Matlockmeat – fortunately the thieves didn’t get any bikes, mainly because my garage is linked to the house alarm, and when that went off, they legged it, grabbing a big sport bag and power tools (and BBQ and cat-box !) on the way out. It worries me that they saw my bikes, but the police think the alarm will put them off returning. I’ve since spent a small fortune on CCTV (I can view 8 cameras from my mobile phone – woohoo).
Had the thieves stayed longer, they would have needed a quite a few minutes with an axle-grinder to get through the Abus motorbike chains locking the bikes to floor anchors. I’d probably have confronted them with my ice-axe by that stage….
They did try to crowbar the garage defender on the outside of the main door, and managed to bend it, but gave up eventually.
So, I can be fairly glad the investment I made in locks and alarm sensors has probably paid off. Some people say it’s not worth trying to defend yourself as thieves will get through anything, but I’m not so sure now. Call me stupid, but I don’t pay extra insurance cover for bikes worth >£1k- I save the money and spend it on physical security.
My insurers should be thanking me that nothing of any value got stolen (which I’d then be claiming), but like the police, they couldn’t give a toss…
binners – yes, good point about Strava (I do have mine set that way already). It might have been the 591s on my roof-rack that gave it away, but then I’m certainly not the only one on my street with them.
