er no, its got an e.n.g.i.n.e

It’s depressing tbh, I can’t believe the sod continued with the act! clearly desperate for the next hit of crack? Trouble is, I’m defo the kind of guy to got batsh!t with a golf club or whatever…..prob to find 6 of the tw*ts round the corner!

A van (minus the Hope, Fox, Raceface stickers) seems to be another sensible move for transport as bike racks simply advertise the goods (say’s the man whose just purchase one of ere).

We are, infact, on the cusp of binning the estate to go VW van-tastic.

Guess all the points are valid, but I feel for you man….as we all do love our bikes.

A sensible mode of transport is a minging looking bike bag stuffed straight into the back of a dirty estate.

Anything that has ‘FOX’ written on the forks will attract attention. Not all thieves are addicts, far from it. They’ll have been to the garage a couple of times. Sometimes they’ll break in and realise and that they need better equipment so a ‘oh someone tried the lock and got nothing’ merely means its a precursor.

Just because someones a thief doesn’t mean they aren’t intelligent. It can mean they just couldn’t be bothered with school books.

Yes insurance pays out but your premiums go up. You wouldn’t leave anything expensive in your car so the same goes for a garage or shed.

Sorry to hear about your bike.
If they want to steal your bike or even your car then know matter were it is or how well you have locked it up they will take it. My mate had 2bikes stolen from his house they broke in when house was empty. his house is full of gadgets and all they took was the bikes. If they knows it’s there and they want it they will get it.

Just because someones a thief doesn’t mean they aren’t intelligent. It can mean they just couldn’t be bothered with school books.

Great Daily Mail-esque sweeping generalisation there, bet they’re all working class from broken families too. 🙄

I believe it’s possible for people to be educated and a thief. **gasp**

If they want it, they’ll take it. You can slow them down with locks or keeping it inside or whatever, but I’d rather mine was nicked from a shed than they waited for me to take it outside and mugged me!

they waited for me to take it outside and mugged me!

I’d give it to them.

it’s about storing very expensive, very portable, virtually untraceable, highly desirable, highly valuable things in relatively easy to enter out buildings.

Virtually untraceable? Every bike has an individual serial number. Write it down. Same with your sus forks. There is a national database of stolen property at http://www.immobilise.com that police can check based on this.

I don’t think there are many commonly stolen items that are more traceable than custom built bikes. People don’t custom build flat screen tellys or iPhones. They can’t name every part on their car.

Youd think, as we are seeing an increase in thefts, the Police would see a growing trend to this type of theft, and increase there efforts in this area…..

Most of these thefts aren’t opportunist, the scrotes know there are expensive bikes in the shed/garage. I try and minimise the advertising that I own a nice bike:-

When riding home if a car follows me into my road then I’ll not go directly home but will pull into a different part of the area until the car has passed.
Don’t clean the bike out the front of the house where anyone can see me.
If transporting bike by car then store it inside rather than externally.
Keep garage/shed door open minimally when accessing, not wide open with all the contents on display.

Obviously not everyone has the luxury of being able to do the same but I think we need to always be aware that scrotes could be watching/following.

If these gits are targeting high end bikes, and they clearly are – then I’d rather they took them from my garage than broke into the house to get them. Of course I’d rather they kept their thieving mitts to themselves. Anyone ever ‘caught’ a thief in the act and managed to keep them there until plod arrived? I wonder how quick plod would turn up – would it even be a priority?

There is no way I could ever keep my bikes in the house. The wife would never allow it and to be fair I wouldn’t blame her, I wouldn’t want mud and grease kicking around the house. I think it is just a risk you have to take if you are into biking. Yes have bloody goods locks, insurance and make your shed as strong as possible, but if someone wants your bike then they will have it sooner or later. We have been burgled a couple of times over the years and we do all the sensible things to deter people as much as possible but one thing I try never to do is to become paranoid about it and for it to change how/what I do. At the end of the day we live in a world with scummers and we have to just get on with things and enjoy life and our bikes and not worry constantly that they will be nicked and that we are being watched.

