cycle theft

[steve52]

with so many cycle thefts and general stealing taking place and punisments so soft? why do we as a society accept it? im not sujesting that we punish ofenders more , just that a they make full recompence, or we hold them so they cant hurt others, and i want to make theft a thing to be shunned

 

[e-rider]

the police have bigger fish to fry, or so they say, and not enough 'resources'!

 

[sabian92]

All this means is that you need to be bloody careful where and what you lock your bike up with.

 

[fossyant]

A large proportion of theft can be linked to drugs ! Stolen bikes might be enough for the next fix - a few pounds.

 

[ohnovino]

Punishments are soft across all forms of theft. There was a news story earlier this week about someone who was found guilty of £20,000 worth of theft, and his punishment was something like a fine of £3000 and 120 hours of community service.

If thieves can make a profit even after sentencing, what reason is there for them to stop?

A large proportion of theft can be linked to drugs ! Stolen bikes might be enough for the next fix - a few pounds.

I remember reading an article about someone who used to steal bikes to feed his drug habit. He got just £20 for every bike, whether it was a Halfrauds BSO or a full-carbon racer, with the real profit being made by the people who sell them on.

EDIT: I've found the article here:

Whenever Aziz's crack dealer got wind of an expensive bike locked up in the area he would send Aziz out to fetch it. Aziz himself also chose to steal the more expensive bikes just to ride them as far as the sale point, regardless of the fact that he was rarely paid more than £20-30 for any bike he stole – the price of a few rocks of crack cocaine. "I used to steal the £800 bike when I need the rock and sell it for £20 pounds. Sometimes I was very desperate.""I take them to pubs, coffee shops, kebab shops. People buy them and know that I'm a crack head and they say he's a crack head, give him a tenner, give him 20 and they sell it."

 

[Piemaster]

Some people don't help themselves much to keep hold of their bikes (not as though that excuses theft)

Spotted today in centre of the town, Claud Butler Cape wrath, a carbon frame mtb

 

[Bicycle]

25 and even 15 years ago many bikes (most) were utility,steel-framed chuck-aways that were little missed when stolen.

In London in the late 80s I went through three Peugeot Premier bikes (around £90 each) in a year or so because of theft. I didn't insure and it wasn't a big deal at the time. After that I bought only from Brick Lane market.... with the benefit of hindsight, I was probably buying stolen bikes...

These days, many bike racks contain machines worth many thousands of pounds. Security seems no better, or little better.

Out here in the Welsh Marches, it is not uncommon for thieves to trail home the riders of posher bikes and return in the night with Transit and bolt cutters.

Where once they might have found a rusty old Peugeot with a dry chain, they now find carbon, titanium and alloy aplenty... and machines that can be broken down into components, re-assembled with different parts and sold on through eBay.

Even allowing for inflation, a few years ago you seldom saw a saddle costing three figures... wheels costing £800 a pair... pedals worth hundreds.

Now you do. But no alarms, no fancy security, few special measures taken. If I were a thief, I might look with enthusiasm at bike theft.

 

[Durian]

You can thank the British court system for handing out pathetically lenient sentences. The sooner we go over to Middle East type sentencing the better, plus that way thieves will be easily identifiable.

 

[steve52]

im in favour of demanding better behaviour, and being frim even harsh with non compliance, we are all part of the same community and if these buggers ,not only fail to contribute or even try too, but go as far as to repetedly pry on or damage our comunity, then why should they have any rights to the benifits this comunity supplys? ie benifits street lighting, clean water ect ect the no good buggers even walk on our paths and find there way around in the dark useing our light!!! im all for giveing help to those who need it , and i applaud those who make and effort no matter how small or large there achivements, but it seems so many have lost sight of what we give them,so ban toilet paper from em for a start lol

 

[Amanda P]

Seems to me that bike theft, or fear of bike theft, is a major reason for people NOT cycling. If we want to get people on their bikes, we have to give them confidence that their bike will still be there when they come back to it.

So cities or boroughs which claim to be serious about encouraging cycling should be leaning hard on police forces to tackle bike theft seriously. I haven't seen much evidence of this so far...

 

[format]

I often lock my bike up outside my Uni library. I noticed yesterday that they bike racks have only been secured with 50% of the required screws. I'm not sure whether this was lazyness or whether some enterprising wee shitebag has come along and removed a few of the screws, making it easy to return later and sweep up all of the bikes into a van.

Regardless I've sent an email to the appropriate people and hopefully this will be fixed asap.

 

[byegad]

A local village has a really good café/ice cream shop used by lots of riders. The last time I visited it there was three £4000 bikes all secured to the railings outside by a single £5 three digit combo lock , the wire of which could be cut with a sharp penknife! OK there was a guy, presumably one of the riders, sat looking at them all of the time from his seat in the café, but a lump of wood through the only door handle would have trapped him inside for the few seconds needed to cut the lock and be away with £12000 worth of bikes.

Of course carrying a decent lock would have made the £4000 bikes as heavy as a clunker, which would cost you less than a decent lock! As none of the bikes had as much as a tool roll under the back of the saddle i assume all three riders were true weight weenies unwilling to carry even an extra coat of varnish on their steeds .

 

[snorri]

OK there was a guy, presumably one of the riders, sat looking at them all of the time from his seat in the café, but a lump of wood through the only door handle would have trapped him inside for the few seconds needed to cut the lock and be away with £12000 worth of bikes.

A fairly mammoth stretch of the imagination there I would think.

 

[subaqua]

You can thank the British court system for handing out pathetically lenient sentences. The sooner we go over to Middle East type sentencing the better, plus that way thieves will be easily identifiable.

nah they can ride no handed .


and yes lets go backward in time for "justice"

 

[Glover Fan]

A local village has a really good café/ice cream shop used by lots of riders. The last time I visited it there was three £4000 bikes all secured to the railings outside by a single £5 three digit combo lock , the wire of which could be cut with a sharp penknife! OK there was a guy, presumably one of the riders, sat looking at them all of the time from his seat in the café, but a lump of wood through the only door handle would have trapped him inside for the few seconds needed to cut the lock and be away with £12000 worth of bikes.

Of course carrying a decent lock would have made the £4000 bikes as heavy as a clunker, which would cost you less than a decent lock! As none of the bikes had as much as a tool roll under the back of the saddle i assume all three riders were true weight weenies unwilling to carry even an extra coat of varnish on their steeds .

I don't know about anybody else, but when I am out on a Sunday with the club, I don't like the idea of carrying a 2kg lock around with me?!

When in a cafe with about 10 bikes probably with a net total of near £20,000 parked outside unlocked I don't exactly think a thief is going to take them. I maybe complacent, but if like in your scenario I am a small village early on a Sunday morning with a watchful eye over the bikes, a thief would be an absolute idiot to consider taking any of the bikes.

Cause he'll have a load of idiotic looking lycra caffeined up cyclists after him/her!! lol