[Closed] Thieving Bristol scum convinced me that owning just 1 bike is the best policy

that is proper shit.

i've got to say, though, i wouldn't leave any of my bikes anywhere i couldn't see them without something locking them to something else, preferably locked inside something... presumably you won't even get insurance claim for that?

yeah, yeah, I know, stupid of me

Utterly, utterly rubbish! I'll keep an eye out for it and bung a stick in their spokes if I see them riding past. Is it the old style PA with the extra strut or the new one? Any further description, or pics?

i felt a bit bad for posting that, as it's not very helpful - sorry!

My sister & boyfriend were visiting last week and borrowed both my old Merlin Malt and my wife's Giant XTC to do some sightseeing around town. Locked them to a bike rack outside a museum, 15mins later a dude turns up with boltcroppers to snip the Krptonite steel cable and has them away in seconds. Witnesses saw them go but didn't do anything, police took statements but I know we won't see them again.

So its the Heckler and only the Heckler for me now, and time to go bike shopping for the missus.

As my sister put it: "The good news is that you don't have to clean your bike this weekend; the bad news is that you don't have a bike anymore."

scummers.

Brizol is nice and hilly, start leaving the brakes undone.

in london were i live,i take my bike in every shop that will let me

oh apologies, forgot to offer my condolences for the loss of your PA as well.

Its crap that you can't even leave your bike just a few metres from you for a minute. Me thinks you need a sting operation in Bristol.

don't give up hope...I got my Epic back in Bristol, the boy's in blue found it in a crack dealers house in Knowle.....the key thing in getting it back was my detailed description and that despite the sc#m b#g changing the saddle, tyres and believe it or not a kick stand! it was distinctive enough to trace

although i wish the kn#b hadn't pressure washed everything to death hubs, bb, headset, f&R shocks and pivots.

Bristol's a nightmare my bike was secured in the basement of PWC's building but the security guard let the scummer in (then denied everything and PWC covered everything up...)

borrowed both my old Merlin Malt and my wife's Giant XTC to do some sightseeing around town

you shouldn't really have let them go for a pootle round town on your fancy mountain bikes. That's quite a naive thing to do. i wouldn't even take my bike into town. it stays in the house unless i'm taking it mountain biking

i do feel bad for you though i've had a few bikes nicked from leeds. I also had one returned by the police so don't give up hope. could be a good excuse to build a rat bike for town and shops duties

Sorry to hear that.

A few years back, whilst sitting upstairs in the Watershed, we spotted various scum "working" on bikes locked up on the other side of the harbour.

Cue red mist and surprise ambush in force... 👿

A small victory.

rat bikes for town are the way forward. as are front brakes only, on the wrong side of the bars, plus i never used my granny ring so fixed it so shifting into that gear threw the chain off onto the bb shell. always great to see someone's legs spin at a million miles an hour but get no where then go head over heals when they use the brakes

you shouldn't really have let them go for a pootle round town on your fancy mountain bikes. That's quite a naive thing to do. i wouldn't even take my bike into town. it stays in the house unless i'm taking it mountain biking

I know, I know. The wife and I know to never leave such bikes unguarded in town but my sister asked to take the bikes for a ride around the local park one day so we happily agreed, no problem. The next day they took them to the museum without saying anything, so we didn't get a chance to warn them about such things and as non-bikers they assumed a strong lock would be enough. Ha ha, if only!

as are front brakes only, on the wrong side of the bars

My only consolation is that I'm currently in Vancouver, so the thief was probably expecting the front brake to be on the left. I really, really like to think that he might have gone over the bars before he found out it was on the right.

(propped up outside the bakers for 2 minutes while I bought a loaf).

I hope it was the best loaf ever made that was on offer for you to leave your bike ouside the shop

thats bas news mate i hope the rozzers do find it and you do get it back!!

as for the epic with a kick stand that made me laugh just the thought of it (not the theft)

as are front brakes only, on the wrong side of the bars

My only consolation is that I'm currently in Vancouver, so the thief was probably expecting the front brake to be on the left. I really, really like to think that he might have gone over the bars before he found out it was on the right.

Theft is treated too leniently in this country.
If it were Saudi there hands would be off.
If it were Singapore they'd be flogged.

