[Closed] Bike thefts at events

Details of the BBF theft?

15 bikes were stolen over night, few posts about it on twitter

Shit the bed, I don't do twitter any links houns?

No linkys if don't do twitter, few people reporting it

BBF theft detail please?

Just got back from Bristol , people this morning were saying a white van came last night and left at 5am this morning. sketchy details as heard a few different things. Looks like they knew what they were after as mainly real high end carbon bikes taken.

one side of our tent door was open this morning ... we had 3x spark rcs and 1x sc superlight, they were locked so i assume they didnt fancy it without waking us ! Makes me livid ...... if i had caught someone in my tent trying to get my bike ,i would have beaten the living crap out of them .

nick s

Is the parking just open then? Strange that event organisers don't check who is coming and going during the event.

Surely having some sort of ID ticket that is matched to the bikes going in and out would help. It would slow things down a bit but would increase security

MM and SITS you can just turn up, walk around and leave..I'd hate to see events more 'controlled' but it's scum like this that ruin chilled events

This is one of the things that make me uneasy about buying on eBay.

If there is an organized gang going around events, then one would expect future event organizers to take some duty of care and setup a registration system for bikes.
It would be a bit of a fanny on, but then at least you would know that if your bike was going to be nicked, they would have to mug you for the ticket to get it out as well. Although putting stuff in a van might not overcome this, not sure if they would be allowed to search a vehicle when it left, surely though, honest people would happily show their bikes off.

I'm honestly amazed that it's taken so long for bike thieves to catch on.

There can't be many events in the UK where people leave £1000s worth of goods just lying around in tents, propped up outside toilets etc.

A trap needs to be set at OSMM and other events.

Bring your bombers!

i heard that the gates at bbf were locked , but bolt cropped

If there is an organized gang going around events, then one would expect future event organizers to take some duty of care and setup a registration system for bikes.

or he could stick up a sign saying do not leave your bikes unattended and un locked .... id certainly be happier than it taking 7 weeks to get out of the event ....

good bike lives in the van with a couple of gert locks on - generally with me sleeping next to it in the van.

as above - you wouldnt leave it out unlocked any other time - sad state of affairs but cummon take responsiblity for your own kit guys !

Maybe the miltary teams at MM could provide an armed guard,
and Hereford is just down the road.. 😀

True, everybody has a duty of care to take care of their own belongings, but still I would expect better security at events.

Or is this really such a new thing?

not new - ae forest downhill races have had theft problems for as long as i can remember - local yokals - like a scene out of deliverance turning up at the race.

my mate had his patriot stripped down to the bare frame as he slept with it locked to the front of his caravan ! - you quickly learn to adapt.

This is what i posted up on the yale bike alarm thread

project - Member
I would also recomend one of these,
http://shop.yale.co.uk/acatalog/Personal_Attack_Alarms.html

When you leave the bike in your tent or chained to the car, tie a piece of clear fishing line somewhere on the bike,and run the fishing line to the alarm,keep the line reasonably tight and not snagged onto anything else, securely fix the alarm to something where it cant be seen, eg tent pole,or car or bike rack,so when somebody pulls the bike the fishing line goes tight and pulls the pin out of the alarm,and it makes one hell of a noise, alerting people nearby.

Dont forget to hide the line in the grass,so its not seen,

All for £2.99

Apparently one guy at BBF managed to get two bikes back by chasing some scumbags down... Unfortunately his own bikes were already gone ...Lean shit man..
Its really worrying to know that they must have been casing the place out all day and known full well everyone would be knackered from the days racing and exactly where the bikes they wanted were.. C*n*s !!!

sounds like just the same MO as margam thefts then: take one van and cherry pick the poshest bikes. Some of the bikes at margam were very well secured by bike event standards, but the suspicion was that the thieves knew which ones they wanted hours before they stole them, and came suitably equipped to get into pretty much anything.

Lock gates in the evening and inspect all vehicles, or have mandatory bike sticker on top tube with corresponding ticket which can be kept by owner to produce on exit? All of this will cost even organisers money though.

