Bait Bikes
- Thread starter BikesMan
- Start date
It is a shame that there is a need for a program like that. There was a video on here months ago where a couple of guys parked an unlocked bike in a bad section of town. Before they left it though, they loosened up the front wheel. It wasn't long before a kid came along, jumped on it like he owned it and took off......until he tried to ride off the curb onto the street.
Agreed it is a shame but bike theft seems to be such a crazy problem now. Unfortunately it doesnt even have to be in a bad section of town.
My brothers have some friends of theirs who have had tons of bike issues just in the burbs even. I try to keep my bike locked up pretty much constantly.
My brothers have some friends of theirs who have had tons of bike issues just in the burbs even. I try to keep my bike locked up pretty much constantly.
It will get worse, yeah, as times get tougher.
It's usually young males, acting on impulse
(my bike was stolen by an opportunist, a teenager, two months ago,
miraculously, it was recovered by my LBS, who knew the bike, and alerted me)
Bike theft has always, always been the same problem.
Your read any of the antique bike journals of the late 1800's,
and you see "bicycle stolen", over and again.
Bike locks were made from the earliest days.
My loss was my fault, I left the bike unlocked for one minute.
----------------
OK, I just applied a comment to that video's comment section,
I will now go to their website.
Here's the video in player-window form,
How does it work? Was that a "demo", or an actual bait-and-hook operation?
Nice job, good logo page, too. Thanks.
My bike was stolen, I had it marked and customized,
and known to all in my area, the LBS recovered it two weeks later.
Lucky me. See video response?
ampdavolts 1 minute ago
http://www.youtube.com/user/OperationHandsOff
http://www.operationhandsoff.com/en/index.php?setlanguage=en
It's usually young males, acting on impulse
(my bike was stolen by an opportunist, a teenager, two months ago,
miraculously, it was recovered by my LBS, who knew the bike, and alerted me)
Bike theft has always, always been the same problem.
Your read any of the antique bike journals of the late 1800's,
and you see "bicycle stolen", over and again.
Bike locks were made from the earliest days.
My loss was my fault, I left the bike unlocked for one minute.
----------------
OK, I just applied a comment to that video's comment section,
I will now go to their website.
Here's the video in player-window form,
How does it work? Was that a "demo", or an actual bait-and-hook operation?
Nice job, good logo page, too. Thanks.
My bike was stolen, I had it marked and customized,
and known to all in my area, the LBS recovered it two weeks later.
Lucky me. See video response?
ampdavolts 1 minute ago
http://www.youtube.com/user/OperationHandsOff
http://www.operationhandsoff.com/en/index.php?setlanguage=en
I have my bike registered in the OHO site. The main benefit is police have access to the database 24/7 and I also used MicroDotDNA to mark my expensive part.
Norco is also including a registration on all their new bikes in this program starting with new bikes next month.
Most of the high end bikes are stolen for resale and any bike registered in the database can also be checked before buying a used bike. This is a big deal for anyone trying to sell a stolen bike.
The chances of getting caught on Ebay or Craigslist is a real possiblity and will make the guy move on to other stuff. If nothing else it will make it harder to sell.
Check my serial number on the OHO site www.operationhandsoff.com the serial number is A80202238. Get the message out! If we all check first before buying a used bike we should be able to scare off the thief in the first place.
I assume the video is real. These guys do bait cars and other stuff as well. check out www.baitcar.com the sound track is the same and they have another video on the site with the solicitor general and bait cars for the olympics on both sites. The other site is www.microdotdna.com which shows the marking I used on my bike. Cool stuff and invisble for the most part. It marks all of the components with a traceable id.
Me thinks theives beware!!
Norco is also including a registration on all their new bikes in this program starting with new bikes next month.
Most of the high end bikes are stolen for resale and any bike registered in the database can also be checked before buying a used bike. This is a big deal for anyone trying to sell a stolen bike.
The chances of getting caught on Ebay or Craigslist is a real possiblity and will make the guy move on to other stuff. If nothing else it will make it harder to sell.
Check my serial number on the OHO site www.operationhandsoff.com the serial number is A80202238. Get the message out! If we all check first before buying a used bike we should be able to scare off the thief in the first place.
I assume the video is real. These guys do bait cars and other stuff as well. check out www.baitcar.com the sound track is the same and they have another video on the site with the solicitor general and bait cars for the olympics on both sites. The other site is www.microdotdna.com which shows the marking I used on my bike. Cool stuff and invisble for the most part. It marks all of the components with a traceable id.
Me thinks theives beware!!