Best bet is to move.

shit news, post a picture up of it, someone may spot it?

don't leave your bike unlocked, not even for bread, but I guess you know that one now 🙁

pic of PA

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not too many matching exactly that description in Bristol.

ooops

[img] [/img]

anyone want to recommend a replacement for £1000 so that I can use my works Cycle Scheme? P7 would have been nice maybe, dont know if I can buy parts and build another PA up under that scheme?

I know this wont help but its not just Bristol.I drive around Cheltenham for a living.See these two scumy man and woman most days riding around on crap bikes,then tonight riding home see them again the guy is on a Cannondale bad boy,so someones lost a nice bike.They dont work so they hardly going to spend £500 on a bike.What can you do,i would start chopping there limbs off hand caught once,then other hand caught twice and so on,they wouldnt do it again in a hurry,maybe abit extreme but something got to be done.

Sorry to hear about the theft, hopefully a shiny new bike will make up for it 🙂

Our company did bike to work without using cyclescheme, direct with LBS. We could have custom bikes, but it had to be a full bike (this part is slightly discretionary, but we wanted to follow the rules). I would have thought that cyclescheme would be the same, don't they just issue a voucher to the shop selling the bike? If it helps, I think my LBS have a nice Sanderson frame in for £50? Could be a starter...

That's a bummer. Hope that Karma attacks them - especially since I live just down the road.

thanks everyone, shit happens. I'll be more careful next time.

In the 3 years I lived in Bristol, I lost 3 bikes. My conclusion was
to have 0 bikes then the scum bags couldn't steal it.

anyone want to recommend a replacement for £1000 so that I can use my works Cycle Scheme? P7 would have been nice maybe, dont know if I can buy parts and build another PA up under that scheme?

You might consider getting a complete bike from somewhere like Merlin and swap the frame for a PA.

Gutted for you, sounds like Bristol is the best and the worst place to live if you're a cyclist.

If I'd just lost two bikes, I don't think I'd be leaving the 3rd one unlocked outside shops! In Bristol!!

Off to the spar now to buy some milk, will take lock.

The ONLY place that I lock my commuter is outside the gym window. There are security regularly driving round Sport city (Man City grounds) and they'd be abit silly taking abike from there considering it could be one of the nutters who use the gym.

I'm thinking P7 Pro as a replacement, but like the Merlin idea....

This [url= http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1101520_pc_steves_got_cycle_of_crime_beat ]story[/url] was in the Manchester Evening News - the other day, it sounds as if the Bristol force need one officer who has bike theft investigation as a large part of their remit (maybe they do already?!) Bristol really does sound terrible for bike theft at the moment though.

This story was in the Manchester Evening News - the other day, it sounds as if the Bristol force need one officer who has bike theft investigation as a large part of their remit (maybe they do already?!) Bristol really does sound terrible for bike theft at the moment though.

We do, but it's early days and they appear to be on a learning curve at the moment.

That's proper shit about the PA, I'll keep an eye out for it.

At the moment I'm fighting and winning (subject to checking this morning) a battle with a gang of thieving ****s who have repeatedly attacked my garage over the last 8 weeks.

Isn't it time a few of you Bristolians got your heads together and set a baited trap? Nice MTB, theft hotspot, sit and wait?

Isn't it time a few of you Bristolians got your heads together and set a baited trap? Nice MTB, theft hotspot, sit and wait?

i agree rough justice is the only thing this lot understand, so give'em what they want.

Careful with that, a mate of mine was paying for petrol for his enduro bike when some scrotes tried to nick it. Luckily it was an XR600 and they couldn't start it so he rushed out and started larruping the pair until their mates jumped out of a Nova[!!] with a baseball bat and enabled them to escape. When the police came they told him it was lucky they had gone cos my mate would have been done for assault! Aah sweet justice

the police have left some "bait" outside Horfield prison over the last 2 weeks, but it's so obvious. 2 £50 full suss halfords specials. No one touched them. I leave my PA alone for 2 minutes in exactly the same area and it's gone. I do have CCTV pictures of them, hopefully the police can do something with that.

feeling stupid and bikeless this morning, browsing the web for a replacement hard tail / commuter

its utter rubbish, sorry you lost your bike.

to put some perspective on it, a year or two ago I snapped the key off in my lock so walkied home, came back with a toolset and my mates small blowtorch and spent the next 20mins stealing my own bike, not once did anyone try to stop me and believe it or not a police car actually drove past while i was working on it.