The guys in the tent next to ours at BBF had a stumpy nicked but somehow got it back, hed just left it out the back of his tent and I guess the theives got spooked and ditched it. I always lock my bike in the car at races, its just not worth the risk.

There should be a group sentry at large events to deter thieving-pikey-scoundrels!

I would volunteer for a 2 hr stint!

What about numbered arm bands, one for your arm and one to correspond to the bike, fixed to the bike handlebars, visitors/supporters have a different coloured band to riders.
the Bands could be sponsored by a company wih their name on it.

That sounds very similar to the theft at Margam. Got to be the same gang. Same times and everything.

Unbelievable that no lessons were learnt prior to BBF.

GB

Very disappointing all round. It's hard to keep a chilled event without strict secutity but it may be needed soon. Sympathies to all those who've had bikes nicked.

Lock gates in the evening and inspect all vehicles, or have mandatory bike sticker on top tube with corresponding ticket which can be kept by owner to produce on exit? All of this will cost even organisers money though.

If that is what has to be done, then so be it.

I'm sure that there is enough money floating around in the entry fees at some of these events to cover it. If not can't cost more than say £1 per ticket to produce a matching sticker to the wrist band and a minimum wage security team for 48 hours.

gee - Member

Unbelievable that no lessons were learnt prior to BBF.

You mean different company in a different country on the next weekend? Quite believable.

I'm amazed that people will leave £3k bikes lying around anywhere. Take responsibility for your own actions.

and a minimum wage security team for 48 hours.

Most probably a waste if time. Security guards will, IME, just watch the crims and do nothing. Or sleep all night. Or watch TV. They don't care.

Gurkas are were it's at for Security

With Mayhem only two weeks away i hope the organiser's inform everyone to take extra care and lock them up !

I don't believe that someone chased a scumbag down to get it back! you would be fffing and blinding to get attention to help you, everyone at an event like that would realise something odd was going on and perk up!! Plus if you caught him ..... who knows what would happen!

Shame though that there are gangs like this doing it, all I can see as many before is that you wouldn't leave your £3000 bike outside your tent if you were camping in your garden.

And locking the gate thing didn't work! It was promoted on the BBF website where the key could be found .. something about a cone in the corner and it was hidden under there! Makes it a bit pointless locking the gate!

Still I had a top weekend.

The ideas about matching numbers for bike and rider have been tried at MM in the past, it works OK for the first few hours (and security are supposed to stop anyone without a matching number and bike) but after that people are wandering around with teammates bikes or have swapped clothes/helmet/bike or are so covered in mud that the numbers aren't visible etc.

It's nothing new, I remember loads of bikes going missing at races years ago when a bunch of pikeys would turn up in a van, slash the straps on a few racks and dump the whole contents into their van. 🙁

Take ownership of the problem and lock it in the back of your car. I dont leave mine unattended its under my ass or in the boot. So to speak 😛 I see the same on the way back from events at service stations etc Owners inside at Costa bike on car in open?

Security and gate checks etc? No thanks, ruin the atmosphere, take ages to enter leave and entry fees goes up so some people can leave their bikes in the open? Nah thanks.

With all the reports over the last few years it seems like bike theft is one of the main industries in Bristol 🙁

Pawsy_Bear - Member

Take ownership of the problem and lock it in the back of your car. I dont leave mine unattended its under my ass or in the boot.

Probably not good enough for this sort of organised theft I fear, and waaaay more targeted than just emptying a boot/roof rack into a van and driving off.

Dunno about the BBF, but the reports of margam say that this was a well plannned targeted theft, where only the poshest bikes were stolen, often unlocking and moving bikes worth 'only' £2k to get to the ones that had been identified earlier in the day as targets. Some of the bikes were stolen from locked cars and vans, or from tents in which the owners were sleeping. Basically if someone from the 'team' at margam saw your bike and identified it as bling enough to go in the van, there was a very high chance of them having it.

Can't see the matching numbers for bike and rider working at an event like MM - a van is leaving and they say they have no bikes, you can't see in the back and they refuse to have the inside of the van checked. Are you going to insist they open the van or is every van / car going to be checked on the way out?

