Between the bike theft and touring cyclist...

[JBTinEU17]

Should a bike theft happened to any touring cyclist ?

If you ever lost your bike in a cycle touring, please share some of your story here,
and did you find back your bike at last? Also how do you prevent losing your bike
again?

Or if you’re just happened to be a bike thief, would you steal a bike from an obviously
touring cyclist, why or why not? Welcome to post your opinion here.

And more, if interested in reading my real story, please go to the web address below…
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/my-very-first-cycle-touring-in-south-europe.224753/

 

[alicat]

I can't make the link work.

 

[raleighnut]

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/my-very-first-cycle-touring-in-south-europe.224753/

This link works

 

[Brandane]

Thieves have no conscience and probably won't have given your status a second thought. Touring cyclist? Good in their eyes as it means that they not only get a bicycle but also your personal effects as a bonus.
Thieving is common in Europe and not treated seriously by the justice system. Steal a bike worth £2000 in the UK and IF you get caught you MIGHT go to court, where you will face a fine of about £100 depending on your previous convictions. Makes no sense to me and doesn't exactly act as a deterrent. But then I've always been cynical about the UK justice system and if I was to start expressing my true views on the matter I would be placed in handcuffs and taken over to the Politics department of this forum; and rest assured that is not a place I want to go!

 

[JBTinEU17]

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/my-very-first-cycle-touring-in-south-europe.224753/

This link works

Hi~ raleighnut,

Thanks a lot for re-posting a effective link for me.

 

[JBTinEU17]

Thieves have no conscience and probably won't have given your status a second thought. Touring cyclist? Good in their eyes as it means that they not only get a bicycle but also your personal effects as a bonus.
Thieving is common in Europe and not treated seriously by the justice system. Steal a bike worth £2000 in the UK and IF you get caught you MIGHT go to court, where you will face a fine of about £100 depending on your previous convictions. Makes no sense to me and doesn't exactly act as a deterrent. But then I've always been cynical about the UK justice system and if I was to start expressing my true views on the matter I would be placed in handcuffs and taken over to the Politics department of this forum; and rest assured that is not a place I want to go!

Hello~ Brandane,

Thank you for coming and read my post. Also I appreciated your comments and opinions.
I believe that we are standing on the same side, because what you wrote here is very the
same story to this article that I read with below link:

Do the police take bike theft seriously ?
https://stolen-bikes.co.uk/do-the-police-take-bike-theft-seriously/

And I'm very interested in your true views, so if you could please tell me your true views on
this matter by private message.


JBT

 

[Globalti]

My experience of finding a stolen and dumped bicycle is that the Police don't know the difference between a £50 BSO and a £2000 carbon racer. When I took the Specialized Roubaix I'd found dumped off a bridge to the Police station the clerk said: "Oh another bike? We'll just chuck it in the shed out the back with all the others."

 

[raleighnut]

My experience of finding a stolen and dumped bicycle is that the Police don't know the difference between a £50 BSO and a £2000 carbon racer. When I took the Specialized Roubaix I'd found dumped off a bridge to the Police station the clerk said: "Oh another bike? We'll just chuck it in the shed out the back with all the others."

Sadly true, they make very little effort to re-unite bikes with their owners.

 

[Globalti]

Worse, she laboriously filled in a page in a big ledger then took a ruler, tore off part of the page and gave it to me as a receipt. At that moment I knew nobody would ever check against a database of theft reports, even if such a thing existed, and the bike would almost certainly become mine, as it did a month later.

 

[Brandane]

And I'm very interested in your true views, so if you could please tell me your true views on
this matter by private message.

Sorry; but some things are better kept to oneself!

 

[Nigeyy]

I sadly agree -thieves certainly don't care if you are a touring cyclist/pro racer/commuter, etc or not -and I don't think the police either in the US or UK take bike thefts that seriously. And in some ways, it has to be said there are more important things, but sometimes things stolen are really important to the victim (something that doesn't seem to be taken into account at all*). I'm pretty sure a hundred quid to Bill Gates isn't the same to someone having to scrape by.

The best thing you can do it just to try to reduce probabilities of your bike being stolen.

*though I do recall this, though not in the US or USA: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-10960230

Thieves have no conscience and probably won't have given your status a second thought. Touring cyclist? Good in their eyes as it means that they not only get a bicycle but also your personal effects as a bonus.
Thieving is common in Europe and not treated seriously by the justice system. Steal a bike worth £2000 in the UK and IF you get caught you MIGHT go to court, where you will face a fine of about £100 depending on your previous convictions. Makes no sense to me and doesn't exactly act as a deterrent. But then I've always been cynical about the UK justice system and if I was to start expressing my true views on the matter I would be placed in handcuffs and taken over to the Politics department of this forum; and rest assured that is not a place I want to go!

 

[steveindenmark]

Does this mean there are no thieves in Taiwan and I could leave my bike and gear all day and it would still be there when I got back?

I don't think so.

The OP made a mistake many people make. They locked the bike. But they didn't lock it to something solid. He probably locked only the rear wheel, which makes it easy for a thief to pick up and wheel away.

If you can t lock it to something solid. Lock the front wheel to the frame .

This a sad event but we can all learn from it.

 

[JBTinEU17]

Does this mean there are no thieves in Taiwan and I could leave my bike and gear all day and it would still be there when I got back?

I don't think so.

The OP made a mistake many people make. They locked the bike. But they didn't lock it to something solid. He probably locked only the rear wheel, which makes it easy for a thief to pick up and wheel away.

If you can t lock it to something solid. Lock the front wheel to the frame .

This a sad event but we can all learn from it.

Hi~ steveindenmark,

You are absolutely right about how I locked my touring bike ! But, still I thought
I'll lose my bike even I had locked the front wheel to the frame !! And to answer
the question in the beginning of your quote. Well, there are some bike thieves
in Taiwan for sure. And I'll suggest you better lock your bike or keep your eyes
on the bike if you're riding a good & expensive one( such like a £2000 bike or
even higher... ). But, if you're riding a cheap bike, you can only locked it with a
light cable or just leave it on the street. Still, it will be pretty safe. Because most
of Taiwanese, they just enjoy riding their motorbike(scooter) very much and almost
everyday & anytime. So that, even bike thieves won't be interested in cheap bikes(
especially in big city like Taipei) !

And, here is a video of " Rushhour In Taipei " for your reference, thank you.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KkreK06Ho0

 

[raleighnut]

Ah but to a bike thief in Europe your bike would have looked unfamiliar and may have been thought 'Exotic' because of their unfamiliarity with the brand.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Theft is becoming borderline acceptable, even (almost literally) lawful in some parts of Europe.

I've had three thefts from my staff last week in Madrid, Brussels and Edinburgh... large suitcases stolen on the street or hotel lobby in the last two (with the owners being stood close by), and a handbag stolen from a bar stool next to the complainant in Madrid... right under her nose.

Police didn't turn up to any of the three cases to pull CCTV, take a statement, or any of that good old fashioned stuff. My calls and emails to Edinburgh police to follow up with a positive trace on an iPad in the bag showing its location have gone ignored. In Brussels I have clear CCTV images of the thief, but the police don't want them as it's not being investigated.
In Madrid, the police explained that under Spanish law, to steal something which isn't locked or secured (i.e. in hand in the case of a handbag) isn't a theft anyway and that they wouldn't even record the event.

With attitudes like that, you're never going to deter theft... only make it quite an attractive and low risk career choice. Just wait til someone's back is turned for a second and it's automatically their fault, no risk whatsoever of a prosecution even if you're seen and tackled. It's very sad.