Stolen & recovered - how fixed gear meant I got my bike back

yes! welcome to the returned bikes club

Congrats on the save! This kind of thing is a huge fear of mine. Good job catching this joker.

Because I'm a nosey bastard, and because there's a possibility these could have been the same c*nts that stole my bike, I decided to head back down there. I got chatting to the guy who's bike they nicked - apparently there were four thieves, and the bike was locked up at the bike racks opposite the Electric Showroom on Old Street. The guy saw them from his office window, called the police and gave chase.

One of the tea leaves managed to get away with the bike... I meant to ask him what bike it was so I and others could look out for it but like a knob I forgot. Also meant to ask what lock he'd used, but again, I'm a knob so... that's not very useful is it! I'm sure most of you are already, but just be super careful when leaving your bike round the Old Street / Shoreditch High Street area - with mine and this guys bike, that's 7 bikes in the last couple of weeks that have been taken from from that area that I know of.

Nice work getting ur bike back mate!! :)

i have seen kids on mopeds being chased by the police a few times around there, not too upset he came off

Not in the slightest... you make your bed and all that

But what if he needed a quick £200 for medicine otherwise his whole family died that evening?

Darwin = win!

This does make me think i should undo my brake whenlocking up, of course i'll probably forgeti've done it on my return

Just loosen the stem bolt

If these scrotes are carrying tools, would that really be an issue for them?

The plod's response at Old Street mentioned by Huckster back up something Olive Schock hinted at recently, that bike theft has, perhaps, recently changed from being ''not interested'' in the stock police response lexicon.

I dunno... I guess if a crime's in process the police are pretty likely to respond, but once the crime's been committed and you're just reporting it, that's when you seem to hit a brick wall. I don't even know what I expect them to do.. it's not like they've got endless resources to track down the culprit like they do in the movies, but it just feels like more should be done to 'chase up leads' or somethin... wishful thinking I guess.

Still.. it warms my heart when people do manage to stop a thief in the act or recover their bikes.. must be an awesome feeling.

Should have up chucked the noodles all over him.

waste of good noodles.

Well done on getting it back.

Not trying to be a debbie downer here but it sounds like the bike was in a sort of communal area. if so, you've gotta keep you bike in your flat. Communal hallways, sheds, garages are much higher risk.

for once the forum is sad dj wasn't around !

HA

Just loosen the stem bolt

On a geared bike its good to leave it in the top gear. Also most brakes calipers have a "release" lever, if left open then brakes wont work.

heartwarming story

waste of good noodles.

Well done on getting it back.

Not trying to be a debbie downer here but it sounds like the bike was in a sort of communal area. if so, you've gotta keep you bike in your flat. Communal hallways, sheds, garages are much higher risk.

It wasn't a communal area, me and the missus live on our own and have kind of a porch/patio/bin area with a door to the road and then door to the flat. We got home about 8 and then heard the guy about 8.15 so not sure if he was watching or just go lucky.

Best part is I've found out who the delivery driver is from the neighbours too. Also turns out he was from a chinese delivery place that does great food and it was the one menu (thai/curry/pizza) that we didn't have so he'll be getting a decent tip next time he drops off my lemon chicken and egg fried rice!

heartwarming story

+1

The plod's response at Old Street mentioned by Huckster back up something Olive Schock hinted at recently, that bike theft has, perhaps, recently changed from being ''not interested'' in the stock police response lexicon.

Indeed it has. The LCC is running a big campaign against bike theft now:

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1818

Oliver
LCC

cool runnings there op!

man, i had me pride locked up just there last thursday for some workbeers in the el'shroom.

huckster, how big was the cropper they had with them, the 'full monty fooking big i cut it all' or the 'aldi size i hide under your hoody'?

PQR Great story good triumphs over evil.

I think I will change the gearing down on all my bikes so its impossible to ride them faster than I can run. Just in case.

reeen... I didn't personally see the croppers, but another guy at the scene (rubber necking like me) said he saw they were fully tooled up and mentioned croppers.. no idea how meaty they were though.

On a geared bike its good to leave it in the top gear. Also most brakes calipers have a "release" lever, if left open then brakes wont work.

I see what you mean, but bit too much hastle, you gotta lift the bike and spin the pedals and even then the theft'll still get away, albeit slower to start with.

I still think loosening the stem bolt about midway, so's it will give way after they get going, is a perfect compromise. only takes 5 seconds to do/undo, and they definately wont get very far. Even if you undo it all the way they will have to resort to running with it.

The idea of a theft falling into that trap makes me salivate

PQR - good super win over bike badness !

Internet high five.

Internet high five.

Egh, you know what that means?