It also doesn’t help the bike industry profits from all the crime so has no incentive to improve things. With every bike and frame having a serial number it really wouldn’t be difficult to register every sale centrally/. There is just no incentive to do anything and it seems a very large majority of bikers don’t register there bikes either. We had a bike recovered by the police a couple of years back and when I went to the copshop to pick it up I was amazed by the number of bikes they had and amazed at the number of decent/ classic/ custom built bikes they had they they couldn’t trace the owners. It was a crying shame to see some lovely bikes just rusting away.

cb – Member

Anyone ever ‘caught’ a thief in the act and managed to keep them there until plod arrived? I wonder how quick plod would turn up – would it even be a priority?

There was someone on here recently who did that

woody74 you clean it before you get it home, pop it into a bike bag and store it somewhere appropriate.

Unfortunately stealing and burglary are a job to these people,
they are organised, have people they can sell the goods to, have kids who can scout for stuff worth stealing, then have a whole group of people who are willing to go in groups of about four to raid a targeted property, be that for your collection of mountain bikes, offroad motorbikes, or whatever it is that they have noticed you poncing about on.
you have to be aware that the thieves spend their days driving round looking for houses worth robbing, and they pick up on the clues as to whats in the garage very easily.

and sorry to be a pessimist, but crime pays, the jutice system is not a deterrent and the sentences handed down are beyond a joke, so you need to look at your own personal security and try and build up a series of security obstacles that will have to be tackled to hopefully slow the thief down or to put them off.

Ive had far too much experience dealing with thieves than Id care for.

Sorry to hear your bad news mate. I am a police officer in Sheffield and cover the Ecclesall Road area. Just to reassure you and others, despite it being too late for you, we are doing everything we can to prevent theft and burglary in the city and Ecclesall/Hunters Bar along with Crookes is and always has been a hot spot for theft and burglary. Main reason for this being Student housing and the attractions this brings to criminals, unlocked doors, multiple laptops etc. Bike theft is also a growing problem across the city. To answer the comment re more patrols in the area, there are! We always have a dedicated tasking car and other patrols default to the area when not dealing with other stuff but what you need to remember and despite what the government says frontline numbers will and are being affected by cuts because we now don’t have the back room staff to do things that they used to do meaning we have to. This equates to less time spent on the street patrolling and more time spent doing paperwork and if it is busy or there is a serious incident then we really do struggle for numbers. So to sum up, we are doing all we can whilst having the rug pulled from under us it seems, lobby your local MP! I will keep a look out for your bike and hopefully catch the toe rag who stole it.

Trevor.

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for your reply, be it bikes or cars (sorry I’m going OT) it’s CRIME you guys are effectively being undermined…in the very time we need you! Big thumbs up from me to your +ve attitude fella.

*clicks the ‘like’ tab*

Thanks for the comments and sympathies.

I am quite happy with my bikes in a locked and alarmed garage; as a few others have said I’d rather they break into a garage than the house.

I can’t fault the police for their response, a dog team and two police cars arrived within about 3 minutes of the call and supposedly another two or three cars arrived to search the area as we had the getaway cars numberplate. All to no avail unfortunately.

I can’t fault the police for their response, a dog team and two police cars arrived within about 3 minutes of the call and supposedly another two or three cars arrived to search the area as we had the getaway cars numberplate. All to no avail unfortunately.

Bloody hell.