That's all very good, but why does it seem to be difficult to SEE
what the "microdot" tech is about, and WHERE would a fellow apply it to his bike
for best effect, and HOW do the cops then know to CHECK that part of the bike,
or the bike, at all, for the hidden ID?
I made my bike look like a freak, in part to make it easy to ID from any reasonable distance.
There is not another bike like mine in the world, not pimped this way.
Similarly, Amsterdam is a place where bikes get hiked.
One helpful tactic common there is to paint or muck-up the bike,
so it looks like no other bike.
Cops here in Miami pay no attention to bikes, unless it's to give you a ticket for rolling
through the same stop lights that they, our cops, ignore every day.
I got my bike back because the opportunistic thief unloaded it for a hundred bucks
to a guy and his wife, who must have suspected...but paid anyway. The bike got a flat rear tire,
so the couple took it to the nearest LBS, which JUST HAPPENED TO BE Highgear Cycling,
my good pals. THEY, the LBS, made the recovery, not cops.
The couple surrendered the bike upon proof that it was stolen goods.
A month later I met them by chance at the local hamburger place,
and they were happy that the bike got back to its owner,
and they do not want a reward, though I offered...
To complete the story, because bike theft is so destructive to our emotions,
my bike was take on 31 May from in front of The Home Depot, left unlocked for one minute.
I walked the two miles home. Was so depressed, ruined, that I did not even put out the word of the theft
other than for this YT video, made in advance, and later "annotated" to inform of the stolen bike. (annotations now removed).
Two weeks later, cops came to tell me that "your bike is at the local bike shop." I freaked out, thinking something worse....
Highgear knew me and the Trek Lime. But Highgear did not know it had been stolen, I was too ashamed to tell them, to put that on them.
The couple brought in a Trek Lime Lite with a flat tire, to Highgear, of all the many bike shops in town.
Gustavo, the service manager, replaced the tube, and whispered his suspicion to Ricky Leiva, the co-owner of Highgear.
Ricky and Gustavo consulted, "Reid would never sell his bike, maybe it was stolen?"
"Call him."
"His phone is out."
"Call the cops?"
((cops were called, and came to my house to tell me))
The couple, antsy, wanted to leave with the bike,
until I arrived and proved, along with Gustavo,
"This is Reid's bike...see the name here in the hidden location?"
The married couple hung their heads, apologized, and left,
I took my steed home, and will not leave it unlocked again.
Two more weeks later, a THD employee told me,
"Yeah, my boss was coming back from break, and
he saw a Latino kid riding your bike, away from the store."
The kid quickly unloaded the bike.
No one, hardly ever, gets a stolen bike returned in Miami.
I do not readily see how "microdot" marking would -cause- the recovery of a bike,
I can see how it would -prove- ownership of that part of the bike so-marked.
the video above was made...about 16 April. The bike was stolen
from that very spot, "no parking", at THD, on 31 May...
...as if it were a Prediction of Things To Come
http://www.cyclingforums.com/forum/thread/485791/people-verses/285#post_4008119
((am a cop beating survivor, and civil activist now))
what the "microdot" tech is about, and WHERE would a fellow apply it to his bike
for best effect, and HOW do the cops then know to CHECK that part of the bike,
or the bike, at all, for the hidden ID?
I made my bike look like a freak, in part to make it easy to ID from any reasonable distance.
There is not another bike like mine in the world, not pimped this way.
Similarly, Amsterdam is a place where bikes get hiked.
One helpful tactic common there is to paint or muck-up the bike,
so it looks like no other bike.
Cops here in Miami pay no attention to bikes, unless it's to give you a ticket for rolling
through the same stop lights that they, our cops, ignore every day.
I got my bike back because the opportunistic thief unloaded it for a hundred bucks
to a guy and his wife, who must have suspected...but paid anyway. The bike got a flat rear tire,
so the couple took it to the nearest LBS, which JUST HAPPENED TO BE Highgear Cycling,
my good pals. THEY, the LBS, made the recovery, not cops.
The couple surrendered the bike upon proof that it was stolen goods.
A month later I met them by chance at the local hamburger place,
and they were happy that the bike got back to its owner,
and they do not want a reward, though I offered...
To complete the story, because bike theft is so destructive to our emotions,
my bike was take on 31 May from in front of The Home Depot, left unlocked for one minute.
I walked the two miles home. Was so depressed, ruined, that I did not even put out the word of the theft
other than for this YT video, made in advance, and later "annotated" to inform of the stolen bike. (annotations now removed).