For some events you might be able to lock bikes up over night in a container and put guards on it and then permit holder gets bike in the morning. Or maybe we'll all have to fit GPS trackers into the frames but I think the weight might be as issue to racers.

We had security guards at HTN 1, they had instructions to inspect vehicles going out with bikes against a list of riders and which bikes they had.

We quickly found that in reality it's completely impractical and after several hours the security lads can't be arsed with the hassle anyway.

Lock em in your cars.

They must be outing these bikes somewhere and if they're all boutique brands or really high end kit there won't be a lot of it about so somebody on here will probably get offered some or know someone who does.

Anybody got any idea what went so we can keep an eye out for it?

Less likely to happen at a 24h event like Mayhem, I'd have thought. Especially if your group is big enough for several teams, as there's more chance of folk being up and about preparing to ride or pit-bitching for others.
Still, my cricket bat....er, Insurance Policy will be coming down to Eastnor with me and I'm in decent form with it this year....

I don't think I would bother returning to an event where there's theft problems.

1. Lock em in your cars, lock em to your cars.

2. Bet the scallies are reading these threads..

locking to cars isnt gonna do much. lock them in the car, or lock them in the tent (not in porch but in with you)

IIRC at MM security was only when it was at Sandwell. Scaffolding bikes racks inside a fenced off tennis court. Entrance to tennis court controlled by a terrifying security guard (Rocky?) who'd only let you collect a bike when number board matched your rider number (sticker). Seem to recall it not being very well used.

Realistically, there's very little an event organiser can do against a well drilled gang.

The Sanity Assassin - Member
Still, my cricket bat....er, Insurance Policy will be coming down to Eastnor with me

You can be sure that if they're that well organised about the thieving they'll be up to speed on stopping you from getting in their way

They are probably Reading this now !

Interesting as something definately woke me just before 5 didn't know what tho

julianwilson - Member

Probably not good enough for this sort of organised theft I fear, and waaaay more targeted than just emptying a boot/roof rack into a van and driving off.

Balls, mines insured home and away and bikes were nicked OFF cars not the ones locked in boots. Lock your bike IN the car and it must be locked to the car as well for the insurance. True, mine could still be nicked but I have limited the damage through insurance and I suspect made it too difficult for such thieves.

A lot of the - oh why don't the organizer/someone else do something [b]smacks of the nanny state[/b]. Time for some to stop bleating and blaming others and look out for yourselves.

I'm honestly amazed that it's taken so long for bike thieves to catch on.

it hasn't - bikes used to get get nicked from the Cannock Chase classic campsites and paddock and at a round of the national mountain bike champs in teeside, kids were shooting riders with air rifles to knock them off before grabbing their bikes and doing a runner - all back in the early 90's

those were the days! 8)

As rootes says, it's always happened, it's just that the immediacy of the internet and twitter means news carries quicker to more people.

One of the Welsh Series rounds at Kilvey Hill, Swansea (many years ago now), had a gang of kids divert the race course down a steep hill to a dead-end clearing, the kids would then jump out and mug the rider for the bike. The rider had no chance of escape except back up a steep hill, no chance of outrunning the chav scum.

I'm not meaning to sound callous and it's not really my place to speak as these organised events are not my cup of tea...

But experience of music festivals tells me that any large (or small) event where overnight camping occurs is a magnet to organised (and opportunist)criminals of all descriptions.. Add the lure of expensive, top of the range, easy to sell unsecured items and bob's yer mothers brother shirley?

Securing my bike as securely as I could secure it would have to be top priority.. relying on goodwill and some sort of group event magic is nonsensical in the extreme..

I pooh myself about security at a friendly remote well established family campsite if I have my bike with me.. I certainly wouldn't leave it locked in a cctv rich bustling city centre.. Let alone at a fairly urban well advertised thief fest..

my heart bleeds for the victims but FFS

Taking responsibility for your own property and getting proof of ownership before snapping up that e-bay 'bargain' would be better than whinging on a forum.........

