Thousands of Shimano parts stolen from gassed lorry driver

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From Shimano to The Sopranos: Organised Crime Sets Sights on Bike Parts

Bikes being stolen from shops and garages is a sadly common enough affair, but this story from the Czech Republic suggests that organised crime has spotted the value that lies in components thanks to the current supply shortage.

A truck full of Shimano parts destined to complete ten thousand bikes was on its way to the Czech distributor Bike Fun International when it was robbed in seemingly planned and professional circumstances, with the lorry driver gassed and traces of evidence removed.

Shimano robbery, stolen bike parts

The heist took place on the night of January 21 at a motorway rest area in Germany during a
truck driver’s break. The incident was carried out by a well-organized group who, by all
indications, must have planned the whole thing well. In all likelihood, the truck had been followed
from the time it was loaded, the thieves waited for the driver to take a rest break, and then the
perpetrators put him to sleep with the gas let into the cab. Finally, they disguised the evidence in
the cargo area with a fire extinguisher to prevent the seizure of the trace.

Bike Fun International

The consignment was apparently loaded mostly with expensive e-bike and bike parts, with only nine boxes of low-end components left in the truck. Bike Fun International thinks this will delay production
of some models by almost a year, as there is no alternative on the market for many of the parts from this shipment.

“We really haven’t seen this situation before. Even Shimano has not faced with a targeted robbery of
a shipment on a similar scale. We hope that due to the shortage of parts, these cases will not be
repeated, because despite all the measures we have set up, no insurance cover can compensate us for the loss and especially the reputation for late delivery. We decided to communicate this matter to warn other producers, because it could happen to them also,” he added.

BFI supply chain director Petr Krkoska.

Bikes themselves are tricky enough to trace, let alone components – though perhaps some of the ebike parts may have some kind of serial numbers associated with them that might make them traceable? Ten thousand bicycle’s worth of parts is a lot of bits to shift. Will they pop up on eBay, down the local car boot sale, or will a desperate bike shop or two look the other way and ask no questions?

What is it they say… stay safe, don’t have nightmares?

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/how-to-stop-your-bike-being-stolen/
https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/how-to-buy-a-second-hand-mountain-bike/

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Home Forums Thousands of Shimano parts stolen from gassed lorry driver

  • This topic has 19 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by Rich.
Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)
  • Thousands of Shimano parts stolen from gassed lorry driver
  • honourablegeorge
    Full Member

    Lol – “put him to sleep with gas let into the cab”

    That bit is undoubtedly untrue, he either slept trough it, was pissed, was somewhere else, or was in on it.

    thols2
    Full Member

    That bit is undoubtedly untrue, he either slept trough it, was pissed, was somewhere else, or was in on it.

    My money would be him being in on it or intimidated into silence.

    Murray
    Full Member

    Used to happen all the time in the 90s with lorries bringing Dell PCs from Ireland

    chrismac
    Full Member

    Even longer waits for parts

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    Maybe the ebike parts will be stripped for spares since Shimano refuse to sell any?!

    darlobiker
    Full Member

    Police are looking for a man in a top hat wearing a monocle.

    pmurden
    Full Member

    @honourablegeaorge

    I wouldn’t be surprised it’s been happening to people towing caravans and motorhomes on the continent for ages.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    Even longer waits for parts

    Quite the reverse. Depending on what sort of pubs you drink in.

    ta11pau1
    Full Member

    Hmm, I’m currently watching a set of cheap brand new cranks on eBay… Box slightly damaged…

    😬

    MSP
    Full Member

    “put him to sleep with gas let into the cab”

    Those truck stop breakfasts with baked beans can do that.

    james-rennie
    Full Member

    Shimano parts destined to complete ten thousand bikes

    Ten thousand bikes !?! I have no idea how many bikes are sold monthly/annually in the Czech Republic or Europe as a whole, but that sounds like a BIG number.

    Do Shimano parts used by bike companies in the UK come via this Czech distribution centre?

    dangeourbrain
    Free Member

    Ten thousand bikes !?! I have no idea how many bikes are sold monthly

    It’s ebike parts though so assuming that a chunk of that was motors it’s only really 1000 sales and 9000 warranty replacements isn’t it?

    Davesport
    Full Member

    As Bruneep points out, this has been de-bunked already. “Gassing” was a common factor in thefts from motorhomes up until the statement from the RCA. There was never any evidence to back up the claims. It was a relatively common topic at the time on motorhome forums here in the UK until the RCA made their opinion known.

    “Thank you for your enquiry. I would like to inform you that you are not the first enquirer with this question. Professor Hatch, our Clinical Advisor, has given the following previous comments:

    “I can give you a categorical assurance that it would not be possible to render someone unconscious with ether without their knowledge, even if they were sleeping at the time. Ether is an extremely pungent agent and a relatively weak anaesthetic by modern standards and has a very irritant affect of the air passages, causing coughing and sometimes vomiting. It takes some time to reach unconsciousness, even if given by direct application to the face on a rag, and the concentration needed by some sort of spray into a room would be enormous. The smell hangs around for days and would be obvious to anyone the next day.

    There are much more powerful agents around now, some of which are almost odourless. However, these would be unlikely to be able to achieve the effect you describe, and the cost would be huge enough to deter any thief unless he was after the crown jewels. The only practicable agent is probably the one used by the Russians in the Moscow siege – I advised the BBC on their programme about this. The general feeling is that they used an agent which is not available outside the KGB!

    Finally, unsupervised anaesthesia, which is what we are really talking about is very dangerous. In the Moscow siege about 20% of victims died from asphyxia, because their airways were unprotected. If the reports you talk about are true I would have expected a significant number of deaths or cases of serious brain damage to have been reported.”

    I hope this information is helpful to you.

    The Royal College of Anaesthetists”

    Whatever happened to the lorry driver, I hope he’s ok.

    honourablegeorge
    Full Member

    pmurden
    Full Member
    @honourablegeaorge

    I wouldn’t be surprised it’s been happening to people towing caravans and motorhomes on the continent for ages.

    As above, it’s a myth, but one that people being robbed are happy to believe (I know someone who claims it happened to them)

    indeedfox
    Free Member

    .

    frogstomp
    Full Member

    Police are looking for a man in a top hat wearing a monocle.

    Was it Rees-Mogg taking advantage of a Brexit opportunity?

    ransos
    Free Member

    That bit is undoubtedly untrue, he either slept trough it, was pissed, was somewhere else, or was in on it.

    A family member was a lorry driver BITD, and was delivering a consignment of stacking hifi systems (this was back in the 80s). He found a way of evading the security checks, got a box back home, and opened it to find the spare cables for all of the other boxes…

    richb1910
    Free Member

    great shame.

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)

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