How many bikes have been stolen?

I park up in the city centre and have experienced no such misfortune. I'm assuming that's what comes of having an expensive bike. I would imagine some suitable crook lock would suffice normally

I used to work in a dental laboratory in a flat above a shop in Heald Green, Nice quiet area so i thought. Well i used to leave my bike at the top of the stairs with the front door safely locked at the side of the shop. We were all "happily" 😠 working away in the front room of the shop when i felt the call of nature, off i go to the bog a mere 2 metres from where we are working and passing my bike kit on the floor realised that some scrote had come in through the front door, up the stairs and robbed my wheels. Still to this day dont know how the [censored] got in the building never mind having the cheek to come up the stairs and basically take the thing as we worked less than 10 feet away. I still fatasize about what would have happened if i had caught the thief, i would probably be still in prison for manslaughter.
Goes to show your wheels are never safe 🙁

Sounds like England is becoming a hotbed for bike theft.

Toronto used to be called the bike theft capital of North America, although I am not sure about the stats. I used to lock my bike to an iron grate that was plainly visible from my office window. One day as I stood looking out the window, I observed someone trying to steal my bike. By the time I ran outside, the thief was gone, but my bike with hacked up lock was still there. I had a bike stolen from the same location 2 years earlier.

Since then I have bought a better, more stealable bike. Here is what I do: The bike has two wheels, so I have two locks. Both are expensive and heavy. One is a U-bolt, the other a plastic covered chain. One uses a barrel lock, the other a regular key.

A full lock up includes locking my bike to an unmovable object. The city of Toronto provides posts and rings. There are more than 30,000 of them everywhere in the city. I fasten the bike frame, my backwheel and my seat and post (there is a hole in the seat) to part of the ring. I fasten my frame, my front wheel and my helmet to another part. I try to find a busy location close to glass windows and retail stores.

Since then, I've observed a number of nicks, cuts and saw marks on the locks but the only things I have had stolen have been accessories like the sun visor on the helmet and an LED light.

It works for me!

I've had every single bike that's ever been parked outside stolen, no kidding! I've had wheels nicked, even had a mtb stolen while I was 150 yards away getting tickers for a show. All in all I think it amounts to 7-8 bikes stolen over the last 10 years 😕 I always use at least two locks and most of the time another for the front wheel, any help...guess not!

So now my commuting bike is a cheap-a¤% 3-speed Bugatti, go ahead grab it...see if I care 😄

I've had every single bike that's ever been parked outside stolen, no kidding! I've had wheels nicked, even had a mtb stolen while I was 150 yards away getting tickets for a show. All in all I think it amounts to 7-8 bikes stolen over the last 10 years 😕 I always use at least two locks and most of the time another for the front wheel, any help...guess not!

So now my commuting bike is a cheap-a¤% 3-speed Bugatti, go ahead grab it...see if I care 😄

toa said:

I've had every single bike that's ever been parked outside stolen, no kidding! I've had wheels nicked, even had a mtb stolen while I was 150 yards away getting tickets for a show. All in all I think it amounts to 7-8 bikes stolen over the last 10 years 😕 I always use at least two locks and most of the time another for the front wheel, any help...guess not!

So now my commuting bike is a cheap-a¤% 3-speed Bugatti, go ahead grab it...see if I care 😄

I thought the topic was "How many bikes have you stolen?" when I first saw it.

I've had three nicked, one from the corridor of the flats where I briefly lived where it was chained to the banister and the other two on separate occasions from the (same) house when I was burgled. Needless to say I've moved since then! Particularly gutting since two of them were pretty nice bikes and the other was borrowed 😠

I now have the worlds most ancient & crappiest bike which I leave chained up outside at work and so far I've not had any trouble (famous last words!), but I'd probably have to pay someone to take this one away! I'm contemplating a new bike as I'm hoping to get into cycling a little more seriously than the commuting I do at the mo. and am considering keeping the [censored] for work just to be on the safe side...

Only had one nicked. I had ridden to the park and was playing football when I was about 12 and someone threatened me with a knife so I just gave them the bike. Not worth that [censored]. The bike wasn't worth much. Had paid £150 or so second hand so no biggie in the long run but quite a devsatating loss at the time. Was the first bike with riser bars I had ever seen. I hated them because I thought they were unfashionable. Oh how times change.

Living in Manchester these days and never had any problems. Lock any bike up solidly and carefully and I guess I have just been lucky.

One of my bikes was stolen once. It was only a cheap piece of second-hand [censored] that I used for getting to university on. Funny thing was that they left my brand new Giro helmet which actually cost me more than the bike, suckers!

Annoyingly, I've had three bikes stolen, all from my parents garage when I still lived there. [censored] door lock I suppose.

ever had one 'robbed' though - physical taken from you in a threatening encounter. a friend of mine has, in a rough student area of hull.

robkit said:

ever had one 'robbed' though - physical taken from you in a threatening encounter. a friend of mine has, in a rough student area of hull.

Ouch, very scary - hope s/he was OK...

