Hopefully this will serve as a warning to those, who have read threads about stolen bikes, and blase thought ‘that’ll never happen, i’m too careful’.

I live in London at uni, fairly rough ish area, not particularly pleasant, and I went back home to Bournemouth (on the whole nice) on sunday evening. As my parents live in a cul de sac, I left the bike on the back seats, padlocked through the door handles. In the morning I went out to find

Thieves (assuming more than one) has tried the coathanger down the door method, tried kicking the door in, then levering the door out, and then I reckon accidentally smashed the glass and then scarpered. Made a mess of the car, and got nothing out of it.

Managed to just about make good the damage done
but still a massive ballache, and although hasn’t cost me anything yet, it will cost me in value of the car/getting the glass and door replaced.

I grew up in this road, always been fairly safe, but this just goes to show that it could happen anywhere. Fortunately for me a cheap lesson, and I still have my bike, which is my pride and joy. I will not leave anything on show in future, and be extra vigilant, otherwise next time I will not be so lucky. Hope this helps somebody avoid a lot of hassle and losing out more than I did.

Glad the wee toerags did not succeed. Shame about the damage.

If you have to leave it in the car again it’s better to chain it to something more substantial than doorhandles (though i guess that stopped the doors being opened). My car has nice steel loops that anchor the back seats. Great for padlocking stuff to.

Love the riveted repair!

Do the rest and make it into a van.

Padlocking to the door handles is actually quite a good idea as it does stop the doors being opened. Might be worth actually bolting some steel brackets to the door handle fixings to use permanently with a chain or something when carrying the bike. Wrap the chain around the bike frame and through the wheels and to the other side.

Might be worth actually bolting some steel brackets to the door handle fixings to use permanently with a chain or something when carrying the bike

Might be worth the UK judicial system offering a substantial enough deterrent to the T055ers who go around doing this kind of thing. When I read the thread re Sheffield the other day, when some scrotes tried to nick someone’s bike outside a bike shop when attached to the roof of the car in broad day light, just shows, what is there to stop anyone from just taking at will anything they want? A bit of a mini rant I know, but something needs to be done, or we will end up like the “Mad Max” movies. 🙁

I had my Orange P7 pro nicked form the back of the car, managed to get it back same day but I’ll never leave the bike in the car again.

As my parents live in a cul de sac

Cul-de-sacs are worse than busy roads, because they are usually deserted.. scrotes have all the time they need.

Never leave ANYTHING in a car ever ever ever. Not even for a short while. It only takes a few break-ins to get you into the habit….!

that patch looks very, errrm, permanent. I hope you ran some sealant round underneath it to stop the rivet holes getting wet and rusting through.

Never leave ANYTHING in a car ever ever ever. Not even for a short while. It only takes a few break-ins to get you into the habit….!

So are you saying the OP was in some way responsible? My god man, who can’t say that, next you’ll be saying that inebriated weak girls wearing very little shouldn’t walk alone through dark streets at 4am. That’s just SO wrong! 😉

I don’t feel ‘responsible’, but i do feel I could have done more to reduce the risk of this happening. It was a bit of a chance occurance, couple of lads were seen walking around houses/cars down our street earlier in the evening.

Rivets are stainless, and there is some sealant, ok a LOT of sealant 😆

I quite like the look of it, tempted to do the other side. Makes my dad giggle looking at it, as it is a bit ridiculous. Made no difference to visibility, road noise on the motorway was reduced, and the stiffness of that area will be increased from the glass window. Tempted to do the other side to match, but does it count as a modification on the insurance?

I do like it, but peppering the car with rivet holes sounds a bit extreme. And expensive…

Wouldnt it have been easier to just call Autoglass… 😉

the stiffness of that area will be increased from the glass window

You read too many MTB mags 😉

Well done on locking the bike in the car – I never do, but may start..

I always lock the bike in the car when i leave it, but to the clips that hold the backs of the rear seats up through the frame, wheels and fork.

Never thought of putting it through the door handles, but still they’re easier to cut than the metal brackets.

i always worry ill catch some one trying to steal my bike and end up doing 15 years 🙂

Little Buggers! If anyone broke into my car I’d hope my armory of paintball guns would put them off!

the stiffness of that area will be increased from the glass window.

I doubt it…how think is the metal?

16/14 SWG I think. Pretty certain it will be increase from the glass, because it can no longer move by lozenging. This is how a variety of structures in vehicles (automotive space frames, aviation etc) get some of their torsional rigidity.

Like when you assemble a chest of drawers/wardrobe from ikea, you make the general box shape, and its all wibbly, then add the mdf sheet backing and nail it all the way round, and hey presto its rigid.

Not that it really will make a difference to how the car feels. Too small an area and not close enough to the load inputs such as suspension mounts.

good to see all the rivet positions nicely lined up with the spot welds underneath them 😉

So many scumbags about, glad the losers didn’t even manage to get what they were after 😆