I'm paranoid about getting my bike stolen at such events, and was at BBF this weekend. I'm lucky enough to have a van than I can sleep in and also put one bike under the bed and one bike (in a bike bag) in the front seats. I also have a very large (but not aggressive) dog, which also adds to deterrent factor.

After chatting to some folks yesterday I wouldn't have rated the chavs chances of getting out in one piece if they'd been caught in the act!

EDIT: [s]thief fest[/s] orgy of mechanical decadence

"I'm amazed that people will leave £3k bikes lying around anywhere"

The point is that they weren't. They were taken from locked vans.

GB

Each team should have a mate or two to ALWAYS be with the bikes during the 24hours of the event, and if they complain offer to pay them!

What i do is ride a shonky old single speed XTC with a crack in it at all events. No need for a lock and no problem leaving it unattended. No need for carbon or bling.

My brand new Orange E3 was nicked along with three other bikes from the back of our van way back at the Malverns Classic back in the 90's. This is nothing new.

Given how well known it is that bike theft is quite organised in Bristol, one would think the police would have seen this event as perfect for an undercover sting... but seemingly not.

Despair!

A friend recently returned to the UK from a decade abroad said to me recently 'what do police actually DO these days? - I never see any.' and to be honest, its very hard to answer that. Another friend had to wait 6 weeks before being allowed to look through the photo books at the police station to try to identify who attacked him.

"Transport for London (TfL) has this morning announced the launch of a 30-strong police unit dedicated to addressing the issue of stolen and vandalised bikes in the capital, and Together with Mayor of London Boris Johnson, it has also published a draft Cycle Security Plan in an effort to tackle the theft of bicycles in the city."

http://road.cc/content/news/18335-new-police-squad-target-bike-theft-and-vandalism-london

Lets hope they do better than the Bristol police appear to! 🙁

ansport for London (TfL) has this morning announced the launch of a 30-strong police unit dedicated to addressing the issue of stolen and vandalised bikes in the capital, and Together with Mayor of London Boris Johnson, it has also published a draft Cycle Security Plan in an effort to tackle the theft of bicycles in the city."

http://road.cc/content/news/18335-new-police-squad-target-bike-theft-and-vandalism-london

Lets hope they do better than the Bristol police appear to!

when they release the 6000 london hire bikes they are going to be very busy!

This was posed tday on another link about stolen bikes, any of these some of the ones that wen't missing from either of the two events

myheadsashed - Member
http://london.craigslist.co.uk/bik/1740144146.html

bargain

Posted 37 minutes ago #
myheadsashed - Member
Some cheap bikes on craigslist

http://london.craigslist.co.uk/bik/1704182169.html

Posted 34 minutes ago #
myheadsashed - Member
http://london.craigslist.co.uk/bik/1693051423.html

£6500 bike for £1500 a year old bargaintastic

I love the blacksheep long tail for sale.....bling

Those prices are nutz so so obvious - cant it be reported?

Big locks to Mayhem then!

[img] [/img]

The only solution. Bike in tent, girlfriend sleeping on rocks outside for thief to trip over in the dark.

Given how well known it is that bike theft is quite organised in Bristol, one would think the police would have seen this event as perfect for an undercover sting... but seemingly not.

And if they had, would you expect it to have been launched in a blaze of publicity? 🙄

I'm all in favour of setting up our own sting.
Anyone here at Dalby next month? Anyone got a spare set of bombers? I have some carbon lovelyness I am willing to contribute as bait.

frak me those gumtrees are hotter than salma hyek in dusk till dawn

has anyone forwarded the details onto the event organisers?????????

my bike will be in the tent with me at htn with a dlock on it.....

A few years ago when i worked at 2pure we had a super nice Rivette nicked from us in broad daylight at MM. It was one of the racers bikes hanging up while he rested between laps.

It was subsequently spotted on ebay - we got the name of the **** that had it in his possession and a host of various tales as to how he got it.

To say the police were useless would be understating it somewhat. Even after speaking with the lad on the phone a few times myself and getting all the details the police would ever need nothing ever happened. He got away with it.