I had 3 bikes stolen in London all within 1 month..On the final one I had a chat with a police office who also cycled. He gave me some great advice. Which since then I have not had a bike stolen and that was at least 2 and 1/2 years ago.
I had been using only 1 lock. This is too easy for a thief.
I now use 3 and sometimes 4 locks (4 locks if locking up my top end road bike)
Important bit is that all 3 locks are different. Since I lock up my bike in London everyday and in the same spot I leave 3 locks at the bike stand so I do not have to transport them.
I have 1 U Style - Steel U lock,
also a Cable sytle... As well as an AIRBUS chain lock.. and the new Handcuff lock.. so 4 different lock styles..
It does not take long to stick 3 locks on a bike.. And I can say it works..
😉
Hope this helps...

jacw001 said:

I had my third bike stolen on Sunday evening in Manchester city centre!
The first one was stolen by the Coach station cycle stand, the second one was by the cycle stand at St Peter Sq, and the latest incident was next to the Council hall...
I just wondering how many of you have such a poor experience as mine

😠 😠 😠

I have been unfortunate to have my first bike stolen. I have just returned to cycling after many years break, so I saved my pennies and bought a brand new Orange crush. V. nice bike, only had it 4 months. Took the family away up to Northumberland for a break with all our bikes mounted on the roof of the car. After a good day out, we stopped off to let the kids have a run on the beach near Seahouses. Sadly you cannot sea where the car is parked from the beach because of the sand dunes and it only took 15 minutes. I had a niggling feeling so I just thought I'd go up and check and there was a gap in between the bikes where my one should be. I was virtually sick on the spot. THE THIEVING B******S. An eye witness saw someone loading it into the back of a green car but didn't think it suspicious at the time so didn't note any details. As per standard procedure I reported it to the Police but am not holding out much hope. The sting to it also is being told that it's not covered on my current insurance policy:eek: :eek: !.
Just anyone sees someone riding it anywhere round Northumberland, call the cops.
matt black ORANGE CRUSH 19", MANITOU STANCE, HAYES 9 brakes. at time of theft CRUD mudguards.
FRAME SERIAL No. : IAS5K00202

Thanks, Stu

A great topic for someone thinking of getting a new one. Haven't had any theft probs for about 8 years, and bikes which went previously were mountain bikes.

3 locks sounds like too much hassle for me, considering that certain journeys are marginal between walking (better with shopping / 15 mins to the nearest shopping steet) or driving, having to go through that much security would swing it against the two wheeled options.

Have never had problems with hybrids, but current one is a bit on heavy side, so planning on spending a bit more this time. Perhaps that makes it more appealing, Coventry isn't much of a cycling city, so not sure if that makes it even more or less of a target?

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

The feds have come up trumps!!

Got a call last Friday from Northumbria Police to say that my bike had been found in a house raid. And it still looks brand new according to the PC who found it.

Can't wait to see it again.

Regards,

Happy Stu
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

stujessey said:

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

The feds have come up trumps!!

Got a call last Friday from Northumbria Police to say that my bike had been found in a house raid. And it still looks brand new according to the PC who found it.

Can't wait to see it again.

Regards,

Happy Stu
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Now that's jammy!

I had my previous bike pinched from a place of work about 6 years ago. It wasn't a big-name branded one, but it grabbed attention because of it's 6-spoke coloured wheels contrasting with a chunky yellow frame (British Eagle or something like that - bloody heavy). Anyway, I used it to ride to work and left it as usual D-Locked to something like a rain gutter pipe and when I finished my day I came out and it had vanished! I was gutted.

Also had a close call with its replacement when I left it in our garage. I popped out to get it ready for a ride and it too had disappeared but we had a 'dodgy' neighbour who claimed to have 'found' it in his back garden (yeah, right!) and I got it back before he could flog it. I don't get out as much as I used to and now it occupies a space in the spare room - indoors!!! Haven't had any security issues since then 🙂

I've had one bike stolen. I lived in a flat in SOMA in San Francisco, and we had two deadbolted exterior doors, and then our landing, where we parked our bikes on wall hooks. One night I came home and noticed my 1995 Trek was gone...apparently someone had forgotten to lock up and this old homeless lady had gotten in and stolen a bunch of stuff from the neighboring loft space. At the time I was just glad they didn't take my other bike, a late 70's lime green Motobecane. Later when I started getting interested in touring I realized what I'd had and lost. Plus I felt bad because the Trek was my first 'grown up' bike that my parents had bought me when I was around 12.

My younger sister had a worse but looking back, pretty funny bike loss experience. She's in a punk band and I went on tour with them in the summer of 2003. She locked her Trek to a chainlink fence and when she came back someone had cut the fence and stolen the bike. She was pretty devestated, as it had also been a gift from our folks. Not to mention she was now w/o a bike, on tour with a bunch of dumpster-diving punks.
Forward to Madison, WI about a week later. Sis and I both find bikes at a St. Vincent's charity sale. She got a Trek almost identical to the one that was stolen, and I got my cherished lime green Motobecane. The Trek goes on the rack with the drummer's bike, and mine goes in the van. The rack was not designed to go on a van. About a week later, we're driving on the freeway leaving NYC, headed for Richmond. Sis is driving, and drummer is in the passenger seat. Drummer looks in the rearview mirror and suddenly says, 'the bikes just fell off.' No one said a single word for about an hour after that. It's a funny story now, but it took about six months for my sister to see the humor in it.

We recently had 4 stolen in a day. They broke into the garden and took 3 mtbs plus a bmx. We proceded to set up a poster campaign in all of the local shops and leisure centres. We got them back after the leisure centre manager recognised one from the poster and confiscated it. He then led the police to the rest of them. Result 🙂