Grittyshaker, thieving feckers and knowing receivers should be permanently branded on their foreheads (OK, so I’m not very PC) – I’m neither defeatist nor complacent on that subject but I’ll have one last go at explaining my thoughts – even if they do seem odd to you;

IF your bike has been sold to an unsuspecting sucker, then THEY could lead to the scumbag being caught because they will know the who, where, when etc. Isn’t it worth leaving as many avenues open as possible?

In the meantime, I’ll keep my eyes open too (and my bikes locked up)

@MRanger156 – Excellent suggestion

One question (and I genuinely have no idea) – If you do see a bike out on the trails that you suspect to be stolen, what should you do? It’s unlikely that the Police would arrive quickly enough to catch them – even if they could get their cars into the middle of Esholt Woods so what course of action should you take?

sorry Grittyshaker, CCTV showed nothing, my bad 😳

Thanks Michael. Worth the candle, I think.

m2cyclone1, you’re right and I get you. Initial posts perhaps a bit scathing, as I’ve said. I really don’t think that the person who bought my bike is necessarily an idiot or a ne’er do well. Though given what the police have told me this seems by far the strongest possibility. From the outset, perhaps, I thought that getting my bike back from the purchaser was an extremely long shot. Thanks for keeping your eyes open.

Thanks also to Stif Cycles who, when I didn’t know if I could recover a 6 year old receipt for my insurance company, offered to search their database for proof of purchase.

Well at least you are insured, I’m not.

Really sorry to hear about your bike, I’ve had one of mine stolen in the past and it’s horrible! Thankfully you’re insured and you’re hopefully going to get a reasonable deal through your insurance.

But

grittyshaker – Member

I may have been a little scathing in the tone of some of my posts. But if you nicked my bike or bought it under the likely circumstances described to me by the police you are part of the problem not the solution. If the circumstances are different, perhaps the seller did invite you into their home and appeared completely plausible, then “sorry” you’ve very likely got my bike and that doesn’t make you an idiot, we can all be conned.

Buying a bike in a car park or somewhere out in the open wouldn’t seem all that dodgy to me. In fact if I was selling one of my bikes on a trustworthy internet site, never mind gumtree, the last place I’d be inviting some random punters would be to my house to have a look through a garage full of bikes!

I’d only ever sell bikes well away from my house in a randomly picked car park!

Still, they possibly would have realised what was going on when they met the guy, depending on what the the thief was like in person!

I hope it turns up eventually through word of mouth or such!

Good point Scott

Grittyshaker, it’s becoming more and more of a problem unfortunately and I understand your anger. Unless you have some super system to keep your bike safe usually bolt cutters do the job for them.

I’ve seen an ad posted on PinkBike a couple of times in the last month for a Orange Missile (http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1001821/) ‘SANDED DOWN FRAME’… Sure, could have been a project ready to spray. It’s the fact that the bike price is ‘will swap for PS3’ that really gives it away. I’d love the police to call him up and enquire about the bike.

All the best in your search.

If it’s insured then surely the bike is now the property of the insrance company if they’ve paid out?

Sorry, know that doesn’t help. Maybe the insurance company would be interested if you could be fairly positive it was yours?

Why would the insurance company be interested? More claims increases the cash flow through the industry and provides a reasonexcuse to increase premiums for those unfortunate enough to have to make a claim.

The only thing that might make them interested would be if they thought there was some significant residual value that could be recouped. I doubt ~£500 would be sufficient.

If there were no thieves and no people making fraudulent claims how much do you think your household insurance would actually cost? Theives and fraudsters are what makes the industry its money and only when things get out of hand do they start acting, such as with car insurance now.

This or maybe I’m just a complete cynic about the whole industry.

Someone I know bought a nearly brandnew Yeti – for £1500 from ebay from a carpark somewhere ‘up north’ seemed a bit cheap to me – dont know any other details – all I know is there is probabaly £4ks worth of bike!! might all be legitimate but!!

Every bike on gumtree is nicked, look at the state of this- http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/orange-pro-five-full-suspension-mountain-bike/95070310

Some good points and food for thought here. Thanks also for expressions of sympathy and promises to keep eyes open. On the issue of insurance, I’m with ginger. Hate paying for it. Neccesary evil. My bike had a Fox Kashima RP23 recently fitted, Hope headset and Hope rear hub service within the last 6 months, it ran perfectly. That’d cover the £450 the thief was asking for the complete bike. To replace the bike with a similar model will likely cost a grand more than the insurance will pay out and I can write off the cost of the new shock etc. and have to swallow the increased premiums/loss of no claims. I’m still keen to recover my bike and see the thief apprehended.

OK looks like the insurance may give either “like for like” replacement or offer cash.

So…

What to replace it with?

Still attracted by simplicity, reliability and serviceability of single pivot designs. Anything changed in seven years to make me not go for another Orange 5?

grittyshaker – Member
Still attracted by simplicity, reliability and serviceability of single pivot designs. Anything changed in seven years to make me not go for another Orange 5?

The invention of the ASR-5.

Still attracted by simplicity, reliability and serviceability of single pivot designs. Anything changed in seven years to make me not go for another Orange 5?

Nothing’s changed mate. You can’t improve on perfection / you can’t polish a turd – delete as applicable.

Good to hear that you’re getting covered by the insurance – they’re miles tighter than they used to be on bike theft IME.