Two weeks later, cops came to tell me that "your bike is at the local bike shop." I freaked out, thinking something worse....
Highgear knew me and the Trek Lime. But Highgear did not know it had been stolen, I was too ashamed to tell them, to put that on them.
The couple brought in a Trek Lime Lite with a flat tire, to Highgear, of all the many bike shops in town.
Gustavo, the service manager, replaced the tube, and whispered his suspicion to Ricky Leiva, the co-owner of Highgear.
Ricky and Gustavo consulted, "Reid would never sell his bike, maybe it was stolen?"
"Call him."
"His phone is out."
"Call the cops?"
((cops were called, and came to my house to tell me))
The couple, antsy, wanted to leave with the bike,
until I arrived and proved, along with Gustavo,
"This is Reid's bike...see the name here in the hidden location?"
The married couple hung their heads, apologized, and left,
I took my steed home, and will not leave it unlocked again.
Two more weeks later, a THD employee told me,
"Yeah, my boss was coming back from break, and
he saw a Latino kid riding your bike, away from the store."
The kid quickly unloaded the bike.
No one, hardly ever, gets a stolen bike returned in Miami.
I do not readily see how "microdot" marking would -cause- the recovery of a bike,
I can see how it would -prove- ownership of that part of the bike so-marked.
the video above was made...about 16 April. The bike was stolen
from that very spot, "no parking", at THD, on 31 May...
...as if it were a Prediction of Things To Come
http://www.cyclingforums.com/forum/thread/485791/people-verses/285#post_4008119
((am a cop beating survivor, and civil activist now))
There are basicly two types of theives out there. The ones that are going for a joy ride and drop the bike somewhere when done and the other that is reselling the bike or using it for parts.
The first type leaves the bike and someone finds it and there is no way to figure out who owns it. Most people will try to return a found bike if able. Police will also do the same if it is simple. (Speaking from a retired point of view)
Bikes stolen for resale or parts are ussually guys that are taking other property as well and know that the police have to be able to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that they stole the item or know it was stolen which is hard to do sometimes. The added marking provides that proof and you would be surprized at how many points you can mark on a bike.
For the second type, they don't want to mess with property that might be traceable or could get them caught.
We all know that the police hardly ever dig into property theft because they are seriously short staffed. The OHO program was set up knowing this and allows anyone to check online before buying anything to see if it is registered or reported stolen. I think it is a great concept and in my city there is a lot of media around the program. I know that they do construction sites and it was recently announced that theft was down significantly at all of the sites where they run the program.
On my part it is something simple I can do to try and protect my $4000 bike.
Did you know that EBay, Craigslist and PayPal are all owned by the same group and did almost 8 Billion in annonomus sales last year! How many bikes do you think were sold online? Traceability and us as cyclists are the only road block to these guys. Check the serial number before you buy.....
The first type leaves the bike and someone finds it and there is no way to figure out who owns it. Most people will try to return a found bike if able. Police will also do the same if it is simple. (Speaking from a retired point of view)
Bikes stolen for resale or parts are ussually guys that are taking other property as well and know that the police have to be able to prove "beyond reasonable doubt" that they stole the item or know it was stolen which is hard to do sometimes. The added marking provides that proof and you would be surprized at how many points you can mark on a bike.
For the second type, they don't want to mess with property that might be traceable or could get them caught.
We all know that the police hardly ever dig into property theft because they are seriously short staffed. The OHO program was set up knowing this and allows anyone to check online before buying anything to see if it is registered or reported stolen. I think it is a great concept and in my city there is a lot of media around the program. I know that they do construction sites and it was recently announced that theft was down significantly at all of the sites where they run the program.
On my part it is something simple I can do to try and protect my $4000 bike.
Did you know that EBay, Craigslist and PayPal are all owned by the same group and did almost 8 Billion in annonomus sales last year! How many bikes do you think were sold online? Traceability and us as cyclists are the only road block to these guys. Check the serial number before you buy.....
Having flown RC aircraft for years, they are required by law to have your ID on or in them.
I have five business cards hidden on my bikes. One under the seat post, one in each end
of the handle bars, one in the front hub. one in the steer post. I have pictures and all
the numbers, frame and tires.
In a town of about fifty thousand, we had just over two hundred bikes stolen last year.
None from racks at stores, two from the back of pickups, a few at the schools. Most
were kids bikes that they left some where and when they went back to get them, some
times several days later they were gone. Of the two hundred, only two people had
the numbers of their bikes. Only about twenty of the bikes were found. About fifty
abandoned bikes were found and never claimed. A lot of them are spray painted
all over, tires and all to make ID almost impossible.
