UKC

For the past 15 years I have walked to work. Quite a nice walk through the park. I see the same old faces each morning walking their dogs. We have a short chat. Talk about the same things. I often see them on the way home too. It is the best way to travel to work if you can.

But maybe 10 years ago I decided to start cycling to work on my mountain bike. The only downside I could see was where to leave it through the day? As luck would have it there are some cycle stands right outside on the busy high street , so I could even see my precious bike from the workshop window. In all my years of looking through this window at the multitude of different bikes left at the stands I never saw any trouble. Until, that is, when I started to leave my own bike there!

The first time was when I glanced up from my work and saw a lad sitting on it. It was locked up but I raced outside and confronted him. He ran off calling me all the worst insults he could think of. A week later peering out of the window I watched a group of kids kicking the fu@k out of my front wheel trying to separate it from the forks. I raced outside again yelling my head off! Members of the public looked at me as if I was a madman...and I was! The kids formed a big ring around me and my bike, just out of reach, and started with the insults. The worst names they could think of. After that I was constantly checking out of the window.

Things quieted down for a time and then the saddle was stolen. Lesson learned! I started taking it's replacement into the workshop after I had parked up. On another occasion I saw someone tampering with the seat post. I raced outside (as usual) to find he had stolen the metal collar which tightens the seat post into the tube. I yelled bad words at him as he ran off. He stopped, turned around and threw the collar at me. At least I got it back!

And then one day I looked up and the bike was gone....

I started walking to work again and for the past 10 years I have never seen anyone's bike mistreated in any way when left at the stands outside. 

My precious first proper bike was stolen on the first day I took it to college.

Gone.

You have my sympathy. Getting my bike nicked was no where as troublesome as getting my car nicked though. 

Just on the subject of things getting nicked. A 'superbike'  (don't know much about motorbikes but it was big and expensive) was stolen from the garage next to us. All the years I have lived here I didn't know it was in the garage as the owner never used it. The thieves lifted a car out of the way that was in front of the garage. Then moved the car that was in the garage in front of the motorbike. Took the motorbike and put all the cars back. No one saw a thing.

Are you sure it wasn't an insurance con

Astonishing.

I have a variety of camouflage and heavy lock tricks when I leave my ebike at the other end of a walk. It’s a worry I don’t need though and I prefer to leave it with a pub/hotel in return for a promise to eat there later etc.

Not sure in all honesty. Although the Scenes of Crime guys thought it was the work of a particularly nasty gang operating in the area.

I don't drive, so my bike is my daily transport. I've had five stolen over the years, including one from the house. I now don't leave my bike anywhere, except in the secure cage at work, and that's only an old clunker.

I found one of my bikes after two years, and 'stole' it back. I have seen my lovely Epic Expert Carbon a few times, with a BFO bloke on it. Police not interested. The joy of owning a nice bike is gone, I'm afraid.

In cities, eg Edinburgh there are some brazen thefts. Use of cutters in full view of pedestrians, damage to wheels, stealing seat posts, etc., to disable them so they are left longer to be taken/stripped, and a few years ago a more extreme case of two rental e-bikes being ridden by tourists that were stolen in daylight in a busy public place by knife welding thieves.

Unfortunately, in some areas it is only a matter of time before any bike is stolen. Apparently, even low value bikes are stolen as they can be used to cycle up to others left, and the thief swaps bikes easier with less attention being attracted when they are cutting cables.

Any bike seen to be left same place regularly will be at risk it seems. Some bike insurance only cover for being left unattended for “x” hours (eg 8 hrs in one policy I read) which I assume is to avoid covering bikes for being left in one place for too long, so small print in policies needs to be checked in detail before buying.

And you can't see their faces through those dark glass visors!

Machetes seem to be the weapon of choice at the moment, targetting riders on high-end bikes.

https://www.google.com/search?q=machete+gang+cycle

It’s endemic - about 25 years ago we had an associate vp of research caught on camera nicking a students bike at our local uni. 

Ever since the invention of the battery powered angle grinder the notion of 'bike security' has become a complete facade.

For hack or commuter bikes...

Make the bike ugly with 5 or 6 m of reflective high viz tape all over the frame and forks. Alternatively stickers and/or dodgy  paint job.

Perhaps blobs and dribbles of paint on components.

Used the be the case that London courier bikes were half-decent bikes just wrapped in tape and stickers or sprayed brown - after all, if you're on it all day, you want something comfortable and not a bone shaker!

Depressing, isn't it.

Had my hack bike stolen once from a station platform - was my sister's old 5-speed girls racer. Thieves cut through the Kryptonite cable - at last I got the padlock back!

Was expecting for a while to see a "local scrote run over" headline, as the brakes were crap!

Same station, years later, I came back after a night out in London to find some bunch of scrotes had gone down the bike rack and thrown all the QRs from any bike with them either onto the tracks or into the bushes, meaning a rather miserable walk home carrying my bike. Now fitted with anti-theft QRs.

In the summer months I commute by bike. I have been using my road bike (which was very expensive) as the commute is decent (80km round trip) and I have very secure parking facilities in the office. But have spoken to a few people who have mentioned that it is probably only a matter of time before I get mugged for it. I had never given it a second thought, but it does seem to be becoming more prevalent. Quite a bit of the route is through rough parts of East London, very stop/start on very busy streets. It p1sses me off that I am now having to consider buying a cheaper commuter for next year.

Especially if you're regularly on a same place, same time route.

Oi!  Are you calling my bike ugly pal?  : )

Puffs out chest, squares up.

Oi! You looking at my bird (correction: bike)?