Moral of the story - keep a big dog and a bigger chain on your stuff.

I parked in the unofficial car park at BBF, near the start, and after the 12 hour race on Saturday, at about 9:30pm, headed over to the camping area to get some food with some friends.
I spoke to the guys parked next to me and said "I'll be sleeping in the Land Rover tonight, but could you keep an eye on it for the next hour or so while I'm gone, after what happened at Margam?"
They hadn't heard about Margam, so I told them the gist of it.
"Blimey" they said "We left our bikes out last night"

Crazy. There's too much done on trust.
Talk to your neighbours, get to know and recognise them and watch each others kit.

The organiser of BBF has announced that there will be security guards and a bike movement curfew at next years' event.

" Mr Agreeable - Member

Given how well known it is that bike theft is quite organised in Bristol, one would think the police would have seen this event as perfect for an undercover sting... but seemingly not.

And if they had, would you expect it to have been launched in a blaze of publicity?"

Nope, not until after the event. But I am not holding my breath. The bike theft problem has been going on in Bristol for several years now, with beatings up when biking and push in raids to peoples homes after they cycle back from Leigh Woods.

I think they appointed some individual policeman (I am sure he is doing his best over a cause that is not taken seriously nationally) to look into bike issues in Bristol. I think he came on here asking for advice as he did not cycle himself. Its not his fault, but its hard to believe there is no one in Bristol police force who cycles and who could have been allocated the role. I don't expect to request a non swimmer to act as a life guard 🙁

Odd argument there. Yes the bloke who's been appointed as Bristol's cycle theft czar isn't a cyclist, but if he was, what should he be doing differently? Over on another forum he's being moaned at for A) failing to use his psychic powers to predict the thefts at Bike Fest, and B) because there's an all-day event where cyclists can get their bikes security tagged for free, which is being held in a location where hundreds of cyclists will be passing by in the space of a day, but that's not good enough apparently, as the bloke doing the moaning can't attend it. A phrase about moons and sticks springs to mind.

There are some police officers who cycle and will go the extra mile to tackle bike theft - some of them post on here. Unfortunately they're also kept pretty busy with other crimes too.

The organiser of BBF has announced that there will be security guards and a bike movement curfew at next years' event.

Mr A, is he doing something about oktoberfest?

No idea Taylor. Perhaps you should fill the van with locks and flog 'em at the gate? 😉

just thinking that myself

How about approaching BBF with a 'koda-sponsored secure bike storage' or something? I'm pretty sure you could get some sales and publicity for the cost of setting up and manning a secure storage area for the events in Bristol.

I don't expect to request a non swimmer to act as a life guard

What a bizarre statement, a lifeguard needs to swim to do his job
A plod in charge of bike thefts needs to be able to detect & deter bike thefts not ride them

Let's hope you don't extend that argument to the drugs or terrorist squad

MASSIVE dog and lock for me at Mayhem then...

crazy-legs - Member
As rootes says, it's always happened, it's just that the immediacy of the internet and twitter means news carries quicker to more people.

One of the Welsh Series rounds at Kilvey Hill, Swansea (many years ago now), had a gang of kids divert the race course down a steep hill to a dead-end clearing, the kids would then jump out and mug the rider for the bike. The rider had no chance of escape except back up a steep hill, no chance of outrunning the chav scum.

A load of rubbish, if you don't mind me saying.

Seeing as the club I was involved with organised and ran quite a pretty much all of these events, we might have heard of that rather laughable crime - but it's the first time [i]I've[/i] heard it.

We DID have problems with kids diverting the course, and reportedly one of the quads on the Tour of Britain was nicked for a while, but sending riders into a dead end clearing is total fiction.

First of all, there are no 'dead-end' clearings down a steep hill that I can think on Kilvey - my local trails, 5 minutes away, since you ask.

Secondly, why would a fit MTBer not be able to catch up with a bunch of kids, whether on foot or bike, up a steep hill, the only way out according to you?

Complete fiction!

Yeah but, no but, yeah but, no but my mate heard it from someone who said he knew someone who's mate was.....