There really is no sense of community, i wonder what would happen if they saw someone breaking into a house....

matt

A P7 will do the trick nicely, lovely bikes they are. Before you order though I would get some tidy mates together and do a recce of the local skate parks and BMX tracks.

bummer mate, i'm in bristol too so i'll keep an eye out

i am actually thinking of moving to that area soon...

as for a new machine, i spotted a very nice Genesis 853 Altitude in Bike for around the £1k mark! not an amazing shop imo but still seems like a bargain!

thanks everyone who said they'll keep an eye out, easy bike to spot. Just checked out a P7 Pro but not too happy with the Fox Vanilla forks, would prefer travel adjust and/or lock out for communiting duties. Think I'll build up another PA, shame Mike is out of grey frames, not so sure about orange or purple.... Anyone got pics of these?

Sorry to hear that.

Even in leafy Surrey I always tend to lock my bike when nipping into a shop. I use a cheap but useless £5 lock just to fulfill insurance requirements.

not so sure about orange or purple.... Anyone got pics of these?

Purple:

[img] [/img]

The colour's close but really difficult to photo. It really looks nice in the flesh.

did eye see that very bike outside peaslake stores a few weeks ago??

Most probably. Its outside those very stores most weekends. 😀

Hey there Agent, bad newsabout the bike. Will keep an eye out.

Bristol is getting a joke, on the back of my letters to the North Bristol Councillors I have had no useful response except from the expaination that they are no longer planning to put up cycle racks in various locations due to them being damaged by cars.

The local MP seems to have taken an interest, I have recieved correspondance relating to this issue which refers specifically to the links that I sent with my e-mail, so at least he might have had a good read and now be aware of the problem. He has now written to the Police Inspector asking what his current policy is to address this issue.

The police have put me in contact with the officer tasked with reducing cycle crime in the city, he is keen for a meeting to discuss the issue, I am waiting for a reply from the Police Inspector prior to going down this route. As part of the new "Police Charter" they now have to listen to our concerns and act upon them, so will be interesting to hear what action they are planning on taking.

A statistic from the Police report stated just 1% of stolen bikes in Bristol are recovered, thats rediculous when you see the number of council estate chavs riding round on bikes well above their station.

We should put bikes out for these scum and wait-then own them...

Or at least tag them and see where they holding stolen bikes.

I was told not to build my hack SS with discs as it will get nicked at Work or the City.

Hell with these theives-stealing our bikes and limiting our pleasure/choice in parts.

I take my bike in the shop if at LBS.

The thieves need dealing with. Total lack of respect of other peoples property.

Hope you had it insured or get it back.

Harry - spot on, let me know if there's anything I can do to help. I'd be interested in that meeting. Currently, being a biker in Bristol is making me worried for my property, garden shed, garage etc now that I am a known biker to thieves who probably keep a spreadsheet of addresses to burgle, and also very slightly worried for my personal safety. I'm not a Daily Mail reading paranoid by any means. I feel pretty helpless when it comes to protecting my own property and worried about replacing my stolen bikes

How hard can it be to set up some sort of police sting using tagged bikes and find where they are kept? Or challenge a few more chavs when they're spotted riding expensive bikes in the obvious parts of town.

I honestly dont know if crime is on the up, kids are getting worse etc, but as we are now the first Cycling City etc it must be time to try and do something about the problem in Bristol. The police told me that they suspect a sophisticated crime ring that ships bikes off shore to sell, but also that most crimes are committed by drug addicts and opportunistic thieves. Sounds to me like the police havent got a clue which it is.

At least M&S keep paying out on my claims and should insure me again next year. No idea what it's going to cost though.....

all bike thieves must die, but....you loose two bikes inside a year and then leave a third bike unattended?

The police often stop "local characters" on bikes they can't afford and often seize them. The problem is identifying them, make sure you've security marked them and entered the serial numbers on somewhere like immobilise.com as well as noting them down yourself.)

If you want a PA built up under cyclescheme, it might be worth giving Box at Badssbikes a call and I know he can do custom builds under the scheme and he will do his best to help you out.

As for the bike, I will keep an eye out for it as there aren't that many old style PA's around.