A bloke got shot and killed with a shot gun round here, took the police half an hour to get a car there!!

my experiance with Sheffield police is patchy

as much as I admire the police this whole “government cuts” excuse is only part of it, they have been rubbish on occasions long before the cuts. when my motorbike went missing a few years ago the only contact I had with the police was them ringing up a few days later to confirm the crime number. when they tried to take the replacement bike 7 times in two weeks all I got was a community support officer telling me there’s not much they can do unless I catch them in the act.

however I take a 2 foot shortcut through a no access road on the motorbike and I get a visit and a follow up phone call plus slapped with a £80 fine. I accept I did wrong, but their priorities seem all to cock.

sucks that you had your bike stolen, mine are locked in the cellar and you can’t get them in or out with the wheels fitted so they will still take them if they want but they’ll have to take them apart first so hopefully it’ll slow them down

Garage doors: The problem…
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJDu6zK5X38[/video]

The soluion:
Asec deadbolt locks…

I rent a dodgy council lock-up identical to the one in the video, and I fitted two pairs of the above locks (One lock at each corner of the door).
I chose the Asec locks because they are very discrete from the outside, and dont advertise the fact that you have anything expensive to hide inside.

No problems so far…

simonm – Member

Youd think, as we are seeing an increase in thefts, the Police would see a growing trend to this type of theft, and increase there efforts in this area…..

Are we?

Re: the keeping bikes in the house not the garage point.

I keep my bikes in the worlds shonkiest garrage. I have to check it’s till there if someone breaks wind in the next garden. As a result the tools and parifineilia live in the garrage, allong with the unwashed SS, BMX, and assorted parts.

The nice bike gets dirtworkered before going in the car and then usualy washed/lubed/waxed/fixed properly before being put away in the understairs cupboard.

It probably helps that even after 10 years MTBing I really can’t rationalise buying £5k bikes! I understand that they’re nice, and ride better than a £1500-£2k one, but I’ve always bought bikes that I believed to be the point of diminishing returns for my ability. I’d probably be faster and be less punished by mistakes with a better fork, but not enough to justify £1k float 36’s over OEM Sektors.

Sympathies for the OP, hope you get it back and can think of a way to secure them better in future.

Complain, raise an official complaint and create merry hell. Piss poor Police response isn’t all a Police force its idle and mediocre service by the lazy who push back and get a lame response that deters the victim from pursuing anything further. All companies/organisations have these sort of employees.

Raise a complaint about the response and if there are enough the Officer(s) in question will either have an issue raised against them or they’ll actually go above and beyond and do the job.

Not all Police say ‘its civil’ or ‘contact your insurer’ or ‘heres your crime number for your insurer’.

Say its not good enough, I want to know why you haven’t followed your proceedure and taken prints etc etc etc.

I honestly don’t buy ‘we dont have the resources’.

Funnily the money your asked to pay in your council tax towards Police goes up doesn’t it?

Yes they can be stretched however I wouldn’t accept someone committed a crime and got off scott-free with no attempt by someones whose job is 100% to deal with crime.

Sorry for the rant but complain more and you’ll get better service- we all will.

Oh, almost forgot my obligatory…..’Fit and forget’ solution!

😛

tlr – did the car number plate provide any leads, or was the car stolen as well?

Nothing that I’ve heard yet. Registered to a lady who lives locally so I’m thinking she probably wasn’t the perp…

I’m not holding my breath.

Don’t be too quick to slate the police, we do what we can but without firm leads we don’t have a magic wand. Do you think burglars are not forensically aware? Of course they are and most wear gloves, it is SYP policy that scenes of crime attend every burglary but unfortunately most go undetected. It takes a spot of luck usually to catch one in the act and then usually they will admit to loads more. It is poor if the victim is not kept updated though and we certainly have control measures in place to ensure this happens. So although it is easy to slate the police there really is not alot we can do in certain circumstances no matter how much council tax you pay, fact. And just remember when most are tucked up in bed at 3am in the morning I will be getting spat at, assaulted, dealing with things you wouldn’t want to imagine, running after ,hopefully, burglars, completing court files, driving s police vehicle at high speed, looking for vulnerable or suicidal people, sat waiting at the hospital, interviewing prisoners, sitting a scene, taking a 8 page statement, may be fitting in a meal break and all being well going home in time only to do it all again next shift! I pay council tax and I think the emergency services are worth every penny, where would we be without them?

