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@DFP
Was in Birmingham in the 90's
most people used to shy away from getting their kids bikes because it would make them a target for some jacking. These were just basic bikes, even when we were riding 16" wheeled BMX's those too would get stolen if not extremely cautious about where you rode and who with. A unfavourably memorable event in my family was when a Raleigh MTB we had won in a competition was taken off my brother (when in a group of friends) just next to our primary school which was on the same street we lived on.
Getting your bike robbed when poor is such a phenomonally gutting event. For the young kids it is usually something their family saved up for, and when I was 15- I had a BMX robbed which was paid for with saved busfares of about 60p per day, and then customised with overpriced parts from LBS. It felt so fucking awful.
Things like robberies of bike shops (or even halfords) was also common then.