[Closed] too many bikes getting nicked

Hi guys. My bike was stolen today, from within a block of flats that supposedly has an electronically locked security door that requires visitors to ring a doorbell and be 'buzzed in' by someone from within one of those flats. What I now know is that theres is also a 'trades' button that opens the door anyway and renders the whole system useless.

The trades button is sometimes a code that the postie is told, or its a general unlock button set to a certain time by a time switch, and its so easy to enter a block of flats as a visitor just buzz any number the higher the better, as they will not usually come down to check and say youre checking TV licences, for another number,and you didnt want to buzz their flat,strangely the neighbour usually buzzes you in, especially if they dont like the neighbour or dont know them.

Try it and see.

I know I post it up here every time there's a bike security thread, but the more people that use this the better. It won't necessarily get your bike, (or stuff) found, but if it is this increases your chances of having it returned and the scrotes being convicted if the police turn it up.

immobilise.com

+1 my stuffs on there with frame numbers. The police check it and its national so hopefully its of some use. I did see one of those "police camera action" type things where they stopped a white van with loads of obviously nicked bikes in it, but they couldn't prove they were stolen from the frame numbers so had to let them go.

I got three nicked from a locked garage last year. Pulled apart timber side door (proper door with mortice locks, not some crap 2" thick shed style thing), snapped out the mortice lock body and got in. Having been burgled the year before that and taking it as a lucky escape I'd got all the bikes locked together and hanging off hooks, effectively blocking the up&over door. The scrotes brought 42 inch (i.e. massive) Irwin Record bolt croppers and cut the 11mm security chain (tried the Squire padlock but it resisted).

3 bikes and c.£6.5k worth of gear gone, never seen again.

Since then I've beefed up chains, locks, doors and linked it to the house alarm which is on whenever we go to bed and y'know what? I still check out the back when I come down in the morning with a slight feeling of "they'll have been back".

I'd have loved to have given the three (spotted in the street riding off) of them a good slap. I don't belioeve in violence and have no personal illusion about how tough I am. But honestly thank Christ I slept through and didn't know. 3 against one when they've already got screwdrivers and chisels (that they ditched after getting through the door) would have likley ended badly for me.

Personally, I think one way would be to make bikes more identifiable. I'd get the frame number stamped on several visible places on the frame, not just under the BB at point of manufacture. At least that way there's a quick, easy and relatively unique identifier that can be used by the police and everyone else.

Wouldn't stop the stripping and parts selling but would go a long way, IMO, to help.

If ebay, gumtree and classifieds made it policy that you couldn't sell a bike / frame without listing / photo of the frame number it'd make disposal harder. It seems relatively straightforward to me but I remember discussing it on here with Brant and him thinking it'd be rather difficult (at the factory). I'm not convinced but then again I reckon he probably knows more about manufacturers than I do 😉

Whilst I can imagine some stuff goes off abroad the mate locally who got his Spesh back (the only one of 5 nicked) was a more (IMO) typical scenario. It was lying in the back garden of some scrotes house (pretty local to my mate) who got raided for some other reason. THe guy was just getting round to sripping and flogging it. Got 9 months I believe for handling stolen goods (claimed not to have done the burglary).

[url= http://http://road.cc/content/news/34677-just-spylamp ]Gps bike tracker[/url]

I knew I remembered seeing a gps tracker somewhere. I guess that once they are popular then yes they will get ripped off but for the moment it may not be a bad idea.

The problem with trackers is whether the police will dedicate resources to actually tracking it! Cant find/remember the thread but it was discussed here a while ago. Police just see bikes as bikes and dont really differentiate between 20quid and 3k ones.

I would like to know where they are all going????????How many people on here own bikes with no receipts?Do they know where there bike has come from?They are to easy to steal and are worth alot of money.

why cant they put a chip in the frame before the bottom bracket is put in.Like a dog and cat chip!As you say something needs to be done.

Its the same with enduro/trials and motocross bikes they never seem to be found.
Couple of years ago police were watching a guy for awhile arrested him,he took them to an old warehouse near Stonehouse in Gloucestershire and there was over 300 cycles being processed for e-bay nightmare.alot money there.

