theft of electric bikes

[slowcoach]

We try not to leave our bikes unattended. If we are out for the day, we may stop in a town to get some sandwiches and use the loo, but one at a time. Even then, with one of us standing by the bikes, we still lock them to something to help avoid a "distraction" theft.

 

[Andy-Mat]

These trackers are all fine in principle but I read of people who trace their stolen bikes to addresses and the cops don't want to know so you are faced with the prospect of confrontation with the perpetrators or their associates who can deny everything. Maybe sometimes you can shame or threaten an individual in handing it back over.
Has anyone successfully got the authorities involved?

I have never heard of any police force, anywhere refusing to do that, especially not the UK Police.
Do you have a newspaper or web article that you can post here, as I find that really unbelievable, and if the owner was thinking straight, he would have informed the local newspapers, who would jump on such a failure of the local Police, from a very high place indeed.......
But even if true, it should not stop anyone putting at least one GPS tracker hidden somewhere on their bike, as maybe the police are a bit better where they live.
It certainly will not stop me using a GPS tracker......plus if I knew say that it was hidden in a shed, and the Police were refusing to help, I would take a mate of mine as muscle, and the documents for the bike's serial number, and simply go and steal it back!! If i was caught, I WOULD PHONE THE POLICE MYSELF!
But I really do not feel that likely to be necessary very often anywhere....like never....
Andy

 

[PP100]

I have never heard of any police force, anywhere refusing to do that, especially not the UK Police.
Do you have a newspaper or web article that you can post here, as I find that really unbelievable, and if the owner was thinking straight, he would have informed the local newspapers, who would jump on such a failure of the local Police, from a very high place indeed.......
But even if true, it should not stop anyone putting at least one GPS tracker hidden somewhere on their bike, as maybe the police are a bit better where they live.
It certainly will not stop me using a GPS tracker......plus if I knew say that it was hidden in a shed, and the Police were refusing to help, I would take a mate of mine as muscle, and the documents for the bike's serial number, and simply go and steal it back!! If i was caught, I WOULD PHONE THE POLICE MYSELF!
But I really do not feel that likely to be necessary very often anywhere....like never....
Andy

Here's an example. admittedly from quite a few years back but do we really think the severely reduced and increasingly stretched Police forces of today are going to be much better now at spending the necessary time and resources pursuing individual claims of bike thief , considering that they apparently still need warrants to enter properties?

If your bike gets stolen, don’t expect the police to help

A Hungarian thief busting film crew travelled to London to get one question answered: How effective is the UK police force at combating bicycle theft? In London if your bike is stolen, you have a 4% chance of ever recovering it. As previous miraculous stories from readers show, you have an...

www.londoncyclist.co.uk

 

[BazP]

If a thief can cut a chain that quickly/easily, there is your case for two quality locks.
And if I myself, if I had experienced my bike being stolen, primarily because my security was so poor, the last place I would admit to that would be on Pedelec or similar, as it would tend to make me look very naive....
My alarm is very sensitive, and if parked outside my house, occasionally strong gusts will cause it to sound, but it only makes a short loud beep, and it resets itself, if the vibration stops. But if it vibrates for longer than a second or two, as it would with chain cutting, then it goes into continuous mode of 110dB. LOUD!!
Someone here on Pedelec also uses 2 separate alarms, which sounds like a good idea if you want good security!
Good moves in better security are at least the following actions:-
1) two quality bike locks, front and rear wheels to frame and to a strongpoint fixed to the ground, on at least one.
2) at least one sensitive alarm with a remote control, two different ones are probably better, ones that are less than easy to "see"!
3) A GPS tracker, that is charged via the bike's electrics, and cannot be otherwise seen. There are some available now in front or rear light fixtures, or DIY it.
These GPS trackers can be set up to send a silent alarm signal to your mobile phone if vibrated. The sensitivity you adjust yourself via your mobile, and an app if you wish, though you only need to send SMS messages (Texting, and to receive them)!
Also, there is a Fence mode, you can set up a "ring" arouund your bike, you pick the size, and if that ring is crossed, another alarm sounds. That is good for when say a friend wants to borrow your bike, to "nip down to the shops", and you want to know if he goes further, for example....
The accuracy of the one I use is such that you can get an indication of within a few meters of its position on the google maps with an app.....
For example, when I was testing them some years ago, by placing it in a car that I was also driving, the display showed WHICH LANE THE CAR WAS IN on the motorway and when it crossed from one lane to the next!!
There are other possibly useful features that I have neglected to mention as well.....
I think at the end of the day, it comes down to how much anyone wants to retain their bike (property), and how much they want to invest to protect it. Of the few people I know who have had a bike stolen, none had good security, or proper locks, or an alarm or a GPS. Thieves seem to see that from a long way off, and go where the stealing is easy!
regards
Andy

