thought that only happened in the movies....

I am up for any bike thief catching posse. just let me know.

I'll be strolling around Brick Lane Market on Sunday afternoon, on a luminous yellow 90s Trek, so please say hi if you see me.
I'll be the angry bloke with a BFO spanner....

Sorry to hear about your bad luck Julian and others.

I heard there have been some sting operations at brick lane and hence the dodgy people may have moved on? May be there is another market were bike are being stolen. Petticoat Lane or Whitechapel Market? Not far from brick lane worth checking out in case people have moved on. There are loads of markets areound the east end http://www.londonmarkets.co.uk/London%20Markets%20in%20East%20London.htm.

that's a very good point tommy.

Excellent list - there's markets I didn't even consider visiting!

I'm off to Billingsgate to check out some fishy characters... :-D