I meant to reply to this yesterday but the day got away from me.

I was up at Sele on Saturday when I saw three young men pushing what looked like a nice jump bike (rigid). It struck me as odd, not right.

As I was driving away I saw the same three, this time no bike but with a Staff. Now, I don't want to jump to conclusions but...

I thought to myself what a good idea it would be to have, eg, Jedi's mobile number, I could have quickly called him or taken a photo and sent it. We could set up "friend groups" round the country of folk we know and trust, share very brief descriptions of bikes and mobile phone numbers (but obviously not addresses, in case the person went bad or lost their phone).

The Polis don't seem to care.

eg.

Mates Surly gets knicked.

Same bike appears being ridden in London.

Polis involved and bike returned although for some reason original owner has to pay about £150.

Vender of stolen bike has loads of similar bikes for sale on ebay, obviously some form of organised bike crime going on.

Polis, not intereted, at all.

Nothing new about lack of police interest. I have bike magazines going back to the 1890s and it was a common complaint back then too.

It's a shame there isn't more police interest. Organised bike theft is probably a stepping stone to greater things in the criminal world. If they got caught at that stage it may help overall.

Had my 3stolen 17nov when I was at work got my road bike back after 3days thanks to twitter put the photos on there and sent them to local PCSO who found my road road bike in a house raid the photos are all local police stations as well. I was told told that Manchester and London is very bad with gangs looking for bikes to strip and sell the parts on. Not sure how to stop this prob as no body checks to see if the parts we buy on eBay or inter web are stolen. Frames poss but not stuff like every day parts. Any best thing to do is get as much info as poss on the Internet.

The solution is simple, don't leave your bike in the garage or shed.

The solution is simple, don't leave your bike in the garage or shed.

yes it is that simple 🙄

I can't think of many stolen goods that are as valuable and easy to shift as high-end mountain bikes. Mine went for £400 on Ebay last year (retrieved by police but only after I started making formal complaints; before that they couldn't care less).

Mate in the Met was telling me car thieves only get ~£150 per car so £400 for a bike with a much, much smaller chance of being caught is a no-brainer. Mine wasn't that valuable either, I wonder what the scum get for a 5k bling machine :-/

No disincentives either - detection/conviction rate for burglary in west yorkshire is ~6% iirc, and then they'll only spend a month or two in a young offenders institute.

I imagine most of the scum have prior convictions so another makes no difference - not like they're fussed about employment prospects is it?

. mine was nicked from my car outside in daytime. i know people who have had theirs nicked from inside their house too

I haven't read all the thread but to reduce the amount of bike thefts I think you need to reduce the market place for stolen items, whether they are a full bike or bike parts. For this to happen you need to persuade Ebay, CraigsList,Gumtree and STW/Pinkbike/Bikeradar etc classifieds to agree a single policy, what that would be i have no idea.

Then you would need the police to tackle bike crime more seriously. Only with all of these different organisations (and possibly insurance companies too)working together will you see a noticeable reduction in bike crime.

Also, at the moment I would guess that the individuals stealing bikes see their crimes as victimless as nobody gets hurt and insurance company pays out the owner.

flow - Member
The solution is simple, don't leave your bike in the garage or shed.

But this is a better option than them breaking in to your house to steal them.

FunkyDunc - Member
I'm not convinced its any worse now than it ever has been, I just think more people are now posting on places like this that its been nicked

Is this also because there is media exposure?

Sad to say but suicide has been thrust into the spotlight recently and all of a sudden you get bombarded with statistics and "experts" giving their views.

But this is a better option than them breaking in to your house to steal them.

Break into a shed or garage with no one in it, is slightly different to breaking into a house full of people, don't you think?

Break into a shed or garage with no one in it, is slightly different to breaking into a house full of people, don't you think?

True but would you want to take the chance.

True but would you want to take the chance.

bloke on here posted a story on here, pre hack, about being woken up 2am with a shotgun in his face. 😯

iirc they were after the keys for his motorbike. no bike is worth that

True but would you want to take the chance.