The unclaimed bikes are given to the fire department and they fix them up for
kids at Christmas.
I never lock my bike. I park in the rack at Wally, by the cart area, there is always
an employee there. At Lowes I park inside by the service desk. I do not ride the
bike in the store, I walk it in, they said it was fine to park inside but nicely asked
me not to ride it into the store. I park in the entrance way at the bank. No back
packs allowed inside BTW. At several restaurants we just park by the building
where I can see the bikes.
The library has racks with video cameras, I have never seen a bike locked
there. I have to park behind the rack as I always have the trailer and it get
on the sidewalk if I put it in the rack.
I have five business cards hidden on my bikes. One under the seat post, one in each end
of the handle bars, one in the front hub. one in the steer post. I have pictures and all
the numbers, frame and tires.
In a town of about fifty thousand, we had just over two hundred bikes stolen last year.
None from racks at stores, two from the back of pickups, a few at the schools. Most
were kids bikes that they left some where and when they went back to get them, some
times several days later they were gone. Of the two hundred, only two people had
the numbers of their bikes. Only about twenty of the bikes were found. About fifty
abandoned bikes were found and never claimed. A lot of them are spray painted
all over, tires and all to make ID almost impossible.
The unclaimed bikes are given to the fire department and they fix them up for
kids at Christmas.
I never lock my bike. I park in the rack at Wally, by the cart area, there is always
an employee there. At Lowes I park inside by the service desk. I do not ride the
bike in the store, I walk it in, they said it was fine to park inside but nicely asked
me not to ride it into the store. I park in the entrance way at the bank. No back
packs allowed inside BTW. At several restaurants we just park by the building
where I can see the bikes.
The library has racks with video cameras, I have never seen a bike locked
there. I have to park behind the rack as I always have the trailer and it get
on the sidewalk if I put it in the rack.
Houston had a program that you could register your bike ay any fire station and get a big ugly sticker to put on it so anyone would know it's registered. Made an insurance claim easier too if it was stolen. I say use to, the city no longer has the program so now I have my bike registered on a site called StuffBak.com. I have a registration sticker from StuffBak on the bike (yes, I know it can be scratched off) and I also carry a copy of the sales receipt in my wallet.
Even though this is from last August, I hadn't see it before until today . Inside Edition put a tracking device on a $1400 Specialized . It took only 16 minutes for a thief to take it .
I'd like to know what the disposition of the case was against the lowlife.
http://test.insideedition.com/videos/599/inside-edition-investigates-bike-theft.aspx
I'd like to know what the disposition of the case was against the lowlife.
http://test.insideedition.com/videos/599/inside-edition-investigates-bike-theft.aspx
BHOFM, thank you too for the report. I have been to Arkansas, Hot Springs for a week of work,
and found it full of really nice people, including young people. Arkansas still has a lot of old-time USA decency.
It's nice, you have a Wal-Mart like that. My local THD lets me bring my bike inside, and put it to an un-busy area,
and this way it is not likely to be stolen. So, even in a big town like Miami, some stores and people are nice, like in Arkansas.
When it rains, it pours. My honorary Brother, James, told me today that his bike is stolen...I gave him my disused, former e-bike,
and this is it, and he left it unlocked and took a nap, and it is gone, and it's not marked, but it is unique. Oh well,
fifty thousand views, "Reid, everybody in the Black Grove seemed to want that bike...it is my fault I fell asleep my mistake and did not lock first."
STOLEN from James Fuller...yellow painted front fork...not electric anymore...
has characteristics, unique. ..rear basket as shown, hole top tube for wiring...
oh well...no microdot
and found it full of really nice people, including young people. Arkansas still has a lot of old-time USA decency.
It's nice, you have a Wal-Mart like that. My local THD lets me bring my bike inside, and put it to an un-busy area,
and this way it is not likely to be stolen. So, even in a big town like Miami, some stores and people are nice, like in Arkansas.
When it rains, it pours. My honorary Brother, James, told me today that his bike is stolen...I gave him my disused, former e-bike,
and this is it, and he left it unlocked and took a nap, and it is gone, and it's not marked, but it is unique. Oh well,
fifty thousand views, "Reid, everybody in the Black Grove seemed to want that bike...it is my fault I fell asleep my mistake and did not lock first."
STOLEN from James Fuller...yellow painted front fork...not electric anymore...
has characteristics, unique. ..rear basket as shown, hole top tube for wiring...
oh well...no microdot
