someone just tried to nick my flipping bike!

[mrsflibble]

normally i park it down near the town hall at the cycle racks over there, it's very public. I lok the bike through the body work and a wheel using a tubular lock with a proper key. the trailer then gets locked using a crappy flimsy combination lock (all i could affords last week lol) through both the bike, bike body and whatever the bike is fixed too as well. the way the trailer hitches to the bike looks complicated too, but really isnt so that could have been somewhat of a deterrant as well.

Today i decided to park it behind our fave cafe, next to the bus station. big mistake. i came back from buying sophies new shoes to find the trailer and the crappy lock attatched to that untouched, the single carrier bag in the boot of the trailer untouched (all it had in was a box of chips!) but my proper bike lock has a massive crack down it and the key-hole protector is missing!
I will never be parking behind the bus station again, ONLY down at the proper racks.

I will be off to halfords this evening to get an armoured chain with heavy duty padlock attatched i think, i am so annoyed and worried! if I'd not come back when i did, who knows where my bike could be?! i really hate people. if i could find a nice cave with running water and broadband I'd move there in a flash.

[Big Al]

normally i park it down near the town hall at the cycle racks over there, it's very public. I lok the bike through the body work and a wheel using a tubular lock with a proper key. the trailer then gets locked using a crappy flimsy combination lock (all i could affords last week lol) through both the bike, bike body and whatever the bike is fixed too as well. the way the trailer hitches to the bike looks complicated too, but really isnt so that could have been somewhat of a deterrant as well.

Today i decided to park it behind our fave cafe, next to the bus station. big mistake. i came back from buying sophies new shoes to find the trailer and the crappy lock attatched to that untouched, the single carrier bag in the boot of the trailer untouched (all it had in was a box of chips!) but my proper bike lock has a massive crack down it and the key-hole protector is missing!
I will never be parking behind the bus station again, ONLY down at the proper racks.

I will be off to halfords this evening to get an armoured chain with heavy duty padlock attatched i think, i am so annoyed and worried! if I'd not come back when i did, who knows where my bike could be?! i really hate people. if i could find a nice cave with running water and broadband I'd move there in a flash.

Little bastards !! I had a £900 bike, took 2 years to save up for it. Had it 3 months and I went to the accountants to pick up a software package, got off the bike, lent it against the window and took the box off the accountant in the doorway. I turned round and the bike was gone. Nobody saw anything.

I spoke to one of the local "enforcers" sorry ecurity consultants and was told that it would be a £20 wrap by teatime..... AND the bloody insurance company wouldn't pay out either...... still look at bikes now even though it is over 4 years since it went but I have the serial number in the phone and come the day I find someone riding it.....

If you haven't got the chain yet look for a kryptonite wire and buy a big hardened padlock to use with it. Nothing has got through my wire but then I only use it to lock the ladders up now.....

[mrsflibble]

thanks big al I'll look. mine was £130 for the bike and another £40 for the trailer (£60 including diesel to go pick it up) but brand new, the trailer is worth more than the flipping bike! I have had to save my little fingers off to afford it and it's just so upsetting; but thankfully they DIDN'T get it so I'm good for another day. at home the trailer lives in the shed, folded with wheels removed. the trailer wheels live in the house along with the bike.
my bike's not even a desirable one either, it's an old-fashioned style shopper with a fat-arse saddle and a basket!

[Big Al]

thanks big al I'll look. mine was £130 for the bike and another £40 for the trailer (£60 including diesel to go pick it up) but brand new, the trailer is worth more than the flipping bike! I have had to save my little fingers off to afford it and it's just so upsetting; but thankfully they DIDN'T get it so I'm good for another day. at home the trailer lives in the shed, folded with wheels removed. the trailer wheels live in the house along with the bike.
my bike's not even a desirable one either, it's an old-fashioned style shopper with a fat-arse saddle and a basket!

Years ago ( 70's and before) it was common to go to the pub and come out to find your car gone as some drunk needed transport home. Now cars are more secure it is likely that your bike was targeted as a get me home jobby. The thing is an old style shopper type is a comfortable bike to ride. The sit up and beg type are a lot less pain in the back than the new mountain bike variants.

[ina]

The sit up and beg type are a lot less pain in the back than the new mountain bike variants.

I'll never understand why the British people are so keen on them... Comment by a German student who spent his summer here - everybody he's seen on a bike here looks uncomfortable, and as if they really didn't enjoy it at all! I bought my bike in Germany in the end, because I couldn't get a decent one here that suited me.

Apart from that - the problem of theft is the same everywhere. Always, always lock it as securely as possible, even if you are standing next to it and only turning round to look at something! I think the problem will get even worse now, what with the general financial crisis, people waking up to the fact that petrol costs more than they can afford, and therefore a growing market for second hand bikes... Your bike should have a number somewhere hidden on it - if you have one of any value, get it insured, and that number registered with the police, too.

