Distinctive Bike Theft

[Juhre]

Why not both sides?

Anyone noticed this ??

 

[CharleyFarley]

I read a funny story (on here I think) of someone who recalled that their dad stripped down and reassembled their (simple, single speed) kiddy bike. He did a great job of it but put the drive train on the left, with the result that the freewheel would only engage by pedalling backwards.

Last year I repaired a friend's trike after a bike shop said they couldn't do it. The freewheel was shot so I got a new one. It screws onto an adapter which then clamps onto the axle. I had to think, carefully, about which way to mount it on the axle because it would have done the same thing: only worked when pedaling backward. It's not necessary to screw the freewheel onto the adapter, tightly, because it tightens itself as the trike is ridden, but it would probably have unscrewed from the adapter, instead. And that would have meant stripping it down, again.

 

[CharleyFarley]

This popped up on my feed today. The one thing they don't state in the report is why it is distinctive.

I expect they are thinking make, colour etc not the fact that the drive train is on the left.

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/bianchi-road-bike-stolen-in-burglary-252448/

It seems the thief knew what they were looking for, being that they entered through a side gate and a sash window. He/she must have seen the owner taking it indoors.

I have two bikes in a locked shed but I also have good quality locking cables threaded through the front wheels and the frames. I can't do much more than that to prevent a theft, unless I had an alarm system in the shed. Fortunately I live in an area where thieves just walk up and ride away with bikes that were left outside with no security of any kind.