Do you keep your TV, PC and the rest of your valuables in your shed too, just in case someone breaks into your house to steal them?

One question if your bike was stolen.

Did you know the frame number?

[quoteBreak into a shed or garage with no one in it, is slightly different to breaking into a house full of people, don't you think?

Well, 2 years ago they broke into my house whilst we were all (family of 4) asleep upstairs. The dog (soft sack of spuds lab) was downstairs as well. We'd been stupid and left keys, wallets, laptop etc on tables etc in the room. Never seen the wife's Zafira since (some could argue small loss 😉 Never knew until we came downstairs in the morning.

Year later and the garage gets done. It's so close to the house you wouldn't believe it. Again all four in the house, plus dog. No idea again.

Friends round the corner had their back room cleared whilst she was upstairs putting the kids to bed.

Whilst in some cases inside the house may be more secure I wouldn't kid yourself.

Yes, I know my frame numbers except for the ones that are illegible due to paint thickness.

Again, my solution would be frame numbers marked clearly and vissibly in several prominent places. One illegible due to damage might be legit but anymore is likely to be dodgy. All classifieds etc insist on a listing including the frame number / a photo of it.

Would make police identification and tracing easier as well, surely?

Doesn't stop everything / everyone but, IMO, would go a long way and seems relatively simple. Hey ho.

relliott6879 - Member

Hi guys. My bike was stolen today, from within a block of flats that supposedly has an electronically locked security door that requires visitors to ring a doorbell and be 'buzzed in' by someone from within one of those flats. What I now know is that theres is also a 'trades' button that opens the door anyway and renders the whole system useless.

I came on here looking for advice on what to replace my beloved Kona with, after looking aimlessly at manufacturer's sites for hours and seeing nothing that really 'does it' for me. I stumbled across this thread and thought I'd share my pain a little

FWIW, the bike is (was?) a Kona cromoly hardtail (originally a 1996 Fire Mountain and owned by me since new), custom painted white, rear canti bosses shaved, IS disc mount brazed on and support strut brazed between non-drive seat stay and chainstay, FOX F80 RLT forks, XT cranks, mechs and shifters, silver Hope hubs, discs (Mono M4 180mm front, Mono Mini 160mm rear), ti skewers, stem and headset, Mavic XC717 disc rims, Easton EC70 carbon flat bar, X-Lite Enduro Stubbie bar ends and USE Alien carbon seatpost. Stolen in Waterlooville at around 3.30pm on Mon 28 Nov 2011.

Now that I've figured out how, I thought I might as well add some pictures. I know there's probably very little hope of this turning up now, 2 months after it was nicked, but one never knows. Please ring or text me on 07747 595059 if you [b]do[/b] happen to spot it.

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Can't see things changing myself, police in general are ill-informed about the value of bikes and mostly seem to treat it as a very low priority. Sentencing is hardly a deterrent either. Until both of those change then the situation isn't going to improve.

Bait bikes backed up with decent convictions would be good but done by the police not vigilantes.

I'm assuming Flow is just deliberately being a muppet, for some people the only real option is to keep bikes in a shed or garage.

Personally, although my bikes are locked up (inc. ground anchor and decent chains) I'm not kidding myself thinking they're theft-proof. I rely mostly on insurance to 'protect' my bikes, the locks/chains are just to slow people down in case I'm in. I'd love to be able to rig up some electric-shock type deterrent (I really wouldn't care if it's lethal or not) but sadly I'd be the one standing before a judge if I did that.

I like that Kona. ****ers 🙁

I have often thought about a GPS tracker, google threw up these: http://www.trackstick.com/

http://www.trackershop-uk.com/Micro+2+Magnetic+LiveMap+GPS+Tracker-p-58.html

Must be lots of others out there.

One problem is where to hide it - most bikes are still metal which will block GPS so under the saddle is one option but it is easily removed. At lease carbon frames have one undeniable benefit here! Also you have to remember to charge them.

They are not cheap but how much is your excess and how much does your insurance go up next year and then the same (uncaught) thieves return to get your next bike.

