Stolen bikes

FYI never lock your bike to cast iron railings or drain pipes, it is a common tactic of more savvy thieves to smash the cast iron with a sledge hammer, it is actually very brittle! A friend had his Cannondale track stolen recently, it was double locked to railings outside a pub, came back to find railings smashed and no bike.

Anyone had a Fuji Team nicked in South London. Looked like a Fuji Altair 2 perhaps. Saw a particularly nice and expensive one left unlocked outside a barbers. Looked far too pricey to leave just laying there with complete disregard. If it wasn't nicked the rider had some serious balls leaving it unattended in Tulse hill...

Sadly my town bike was stolen over the weekend, some time between sunday morning and this afternoon from outside the Sun Inn on the corner of Bethnal Green Road and Ellsworth St. It was locked up with a Kryptonite KryptoLok Ulock

Its a Raleigh Superbe in lovely original condition with, the saddle was stripped of leather (usually a good theft prevention :( ) and it has quite a recognisable white sticker on the rear mudguard which I was told was from when it was used as a police bike see second pic.

Pictures are old and not in focus but think you can see its dark green and nice and shiny chrome. Any info would be appreciated. I was thinking of heading down to london fields and brick lane over the weekend, any idea when the best time to go is?

Some good news in the world of bike theft- my boss had her shed broken into and 3 bikes stolen in November, in Stoke Newington.
The breaker-inner left a bit of blood and the police got DNA from it and have nicked him- apparently he was known to police as an active bike thief in Hackney.
Boom.

Nice.

Sounds like a good result, Katie, although not as good as if your friend had also got her bikes back.

I'd be interested to know what punishement and deterents are brought to bear on the thief as a result of his arrest.

From this forum I've learnt much about the likelyhood and the means of bike theft. I still know almost nothing of the outcomes for the convicted thiefs.

IMO the punishment is unlikely to be much of a deterrent- someone who's stealing bikes/ handling stolen bikes is unlikely to be much inconvenienced by a criminal record or sentence, as we saw in the riots last year. A whole generation of lost souls who just don't give a fuck.
I'll keep you posted though if I hear anything- plus c3k got his bike back last autumn and we got the guy arrested- I don't think that case came to court as I would have been a witness- can he give us any info?

yeah, the police were pretty good about keeping me informed about the progress of that case but then either they stopped calling, or I wasn't very good at answering my calls, and I never got to hear the conclusion of that story.

Thanks, cyclotron3k

I share Katie-coo's expectation that the sanction applied to this particular thief is unlikely to be of the type that will deter him from continuing with similar behaviour when he is next at liberty to do so- and that could be pretty soon.

My uninformed guess is that a custodial sentence may not even make the difference to prevent re-offending for this type of bike thief. However there's an argument that such sanctions might deter some less-hardened bike thieves, not to mention the very big subject of society's use of punishements as a redress for wrongs suffered by the vitims of crime.

To my mind there is a better likelyhood to reduce bike theft by addressing the 'demand' side of the equation. i.e. doing more to disrupt opportunities the thief has to sell the stolen property and pocket the cash.- From what I've read on this forum, the Cycle Task Force and some very good types in the LCC have begun to develop some stategies in this direction. eg policing Brick Lane.

/makes mental note to find out more and actually play my part.

never had anything stolen but my bike was dlocked thru the front wheel and the frame to a metal post in my sisters drive. very tight fit so the wheel had a lot of pressure against the ground. some cunt tried to tug the lock apart and bent and cracked me alu forks.

My house mate appears to be a one man bike thief vigilante. A few months ago he saw someone trying to steal a bike from vibe bar on brick lane. He chased the guy and citizens' arrested the fool by throwing into a fence, through a sandwich board (even though the guy had pretty beefy cutters with him) and then pinning him to the ground until the police arrived. Conclusion was a custodial sentence for the theif.

Last month his mate had his 1 week old bike stolen that he had bought for a charity cycle this summer. They managed to find the bike on ebay, and went to have a look at the bike at the guys house. They positively identified it as his bike from some paint marks they had also filed with the police report. Told the seller they were going to come back the next day to pay. Next day they got the police to come round and arrest the bloke. Appparently he's already known to police so hopefully another result. Though judging by the fact the sale was only a few miles away from the theft / so blatent / seller wasnt taking any precautions, i would imagine he bought it on the cheap in the mind to sell it on. Still that'll teach him for handling stolen goods.

