They are probably Reading this now !
Interesting as something definately woke me just before 5 didn't know what tho
julianwilson - MemberProbably 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.....
people need to wake up and look after themselves.
Police in Bristol are not that interested. Bristol bike fest zero interest. If you were the bike czar bobby wouldn't you know about and turn up bike events in the area to publicize the crime issue and prevention? Or am I just being absurd?
I do have some sympathy with what a few of the commentators have said about the lack of a police operation, particularly what Pawsey_Bear has said, although I would say police in Bristol are interested. Many are MTB’s themselves.
Let me explain something. Ashton Court Estate is policed by "J" district (North Somerset) that is headquartered at Weston-Super-Mare. In policing terms therefore it is NOT a 'Bristol' (as in policing area) problem, which as we know suffers from a high percentage of bike thefts. It’s a thin to vanishing thought that “J” district would have been aware or even anticipated that this was going to take place because in the past they would not have received an inordinate amount of allegations for this type of offence at anytime across their area. Hindsight as they say is a fantastic thing. As far as I know (and I'm prepared to be corrected on this) there were no such thefts last year at ACE. It’s unlikely that the prospect of coordinated bike thefts would not have been communicated to officers at Weston. Could Bristol police have sniffed this a possible circumstance – maybe, but then it would have to be sold to the divisional commander for WSM who has to resource any pro-active endeavor with a finite number of officers over a Friday and Saturday evening when it’s kicking off on the promenade. Of course members of the public are not going to appreciate border distinctions or the politics behind certain decisions, but divisional commanders with competing and higher priority demands do. I’m not saying that’s the case here. I just don’t think it was ever raised as a potential issue by ANYBODY. I might be wrong. It's incumbent on the people that arrange these events and the greater MTB community at large to work with the police on this.
People need to understand that acquisitive crime has changed. Ram raids have all but diminished for example, however there has been a huge rise in TARGETED pedal cycle theft, due to the uptake in the hobby/sport and the proceeds that stolen bikes/components can net the thief or handler. If caught it’s unlikely the courts will take it so seriously that they will impose a custodial sentence. It's a very attractive way to make a criminal living. The offenders for this no doubt attend events of this sort up and down the country and it would be no surprise to me if they weren't native to Bristol. Mountain bike theft has now become big business for them. People need to take some responsibility for their possessions and wise up. It's a tough pill but there it is I'm afraid.
If they hadn’t done so (I didn’t attend BBF) the organisers for these events ought to display signs and highlight the issue and maybe next year write to the local divisional commander responsible for the area the event is taking place and suggest that there could be rich pickings for taking some crooks out by covert means or preventing theft by an overt presence. This would possibly have to be funded by the event itself to some degree.
All the best.
you fit to ride now larry?
Taylor,
Yeah been riding for awhile now since getting over virus. Think I saw you a week or two ago cycling on the main drag near the pub you live opposite on a Giant HT?
Give us a shout if you fancy a ride out. I go out with Gordano now and then as you probably are aware from the Facebook invites.
that'll be me on the giant 29er.
saturdays or sundays i'm good for as the footy season is over, midweek is impossible now as the wife is staying and working in london M-F.
let me know when your about.