Pompous prat.

 

[flecc]

Here's an example.

If your bike gets stolen, don’t expect the police to help

A Hungarian thief busting film crew travelled to London to get one question answered: How effective is the UK police force at combating bicycle theft? In London if your bike is stolen, you have a 4% chance of ever recovering it. As previous miraculous stories from readers show, you have an...

www.londoncyclist.co.uk

And it's not the only example of UK police failing to act of cycle theft. Here in London there was a case where they even didn't act against someone known to be a fence for stolen bikes with numbers of them in his back garden.

And member cwah suffered the police barely doing anything practical when he had two bikes stolen. They followed procedure by recording the crime and said they'd advise on the outcome, but three years later he hadn't had any contact.

With huge number of cycle thefts in london, the hard pushed Met Police treat it as a very low priority. To cover themselves they once in a blue moon mount a sting to catch one or two of the thieves, but that achieves nothing useful for the victims, and here's the proof of that:

"A total of 21745 bikes were reported stolen in London last year, accounting for nearly a quarter of all UK bike thefts. Over 58,000 have been stolen in the capital in the last three years."
.

 

[PP100]

Like most burglaries , if they have the staff available at the time, they'll maybe "record " the crime , then expect you to claim on your insurance .
If you have it.
Or advise you to "Buy your own bike back from the thieves...."

Dad stunned when police 'tell him to buy back stolen bike from crooks'

'I'm stunned by all of this. I know the police are under pressure but I'm offering a gift-wrapped opportunity'

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

 

[Andy-Mat]

Pompous prat.

The truth hurts doesn't it, as you, or someone you know, lost your/their bike through several bad decisions you/they made, not my decisions...
Butr you are not alone in the bike world, several people here on Pedelec need to understand exactly why their bike, or that of a friend, was so easily stolen, and till you do understand exactly why, you will be blaming everyone else for your errors.
Its human nature. But not the best part!!
Happy Christmas.

 

[passionate off roader]

It doesn't say in the OP's article whether the lady who had her expensive e bike nicked, even bothered to lock it !

I've got a combination lock with a very thick chain for mine. The old trick of holding it taut whilst waiting for it to partly unlock each time you circle round to the correct digit, doesn't work. The only time I've left it is outside the local Costcutter, where I'm gone for a max of three or four minutes. Leave it chained to a lamp post outside.

Great idea about the GPS tracker, but as stated earlier, I don't think anybody would take any notice if an alarm went off. It's a bit like house and car alarms. People just regard them as a bloody nuisance, especially when they're trying to sleep at night.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

No lock can withstand a portable angle grinder, and yes, bike thieves do carry those around. I've decided to take my folding ebike conversion everywhere indoors on a small folding trolley, which I carry in my rucksack. The trolley only weighs 1.4kg. I have to also carry around a short piece of wood because the base of the tolley isn't wide enough for the folded Dahon to rest upon, but that isn't heavy either.