Well done to your housemate.

your house mate is awesome!

He needs a cape and a mask!

Is his name condorman by any chance?

YO. just had my FBM Sword stolen from Hoxton Square. Livid.
It is red, got a gold profile hub on the front, thompson stem and seat post and renthal bars and dura ace crank set.
I work in Brick Lane Bikes. feel free to bring it in there......
any way if anyone sees it or anything at all give me a holler on 07805388265.

thanks Charlie.

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Edit: ignore this edit...

My Brothers GF had her two bikes nicked from her house on around about the night of Wednesday 1st Feb in Portslade, Brighton:

Bike 1
Boardman Womens Road Bike Small 2010 – white frame, black wheel trim
Accessories:
Pedals: Shimano Ultegra SL Pedals 6700 – Pair
Black bottle cage
Cateye Cycle computer (wired)
Topeak Mini DX Bike Pump & Gauge
Wedge Saddle bag underneath seat

Bike 2
Saracen Hardtail mountain bike
Accessories:
Silver/black bike
Light fittings
Bottle cage
Shimano Pedals Clipless - MTB M770 XT Clipless SPD Pedals Silver - Black

They are canvassing the neighbours and checking the bike shops etc but on the off chance anyone sees any of these in the Brighton area, please PM me.

Stolen from Dagmar Road SE5:

My pride and joy, new Guerciotti G55 road bike with this frame

unbranded carbon forks
Athena 11sp groupset with carbon cranks
Destickered reynolds solitude wheels
Thomson seatpost, SLR saddle
3T stem and bars
one silver bottle cage on DT
Look pedals

Please keep an eye out and PM with any info

thieves need sorting out as do the scum who buy their wares on brick lane market , kneecap em then they wont at least be able to cycle off on your bike !

Strangely I have no desire to kneecap anybody. I'm just really sad. Loved that bike and it's just gone.

Moulton GT - stolen last year (see page 66 in Stolen Bikes thread) NEW UPDATE

I recently discovered 2 online pictures of my bike. It is without a doubt my Moulton as it has a small but unique frame alteration executed by the factory after an accident. It is much altered, however: handlebars, saddle and pedals are different and the mudguards removed. The head-tube has also been painted fluorescent orange.

I found the guy in the picture who had the bike one Sunday at Brick Lane(!) and his website shows him to be a Moulton fan and generally interested in design and engineering. However, he claims he no longer has it - said he knew it was probably not legit and 'felt funny' with it. That said, this was on bloody Brick Lane...

It is a distinctive bike and believed to be in either NE or possibly S London - if anyone sees it PLEASE let me know. I'm still looking out for it!!

Well, I deliberately didn't include the original links or the guy's id. - he's got to be taken at his word in the end.

I just wonder why he did so much to the bike if he sold it on after a couple of months. According to him, he traded it at yes, Brick Lane, to someone he didn't know for £300.

If only bikes were as easy to track down as people!!..

The person involved emailed me asking for advice, I have no idea what advice he was hoping for... but I could only conclude that he was either incredibly naive or that he chose to take advantage of the situation by getting the bike regardless of checking the origin and provenance. I've pretty much said that to him, I won't relieve him of his guilty conscience as it's the only thing that might make him be more aware in future transactions and realise it could easily be his bike stolen and sold next time.

Looking forward to reading this when I have time. Wasn't sure where best to post it.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/Who-Pinched-My-Ride.html?page=1

I just read the entire thing and I wouldn't bother if I were you.

Looking forward to reading this when I have time. Wasn't sure where best to post it.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/Who-Pinched-My-Ride.html?page=1

As above. Massive yawn of a story. Although the snippet about Igor Kenk, who stole some 2865 bikes, is vaguely interesting.

Kenk, considered the most prolific bike thief in the world, is a messy, dyspeptic Slovenian intellectual who before he was caught lived in a fancy house and associated with the classical music scene. Yet his method was brutally mundane: Kenk was finally caught pointing out bikes he wanted stolen to a mentally ill person, whom he paid with drugs. He served just over a year in jail and is already back out.

I have no idea what dyspeptic means.