No Helmet? You must be a thief

[Tetedelacourse]

Helmet up

 

[summerdays]

Not sure how I would prove my ownership on the spot - obviously I have photos at home, and know that its post-code stamped - with the bike shop post-code so I wouldn't know what the post-code was.

I thought mine was stolen last week, locked it to the stand went into the shops, came out and couldn't find it... but the wrong bike (right make) with the same lock in the stand - I just kept staring at it trying to work out how they could of re-used my lock. Got as far as getting my phone out to phone my hubby when I suddenly realised I hadn't been able to use my normal spot and mine was in the next set of racks along the street.

 

[Tynan]

coppers taking an interest in bike theft works for me

all you'll have to do is prove your name and address and look honest, they can always get back to you later

 

[andygates]

And it's not just helmets, it's "looking suspicious" - copper nous is a fairly refined and subtle thing.

 

[stephenb]

And it's not just helmets, it's "looking suspicious" - copper nous is a fairly refined and subtle thing.

I do love the English sense of humour!

 

[Twenty Inch]

I agree with Tynan

You can often spot stolen bikes - people riding expensive bikes in chav street gear, for instance, or a high end road bike with crappy plastic pedals on it. That's the sort of person they're stopping.

I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone that they should have all their bike details, including the frame number, noted in a safe place at home? No, of course I didn't need to remind anyone.

 

[Nortones2]

The antidote is to commute on a Raleigh Superb: I used one for 4 years at Uni. No-one would dream of riding it, never mind steal it. Never locked, never nicked. Damn. I had to leave it behind in Handsworth Bham. I still feel guilty. Probably still just behind the back garden gate.....

 

[HLaB]

Somebody on C+ refferred me to this site i use it to register my bike frame numbers.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Must post a clip I took 2 weeks ago of some poor bugger wheeling home what was left of his bike - minus front wheel and saddle. or it could have been someone stealing a frame and rear wheel.

 

[jonesy]

...I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone that they should have all their bike details, including the frame number, noted in a safe place at home? No, of course I didn't need to remind anyone.

The problem is remembering in which 'safe place' I've left them...

 

[CotterPin]

The problem is remembering in which 'safe place' I've left them...

That's why the Immobilise website referenced upthread is great.

I was thankful for the British Transport Police officers' lack of observational skills once. I had taken my bike on the train from Weymouth to Waterloo in the days when those trains had separate spaces for bikes. I don't normally but on this occasion I had locked the bike to itself only to discover someone had messed with the lock on the journey up and I could not unlock the thing.

So I ended up dragging my locked bike across the station concourse past numerous coppers to the cab rank to get myself home. And not one of the officers stopped me. I had nothing with me to prove it was my bike so it would be interesting if I had been stopped.

I was trying to look as honest as you can when dragging a locked bike - so maybe that helped?

 

[HLaB]

That reminds me of a late night in Dublin we got back to my mates bike to find the d-lock had been severley mangled (twisted), perhaps somebody had chased the thief. He however could't get the lock off but with a few more twists I managed to break it for him. It must have looked suspicous two blokes manhandling a bike then breaking a lock but nobody stopped us and we weren't wearing helmets

 

[PBancroft]

Stick a photo of you with the bike in a pocket in your pannier.

 

[palinurus]

I recently bought a TT bike from some guy, went up there on the train, took the bike back on the train. Rode back from the station wearing jeans'n'trainers, blue anorak, no headgear or gloves, riding really slowly due to trainers on slippy Look pedals. I certainly felt suspicious.

 

[HLaB]

Maybe he was genuine but when I was in a lbs the other week a bloke came in and said his mate had locked a bike outside his flat for 6 months and he hadn't been bother to collect it. He asked the lbs if they had tools or knew anybody that could remove it; not surprisingly they politely said no.