Bike stolen – Bristol – July/Aug 2011

Hi Everyone. It seems a shame to make this my first post, but my bike has been stolen from my garage in Fishponds, Bristol and just hoping someone might see it.

It was a ladies Carrera Subway 16 inch alloy frame with quick release front and back wheels, in black with white and purple writing on the frame. It had a dirt monkey mudguard on the back and a bright green lock wrapped around the seat post – but that’s probably been removed. The gear casing has some superficial scratches on them and they look a bit battered. The back inner tube is recently patched. Not that you’d see that, but just in case someone has bought this bike and alarm bells are ringing. The front tyre also has a very small hole from a piece of tree branch but it don’t go through to the inner tube.

It was stolen from my garage some time between the 15th July and 4th August – I discovered the garage door had been broken into on the 4th. The garage was at the rear of our property which is why it took some time for me to discover it had been stolen. I suffer from IBS and was having a flare up which is why i hadn’t been down to the garage to get the bike out for a couple of weeks. Normally I used it daily to cycle to work which was really stress relieving and helped with my symptoms a lot.

This is particularly upsetting to me as I saved up for ages to buy the bike. It was secondhand but we just ‘clicked’. I loved riding it and it felt like it was built for me. i only had it for 6 weeks in the end but was never off it and even learned to repair my first puncture during that time. The shop I bought it from were lovely and even put a mudguard on the back for me when I told them I would be doing a combination of trail and roadwork.

What also really upset me is that we had a garage defender on the up-and-over garage door. This is a gigantic steel bolt with a key that attaches the ground to the door. A neighbour had one also on our recommendation and his garage was broken into about a month ago but they couldn’t get past the defender. This time they appear to have bought tools and done a proper job as the defender was completely removed and also stolen!! We did everything we could to secure the bike and still it was stolen!! Please be aware that these garage defender locks don’t give you immunity.

To make it worse, as a new and inexperienced owner, I didn’t take the serial number (hoping the shop I bought it from might have a record) and the house insurance didn’t cover the garage. We thought the defender might be enough and has been for the last 4 years.

I’m not hopeful but here’s hoping!

First point of call is here:

http://www.stolenbristolbikes.com/p/report-theft.html

Second will be a drive around Hillfields and Oldbury court.

Hth
Marko

Hey Jax, Do you have any pictures of it? I’ll keep an eye out but could do with a visual cue.

Cheers,

M.

Hi Guys

Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll try Hillfields and Oldbury Court. Someone else suggested Southmead in general and cash convertors in Bedminster. I’ve already submitted to stolenbristolbikes and there’s a thread on cyclechat too.

I’ve got a picture which I’ll put up shortly as well. At least I feel I’ve done all I can.

Keep an eye on “Trade-It”. Set up a saved search on E-bay, keep an eye on Gumtree………good luck 😕

Here’s the link to the image:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moleskindesign/6011224606/

Not the best but the only one I have – hope it might help.

[/url]
bike[/url] by Jackie Stephenson[/url], on Flickr

Handsomedog – thanks for posting that up properly. You guys are restoring my faith in human nature this morning 🙂

There’s another Cash Converters on Gloucester Road. Will keep an eye out.

Hi guys

Thanks for all your help and offers of keeping an eye out but am pleased to report that I found my bike!!

I was incredibly lucky in that the person riding it was on the pavement next to me as I was making a left turn in my car. I spotted it and reported the sighting to the police, but as was on my way to work, couldn’t turn round to follow.

I was only in the office for an hour so afterwards I did a loop of the area and found it chained up outside a shop. Called the police who were there in ten minutes with blue lights and sirens going(!) They were able to let me take it away after I showed them a photo of the bike, and they called the shop I bought it from. It was secondhand, the shop knew me and they had fitted some distinctive replacement parts on it that weren’t part of the original spec. Considering I didn’t write down the frame no or anything else, I was so lucky to have that evidence available.

Hopefully we’ll also be able to find out who broke into my garage as the police are speaking to the rider who they think may have been a little naive about where it came from… we’ll see what happens but the important thing is that it’s back!!!!

Everyone loves a happy ending to a stolen bike thread!

Cool! Well done 😆

Woohoo!!!

Just want to use this opportunity to remind or advise everyone of http://www.immobilise.com/

You can register your bike here for free by the frame no – it is a database that the police check if they recover a stolen bike. I have the number now and it’s my first job in the morning!!

Congrats on getting it back, enjoy your riding 🙂