After having my beautiful inbred stolen today, it being the 3rd bike I have had stolen (two from in a house and the one today locked up outside an office) and seeing at least one post a day telling people to keep an eye out for stolen bikes, surely it is time (just as we keep being told to bike to work more ect) to start cracking down on it?

It should be up to the buyer to take responsibility that the bike is not stolen goods, if there is a frame number, a quick call to a police number to check it hasn't been reported stolen and away you go, if in doubt don't buy. With these two options there should be no reason that anyone should be caught with a stolen bike, so anyone who is caught they should receive super strict non negotiable punishment, people should be scared to be caught on a stolen bike and so wouldn't buy them. Or have I overlooked something why this couldn't be done or wouldn't be effective?

ok mini rant over I apologize I just needed an outlet for my anger/frustration, my baby has been taken from me! 🙁

Gutted for u buddy, had 2 bikes nicked a couple of weeks back, although i now have a lovely new toy to play on thanks to the insurance paying out. Well, they will and until then the credit card is red-hot 😯

so anyone who is caught they should receive super strict non negotiable punishment

what makes a bike special ? It's just a thing. Robbery with violence would be more serious.

Bolt-crop their fingers off – it's the only to be sure they don't re-offend 😈 .

I feel your pain . . . rant away, heck I'm still ranting over a cropped lock but fortunately still have my baby.

ask robert 😯 [quote]what makes a bike special [/quote]

Bolt-crop their fingers off – it's the only to be sure they don't re-offend

welcome the the middle ages 🙁

Recieving stolen goods is already a crime. I'm not sure what the solution is – the only thing that's stopped car crime is making cars virtually unstealable, which is rather more difficult to do with a bike.

Sorry to hear it's been nicked.

Harsh, but it's an Inbred, but the same would apply to most nice but not bling/unique bikes out there. Don't know how upmarket a build yours was, but for a low (for on here) spec Ebay will like as not get minimum £10 for bars, £5 for stem, £80 forks, £10 headset, £60 brakes, £50 wheels, £5 post, £10 saddle, £30 crankset, £15 tyres, £10 cassette, £15 shifters, £20 mechs and dump the rest. You wouldn't think about asking for a serial no on the bits. I hope I've not bought stolen goods either on here or ebay, but how would I know?

yeah true there wouldn't really be any point in clamping down on small bike parts or any other small goods for that matter otherwise ebay etc would pretty much close down. But whole bikes, where there is a market for stealing only bikes, surely it isn't that hard to check the serial number and ring to see. It of course would be silly to try and do that with every single item bought second hand, but bikes? Some people scumbags make a living out of stealing only bikes and I'm not sure how many of them actually go through the trouble of stripping it for parts and putting up each one on ebay? Although maybe they would be bothered if seeling whole stolen bikes was being cracked down on. There must be a solution!

welcome the the middle ages

Thats the middle ages without many thieves 😀

Without many reoffenders, at any rate.

There does seem to be a spate of it at the minute. We had ours nicked a few weeks ago too, it's gutting.

Just let us deal with the thieving scum the "Tom's way".
Simon, loosen up, not everybody wants to live in a screwed-up modern society.

what makes a bike special ? It's just a thing.

Bit like Bert the dog yeah? 🙄

There are a few reasons why bike theft is currently on the up, the "sudden" realisation by the majority of light fingered scum that bikes can be expensive, how easy they are to get rid of due to them not being very identifiable (not at least to people who aren't involved in the sport)and the acceptance within the industry and of people who partake in it. It seems to me that insurance claims for stolen bikes are welcomed by the bike shops (more trade) and by the losers (new shiny toy).
Police forces are hammered on strict narrow targets by the government so nobody is going to stick their neck out out set up a "task force" of seasoned detectives to investigate bike theft. The community at large, which now has to be consulted on policing matters, usually moan about hoodies, mini motos and dog crap, so that gets policed. Government policy, our own apathy and magpie approach to our sport has lead to this. The people get what the people want, seems to be the mantra for the last ten years or so, the only problem is the people don't realise that they don't want it until it is too late to stop it.

Bit like Bert the dog yeah?

no, nothing like! And I would reiterate that the remarks for which I was banned were not directed at Matt or Bert but at the sycophantic and/or delusional posts about the matter posted by other people…

And while I might be personally willing to inflict punishments like finger cropping for the rape of a child – and accept the subsequent incarceration for my crime of revenge – to suggest it for bike theft is purely ridiculous 🙁

I very much doubt they would advocate that kind of punishment. Let people vent a bit of rage.

Let people vent a bit of rage.

sounds pointless to me 🙁 Can't they just think it in their heads ?

Yeah of course if in some parallel universe losing fingers for bike theft was passed as law I think I would be slightly alarmed, but for this evening I am happy to fantasize about the little tw@ who stole my bike tonight squealing like a pig 😈

Can't they just think it in their heads ?

Something which you are clearly incapable of doing.

"the remarks for which I was banned ……..blah, blah, blah."

Do you think it's worth developing a satellite tracking device?

My mate may be able to miniaturise their existing product but the problem is where to put it? Got to be inside the tube and a small watch size battery …

🙂

I've oft wondered if packing the tubing with plastic explosives and connecting to a detonator capable of being operated remotely over a distance of, say, 100 miles or so would be an option.