Trevor.

****.

My family still live in the Hunters Bar/Eccleshall area and had a car stolen off their drive about 5 years ago.

woody74 you clean it before you get it home, pop it into a bike bag and store it somewhere appropriate.

You mean like a building designed to house such things!? A ‘garage’ type structure. For many people keeping a bike in the house just isn’t practical. I’m not quite sure why you’re struggling to grasp this…

FWIW my MTB lives in a bag in the house, and it’s a right PITA. If we had a garage it’d be in there.

Bloody hell, if you have trouble storing a bike in your house it must be feeeeeeeecking small!

Ours is a two bedroom Victorian terrace, definitely not big, and I have four, yes four, bikes in the house, 6 if you include the kids. Thats with two adults, two children and two dogs also, its not like live alone.

Do you not think it’s more to do with attitudes of other residents of the house?

If you have a one bedroom house I don’t think it’s out of order to not want a bike in either the living room, bedroom, or kitchen!

I can’t see that a downstairs room in a house need be inherently any more secure than a garage?

It’s just about securing the access points really?

I would store the bike in the house if I could but really, I don’t to be treading grease/mud into my new carpet or spending time cleaning it immaculatley when I have to do up the kids room or the gardening or the flooring or etc….

the’re no point getting 5hitty with each other about it. The only way is to complain to your MP about it.

There just isn’t the deterrent for criminals anymore. They are orgainsed and thorough and professionnal, much the same as the rest of us in our everyday work that earns us and our families a living.

If we could sit in our garages with machetes, with enough paitience or the forewarning, chop off some hands and not be prosecuted for it, I think that might not deter others but it might stop re-offending.

In my honest opinion I think that we should just castrate people like that. I think that the death penalty is a bit harsh and we-ve proggressed away from that here, but I don’t see anything wrong with a bit of selective neutering and spaying. It’s not a short term solution but certainly it will be cheap and be a long term investment.

I know someone who had a working dog stolen recently. They flooded the like’s ebay’s and freebay’s with lots of pictures etc so it meant the Dog was virtually impossible to sell, it was the returned.

I do not think they would return it but the same tack ticks could make it more difficult for them to shift it, if you listed serial numbers as well it may help.

I know that means it will probably get dumped, but if they do not profit from the crime it can only help.
Just an idea…

My bikes live in my attic flat – including the tandem – 106 stairs and a purpose built bike room. One bedroom, sitting room, kitchen, bike room. Makes sense to me

OP not so long ago I heard someone trying to break in (somewhere close- neighbours or ours) but I was dying for a piss.

So I had to do it in the dark. Went down my pant leg and bloody everywhere in the bathroom 😆

I ended up going outside in just boxers with a damp leg still. God knows what a neighbour would have said if they’d have seen me wandering into back gardens like that (holding a lump hammer)

Makes sense to me

but that’s the point, really.

Most people think bikes=garage – having a separate bike room in the house makes no sense to them.

Obviously a UPVC house door/window is more secure than a bloody garage door!

Re the house v garage.

I’d happily break into ten garages as there isn’t someone/an unknown quantity in the dark waiting inside for me.

Its called escalation. Why bother if you know you are breaking into a uninhabited space that you could fight out of? Climbing through a window means you could easily be cornered. Let’s not forget houses contain knife drawers.

In addition its easier to carry a bike out of a shed or garage. Unless you can find exit imagine trying to get a bike out of a window quietly.

Why risk it? Go after the low hanging fruit.

As I said put a bike in a garage/shed at your risk. Only put tools/detriuous in them that you wouldn’t mind losing. Not thousands of pounds of kit.

i wouldnt knock the police, considering how the CPS treats cycle theft Im surprised the police waste their time when the CPS either dont prosecute or the courts hand out a waste of time sentence.
its agreen light for thieves at the moment.