Maybe there could be some sort of investigation into the best GPS solution for bikes and the ideal unit offered at a good price due to bulk buying? Maybe a module hidden in the frame with a discrete external antenna for metal frames?

Another good security measure is a rape alarm just tied around the bike somewhere inconspicuous so that it doesn't get noticed but when the bike is moved the cord gets pulled out and set it off. Sometimes the simple things are the most effective.

Been looking at options with a client who does gps tracking. The obvious one is a small device that can be fixed into the seat tube in a star-fangled nut stylee which could utilise the frame itself as an antenae. The problem here is power supply - he is looking at whether it is possible to utilise a conductive(?) charging system (think electric toothbrush) which doesn't need direct contact with the battery unit. Unfortunately this is not looking promising due to frame material (other than carbon).

The alternative was something that generated a charge from kinetic energy but this seems too clunky/heavy.

I reckon someone could make a fortune if they can get this right.

Another good security measure is a rape alarm just tied around the bike somewhere inconspicuous so that it doesn't get noticed but when the bike is moved the cord gets pulled out and set it off. Sometimes the simple things are the most effective.

The LFGSS lot seem to like the alarmed disc locks (designed for motorbikes) - [url= http://www.kabrus.co.uk/xl505.html ]like this[/url], or there are plenty of [url= http://www.maplin.co.uk/alarm-padlock-476808 ]cheap copies[/url] that may not be as strong but still effective.

One of those through a chainring makes a hell of a noise if the bike is moved, are a pain to cut off, and prevent it being ridden away.

Here are some really simple, basic things you can do to avoid having your bike nicked:

[b]Use a decent lock[/b]. Yes I know it's obvious, but so many bike thefts are the result of a cable lock. Bolt cutters are your basic beginner thief's tool.

[b]Lock to something secure[/b], not old cast-iron railings (which can be smashed with a tap from a hammer), signposts or bike stands secured by standard bolts. Some thieves have even taken to cutting Sheffield stands and disguising the cut with a bit of tape.

[b]Don't leave it on display[/b]. Roof racks,leaving it in the car, etc. are all bad for this. Frost the windows of your shed or garage (you can get spray-on stuff to do this). Ask the pub if you can stash it round the back.

[b]"Secure" bike storage sheds are often a gift to thieves[/b]. Lock it up as well, and if you hear stories about bikes going missing from the one you use, be extra cautious.

Garage defenders, ground anchors, reinforcement for doors, etc, will all slow a thief down to some extent. A lot of them go for the low-hanging fruit.

[b]Build a pikey bike for everyday use[/b] if you've got the storage space. De-logo your nice bike or make it look crapper than it is.

[b]Bike thieves coming back [/b]to nick your insurance replacements is a common problem. After a burglary, make everything more secure in whatever way you can.

[b]
To stand a chance of seeing your bike again:[/b]

[b]Photo and serial number[/b]. The serial number is the first thing police will check if they recover a stolen bike. If you don't have this, your chances of getting it back will be slim.

[b]Make it unique somehow[/b], preferably in a way that's visible enough to be spotted in an online pic. It could be something as simple as different coloured grips or cables. If it's completely stock, there will be hundreds like it.

[b]Let everyone know about it[/b], on the Internet but also on paper. Shops can check a paper flyer with a picture and your contact details more easily than a computer.

GPS trackers are available that fit inside your steerer tube and require special tools to remove. This company makes one, as well as the lamp someone posted above:

http://www.integratedtrackers.com/GPSTrack/Products.jsp?target_item=SpyLamp.jsp

The problem is, GPS is only accurate to within 30 feet or so. Which means you could trace your bike to a street, or a block of flats, but not know which house it was inside. Also pretty much all the GPS units I've used stop working indoors.

GPS with radio tracking for close range?

You could pass on the GPS details to the police and there might be a "known" address within that area.

There was a long and rambling story on Outside mag recently from someone who used a GPS tracker to see if it worked.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/Who-Pinched-My-Ride.html?page=1

His bike got nicked by a tramp and was recovered very easily. I suspect most of the bike thefts people on here come across are a bit more organised.