 

[Michael Price]

If you leave your bike in the same place every day - especially if there are lots of other bikes there - then a thief can plan a bit and turn up with appropriate kit such as an angle grinder and bolt cutters

If you leave it in a very public area where there are seldom many bikes - and they are just there for a few minutes normally - then it is unlikely that a properly equipped thief will happen along. As a result a decent lock will be enough as you only need something to stop easy casual theft.

Probably
you could always get unlucky

Hence - you need insurance or some other way in which to soften the blow and replace the bike.

Personally I use a good (ish) cable lock for normal riding where I will only park it outside a shop or cafe and I will be in sight of it for all but a few moments at a time
If I am going to leave it for longer I take a u type lock - gold standard - as well - such as for shopping

I think it would help a lot if supermarkets extended their CCTV to include their bike parking spaces
and some shops (Halfords for example) could do with installing better facilites to lock a bike up properly - those ones where you just lock the wheel to it are about useless!

 

[R Benny Waered]

Sanctimonious supercilious pompousness isn't very Christmassy towards victims of crime!

I have an Abus Granit D lock for casual 'pop into 1 shop' quick use and if i'm doing a job on site for a while and it has onsite out of sight bike parking i take my HUGE heavy motorbike chain and lock with me first day and leave it there. Its about 8kg! In future, as I just got my E, I would remove the £600 battery too.

My son lost his £500 3 day old bike in broad daylight as he made the silly victim error of using a quality chain lock. He now knows they are peanut butter to thieves and that cops and council who scream CYCLE at everyone as they close streets left right and centre here do not address this MEGA issue either. Of all the places in town to NOT have CCTV is where the bike rack was... Genuinely a massive disincentive to cycle for many.

 

[Michael Price]

It is a very good point that if the Government and councils want people to start cycling into towns and cities more then they need to provide far more places where a bike can be parked in a more secure manner.
CCTV on better designed parking would be a good start - my local TESCO has a reasonable cycle parking rack - but the store CCTV doesn;t extend to it - which seems a short sighted decision

Boris seems to like cycle friendly policies - so maybe he will manage to surprise me and push a policy I agree with!

 

[gsm.terra]

I suppose it’s relative to where you live. London and most metros have a high degree of bike theft by well tooled thieves, other places have mostly opportunist thieves . I bought my bike to commute, and use as general transport, and that means I will have to leave it outside for short periods from time to time, I am happy with my level of security, I am insured so I will use my bike as needed.

 

[RossG]

It is a very good point that if the Government and councils want people to start cycling into towns and cities more then they need to provide far more places where a bike can be parked in a more secure manner.
CCTV on better designed parking would be a good start - my local TESCO has a reasonable cycle parking rack - but the store CCTV doesn;t extend to it - which seems a short sighted decision

Boris seems to like cycle friendly policies - so maybe he will manage to surprise me and push a policy I agree with!

Here's a tip. Many Supermarket car parks, most car parks in fact are monitored not by the building/business they serve but by private car park companies. A while back I saw someone bugging people going into my local Tesco store, I reported it to their security staff but was told their cameras didn't cover outside and nor did they.
When I left the store I saw several cctv camera's dotted around here and there so obviously they belonged to the company who looked after the car park. Whether they would be interested in anyone's cry for help if their bike was nicked is doubtful though.

 

[trevor brooker]

I visited a supermarket this afternoon & whilst I waited to speak to it's owner I eventually finished loading my panniers & left.


So a casual thief could have got themselves a new electric bike for the cost of a front wheel using the quick release, or if they had pliers the cost of a few spokes.

 

[ChuckingFeet]

Total stupidity!!!!

 

[MontyPAS]

I visited a supermarket this afternoon & whilst I waited to speak to it's owner I eventually finished loading my panniers & left.
View attachment 39905

So a casual thief could have got themselves a new electric bike for the cost of a front wheel using the quick release, or if they had pliers the cost of a few spokes.

Think I would have at least taken the battery off the bike... Try and make a little difficult

 

[Deleted member 33385]

the cops don't want to know

Wow. Really?

confrontation with the perpetrators

I'd follow them around with an anglegrinder and steal it back!