Bike thieves, Gumtree, and retrieving one's possessions

Dogs I've lived in London for 20 years.

Besides where is the freedom in having a bike if you have to carry massive locks, keep an eye on it, deny yourself of going to places cos the chances of it of being stolen are massive and if it is, it is because you are stupid...

That is the nature of London, if you know that there are thieves out and about you are remiss in not being extra diligent.
There is no such thing as freedom.

Can we claim to be the bike crime capital of the world?

Quite funny I heard that a guy at work stole a bike that he fancied in the garage. He was caught on CCTV, confronted, sacked and escorted out of the building....

Of course I agree with all of you that London is like that and you have to be careful with your bike. I have spent a fair amount of money on locks and insurance. But blaming the person who lost their stuff is not right.

Pity your friend didn't take these down, (irrefutable proof of ownership) and pity they didn't chase down the (their) potentially stolen bike.

He did take down the details, along with photos, etc., and had his name written all over the bike, both visibly and in UV. He's going to report the Gumtree post to the police (who will of course do fuck all) and see if they're interested in following it up (hah!).

But yes, I'm rather annoyed he decided not to chase it down with a gang of heavies brandishing D-locks. When the next one gets stolen, in about six months, I shall be a lot more insistent. Who's in?

I think we should put together a Bike retrieval posse, composed of a few of the bigger lads and angrier girls who are willing to form the back up crew in these situations. I could quite happily lead a shoreditch chapter, think hells angels but on bikes I wouldn't want to nick a harley from them - we could even get matching messenger bags with patches for how many bikes we manage to get back.

Once a stolen bike surfaces on gumtree and the owner has identified it and has some proof of ownership, the posse would accompany him/her to get the bike back with the additonal strength in numbers being an obvious benefit. I think payment in pints for the service would be an excellent recompense.

I think once the scum who nick our bikes know that selling stolen bikes on gumtree will result in a visit from the bike angels and the loss of drug money for them it should close down their sales channel. Anyone know where we can buy stab vests?

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I think the posse should also include backup undercover agents who aren't part of the main retrieval team, and is in charge of following the thieves to their lair, wherever it may be, in case the initial offensive doesn't go as planned.

I'm in. Suggest that the east london crowd cover the west london patch, and vice versa. South do north, and north (both of you) cover all of south london. That way you wont get jumped when on your own popping out for a pint of milk by those chavs you confronted the week before.

Could be fun.

Sounds like a job for the Five Findouters...

Ooh! I'm in.

Sore luck Westies!

I'm in, too. I can bring this: So we can stun or kill.

Sore luck Westies!

haha

You guys sit this one out......I got it covered.