[Big Al]

The sit up and beg type are a lot less pain in the back than the new mountain bike variants.

I'll never understand why the British people are so keen on them... Comment by a German student who spent his summer here - everybody he's seen on a bike here looks uncomfortable, and as if they really didn't enjoy it at all! I bought my bike in Germany in the end, because I couldn't get a decent one here that suited me.

Apart from that - the problem of theft is the same everywhere. Always, always lock it as securely as possible, even if you are standing next to it and only turning round to look at something! I think the problem will get even worse now, what with the general financial crisis, people waking up to the fact that petrol costs more than they can afford, and therefore a growing market for second hand bikes... Your bike should have a number somewhere hidden on it - if you have one of any value, get it insured, and that number registered with the police, too.

Well you are not wrong there Ina. Regardless of the green bent the cost of petrol is a point. My wife works 3/4 of a mile away from home and I used to drive her there and then come home, do the same twice at dinner and then home time. 8 times a day..... 14 MPG. now we walk the dog to work and back on a morning and she takes a packed lunch and sometimes i pick her up at night but it is a problem now. We have actually cut our mileage down by 6000+ in the last 6 months due to the petrol costs.......

[mrsflibble]

so is that like a VIN plate on a car then? thanks for the info Ina, I'll get that done. it's not a high value bike,but it is of high value to me!

[ina]

I think there should be a number hidden on the frame somewhere... So not as obvious as a number plate. Must admit, have never looked for it on my own, as I've not really been out with it. My old one had it, I think below the saddle. Must investigate.

[StripyPixieSocks]

My Dad used to have a set of punches with letters on and he always used to punch our bike frames with the postcode and number of the house when we were little... I don't know if he registered it with the Police as he was a Policeman but EVERYTHING worth anything he had was and is always postcoded and numbered with a black light pen he has!

I think you should be able to get mains powered ones, give them a bit of a shock if they try to nick it!

My mate had his Motorbike nicked once from right outside a busy pub on a busy main road! I went in and he'd just had a payout from the insurance from a bike accident and bought himself a brand new bike, parked and locked it up outside the pub. He asked me if I'd seen his new bike on the way in and after 5 minutes going "No there's no bike there" and him saying "yes there is, you're just winding me up" we went outside and someone had nicked it. Police reckon they'd lifted it into the back of a van... all in the space of 15 minutes... he was absolutely gutted... he'd had it 1 hour!

It's horrible though people work their fingers to the bone to buy something and someone comes along and takes it... problem is when the Police do the hard work in finding them and bringing them to justice the courts give them nothing but a smack on the wrist and we're back into a vicious circle again.

Glad they didn't actually get to stale your bike though, that's something to be thankful for at least :)

[Clara]

if i could find a nice cave with running water and broadband I'd move there in a flash.

Mrs F you're welcome anytime , what's more my bike's been outside unlocked for about 3 years now, though cycling round here is a bit of a Mr/s Universe pastime!

I remember feeling anxious anytime I locked my bike anywhere when I lived in the UK - I wonder how many people it just puts of cycling altogether. Shame.

[mrsflibble]

I think there should be a number hidden on the frame somewhere... So not as obvious as a number plate. Must admit, have never looked for it on my own, as I've not really been out with it. My old one had it, I think below the saddle. Must investigate.

the VIN on a car is the chassis number, normally somewhere in the engine bay and also another somewhere else in the car too... james had lok and all he could find was the patent number for the bike design hahaha!

i do have a blacklight pen...

anyway, i bought a "magnum" bike lock, heavy duty l'il bugger it is too!!

[charlie]

They tried to steal my husband's bike the night i went into hospital to have our baby!
He came back from the hospital to pick up a few things, and found the lock had been tampered with.
About a week later, he went down to go to work, and the bike had been nicked!
It looked like they had used a pair of bolt cutters on the lock, and that was left on the floor!

He was gutted, as he'd only had the bike 4 months.

[StripyPixieSocks]

No one is nicking my OH's bike... it's suspended above the stairs in our flat and well... if they break in through the door at the bottom he will be waiting at the top with his Longbow... probably wearing some part of his armour lol



The little rig he uses was about £5 from ALDI... great for keeping your bike safe and not cluttering up the place too :)

[mrsflibble]

mine lives in the back room, I'd love a ceiling hanger like thaT!

[invisiblepiper]

We all use bikes (when the wind allows). But my poor friend was waiting for the doors to open on the train as she watched guys in a van cut through her lock, lift the bike into the transit and drive off as she waited for the electronic doors to open!
She just stood and cried in frustration.