It's harsh, yes.
Indiscriminate, quite possibly.
Effective? Well, after a while, the thieving scum may think twice about pinching someone's ride if there's a chance it'll go off in their hands.
Knowing this country, it's probably illegal in itself, and therefore unlikely to be marketable.
Puts a bit of beef behind the warcry that is "Owned…..With Bombers" though.

I'll say +1 for chewkw's satellite tracking device. In fact, I'm surprised it's not been made available by now!

My mate may be able to miniaturise their existing product but the problem is where to put it? Got to be inside the tube and a small watch size battery …

I thought briefly about this, and it'd be difficult to make work – GPS signals are unlikely to get through tubes. Hide it in the frame and you'll just see bike being broken for bits very quickly. And so on.

what makes a bike special ? It's just a thing. Robbery with violence would be more serious.

I've never really got the "it could have been worse so get over it" argument.

I've often thought about installing/building some sort of electric shock locking device to my bike, a capacitor or something like that that'd deliver a nasty but not fatal shock if anyone attempted to cut the lock…

Have also thought about the explosive bike plan as well… I **** hate bike thieves!

I've oft wondered if packing the tubing with plastic explosives and connecting to a detonator capable of being operated remotely over a distance of, say, 100 miles or so would be an option.

given the frequency at which I crash into stuff I'd rather not have an exploding bike 🙁 What happens if the thief takes it home and their children, friends, probation officer etc are all killed ?

Do you think it's worth developing a satellite tracking device?

My mate may be able to miniaturise their existing product but the problem is where to put it? Got to be inside the tube and a small watch size battery …

Your mate will point out to you that for it to work it would need line of sight contact with satellites, not to be buried in metal tubes which block the signals. IT, and the contract for tracking, would be worth more than most low to mid range bikes anyway.

I've never really got the "it could have been worse so get over it" argument.

Me neither, it smacks somewhat of having given up on life and just accepting anything for a quiet life.

As regards small parts you often see someone posting really big clearouts of parts (50 items plus)ranging from top of the range to cheap stuff in the same post, like XTR stuff and Suntour forks.

Then they do the same a few months later with a whole new batch of kit.

Seen it on other forums a lot and occasionally on here.

Obviously they could be genuine, perhaps buying whole bikes secondhand then stripping and selling the parts for profit.

Or they could be selling stripped stolen bikes.

As I can't tell the difference I would be loathe to buy just in case.

set up a 'bait bike' and lye in wait with a sniper rifle perhaps? Should keep SFB happy, one clean shot = one kill and one less bike thief in the world? 😈 Best use a low velocity round to minimise the risk of a collateral from a through shot though…

Is 'lye' the right word/spelling btw??

"what makes a bike special ?"

Sorry I thought i was on singletrackworld.com………!

I’m very disappointed with all of you

At the end of the day you can't burden the buyer with the requirement to ensure it's legit when there is no way of checking. I've bought plenty of stuff off people who were just very kind and getting rid of stuff they had no chance of using in future for a good price. The buyer already will be had for having stolen goods if they were aware of it, and if not they get no cash back when the goods are recovered. Reducing bike theft is best done by better security, logging of frame/fork numbers and not showing your bike off in the area that you live/work in.

And think of the battery size it would need! Say it needed to be active for 2 weeks without charge (gets nicked whie your on holliday). the average GPs lasts about a day on a set of AA's, and you want to build a transmitter into it as well?

Might be possible to build in radio tracking, but then you'd have to drive round all the sink estates trying to pinpoint the signal.

Should keep SFB happy

what if they were taking it to the police station ? I think the death penalty, if used at all, should be reserved for very serious crime, not property disputes.

what if they were taking it to the police station ?

Why would they be cutting my lock to take my bike to a police station? need a better argument than that guv'ner 😉

Small amount of Semtex in the saddle and a remote detonator. Just enough "oomph" to castrate the tealeaf, but not enough to cause anybody else any harm. Tied in with the bait bike above, it could prove a nice deterrent (and birth control method). 😈

Yeah, okay. A rigged bait bike. I'm liking that.
We could film the results too.
There must be a production company out there that could make a TV show out of this and sell it on.

Ever watch SWAG (I think it was called that?) where they did just that with bikes that fell to bits in a few meters or had smoke bombs/water pistols/ in the tubes.

Ojhh, and some kind of solenoid into the front spokes would be much more entertaining.

> nobody is going to stick their neck out out set up a "task force"

When our bikes got nicked from the Trafford Centre car park, I was told by GMP that they'd set up exactly this due to the current high rate of bike theft. As it turned out, in my specific case they proved to be about as much use as tits on a nun, but at least they're acknowledging the problem which is a step in the right direction.

Stem cap ejects marker ink if not disabled before moving?

I have spoken to my mate and the tracking device can be reduced to the size of USB memory key including a small watch battery inside it.

There should not be a problem transmitting the signal apparently but the only problem is where to insert the tracking device for the user easy access (yes, that also means a security issue too) so that user can change the battery when it is needed.

I will ask if he can build a prototype …

d;-)

the only problem is where to insert the tracking device for the user easy access (yes, that also means a security issue too) so that user can change the battery when it is needed.

Incorporate it into a seatpost? Or into a stem?