IT TAKES A COMMUNITYTO FIND A STOLEN BIKE
A report released earlier this year stated that Vancouver residents alone had reported over 10,000 bike thefts in just 4.5 years. The Internet is full of statistics on bike theft – worldwide, a bike is stolen every 90 seconds and only 2.4% are returned to their owners. The question now is not so much
if your bike will be stolen, but when.
According to the Vancouver Police Department’s website, in the summer months an average of nine bikes are stolen every day – an average of 2000 every year. ‘On the flipside, the VPD recovers roughly 2000 bicycles in a year. Unfortunately, the majority of them will never be returned to their owners, as their serial numbers have not been reported to police, making them untraceable. These bikes will end up at auction, but we'd rather return them to their rightful owners.’
| It was a downer to go pick it up at VPD property. They have a few thousand unclaimed bikes sitting there.- Andrew Major |
What isn’t included on the website is that even if you report your serial number with your stolen bike there is a of margin human error that has to be accounted for. With the variable length and alphanumeric make-up of serial numbers it can be challenging to accurately document them with the number of hands they must pass through. They first must be recorded perfectly by you, then by the officer taking your file, followed by any officer calling it when a potential stolen bike is found, and finally by the Stolen Properties clerk who logs it in. It’s one big game of telephone and we all know how that usually works out – your serial number is now ‘big purple elephant.’
There is, however, a human element that can also help find our bikes - our community. Earlier this year Andrew Major had both his bikes stolen from his secure storage in his building. He will tell you that it was his mistake for temporarily housing his bikes there, but the thieves hot-wired the garage door, made their way through the main steel door, and cut the locks to each of the storage units. It was the first break-in in his building in ten years. Andrew, feeling more “gut-punched and shocked than pissed at first,” immediately called the RCMP (police) who took his report over the phone. He then made a Facebook post noting the visually unique and identifiable parts of his bikes; including a Custom Toxik Harold paint job and Ohlins fork (not pictured). He also set up an automatic search on Craigslist – “from which I continue to get emails of other people’s obviously stolen bikes every day.”
| I assumed I'd never see them again. I know a few people who've gotten bikes back but not many.- Andrew Major |
Meanwhile, JL Russell logged into Facebook to watch his daily selection of cat videos and saw Andrew’s post. It was still in the back of his mind when he spent a day downtown later that week. “As I was walking into the Art Gallery I noticed a guy on a bike that immediately caught my eye. I looked at the bike and thought, nice paint job, even got the stem custom painted to match; nice touch. An Ohlins fork? I've never actually seen that in real life. Then I looked up at the dude and thought, he looks maybe a little too sketchy to be on something that thought out. That and the fact that those forks weren't even available to buy yet, I pretty much immediately knew he was on a stolen bike.”
After JL realized that it might be Andrew’s bike he started running – hard! He caught up with the guy and had another look at the bike, he checked Facebook on his phone and confirmed that it was without a doubt one of the bikes that had been stolen from Andrew. “Funny enough, though, I kept really questioning myself through the whole ordeal. It really just seemed too easy. Like oh, there's Andrew's bike right there. No worries!”
JL followed the guy and the bike until he sat down in a park and that’s when he called the police. Having undercover officers all over the downtown core, they arrived in less than three minutes.
| I hadn't expected to get anything back and this was huge! JL is the f*cking man! I've heard more than a few stories of guys getting calls or texts to the effect of 'dude, I saw your bike roll by today,' but JL went out of his way and go mine bike. That's huge!- Andrew Major |
The bike had been stripped – a set of old Chris King hubs built into silver Velocity Blunt 35 rims were gone and a bunch of other parts had been replaced. The most upsetting part for Andrew was that they had been replaced with parts from at least five other stolen bikes; “that was a piss off.”
A very similar story took place just last month in Bellingham, Washington. Paris Gore was eating lunch with a group of friends when his bike was taken out of the back of their truck. "We were sitting across the street at a diner, it couldn't have taken more than a second. Whoever did it was good because we had a pretty good eye on the truck at almost all times," said Paris. Like Andrew, Paris immediately called the police and then posted a photo and description of the stolen bike on Facebook; including the bright yellow colour and custom American flag Evil decals.
Eric Brown happened to be driving home from a day of trail-building a week after seeing Paris' post on Facebook when a neon yellow bike caught his eye. He did a lap around the block to get a better look, “I could tell that the Evil stickers had been taken off and some sketchy looking dude was sitting on it.” Eric did a third lap around the block to triple check and called 911. He then called a friend, Chris Pascucci, to join him for support and Paris, who was out of the country, to verify details of the bike. They followed the guy and bike to an apartment building nearby while on the phone with the police. Eric then got out of his truck and confronted them, saying, “That yellow bike sitting in your yard is my buddy’s and I’m on the phone with the cops right now.” When the police arrived they took the bike but were unable to press charges; the guy claimed he bought it on Craigslist for $500 and he had no idea it was stolen.
| We weren't 100% sure it was Paris' bike until we flipped it over and saw the Long Live Chainsaw sticker on the top tube.- Eric Brown |
"I was feeling pretty ecstatic, I actually had just gotten off the phone with an insurance investigator about my bike when Eric called." Paris was in the middle of a photo shoot and had gotten reception for the first time in a few days when his phone rang; "Eric doesn't call me often, and I just had a feeling it had something to do with my bike." The only damage to the bike when Paris picked it up from the police was a disconnected seat post dropper and the peeled off custom decals. "I feel lucky to live in a good community of people who were immediately on the lookout for my bike."
Paris went on to point out the importance of taking the right steps when you think you see a stolen bike. "There's actually a guy in town here that rides the same colour Evil Insurgent around town. He doesn't fit the typical mountain biker look as he usually wears his painter's clothes. Unfortunately, he gets heckled a lot because people think he stole the bike as it seems out of place, but he really does own the bike. I felt really bad when mine got stolen because more people would be on the lookout, and I'm thankful that no one did anything stupid to him; as much as people talk about assaulting thieves with stolen bikes we have to remember that there are people out there like this guy, and I can't imagine what would happen if someone threw a punch over the bike. I ended up posting a picture and description of him on his bike just so people knew not to mess with him."
This in no way is a call for vigilante justice – but a reminder that we are all in this together, and we have a responsibility to our community to not to look the other way when something doesn’t feel right. JL, Eric and Chris all went above and beyond and I don’t advocate that anyone else should engage with a potential bike thief (because they may not be), but do your part. Keep your eyes open and call the police.
| Community is so important for combating bike theft. Without a network of people sharing information and keeping an eye out, we'd be in more trouble for sure. You've got to look out for your neighbour and friends! Andrew's was the third stolen bike I've gotten back for someone I know and it feels great! Every time it worked out because of sharing photos online and putting the word out.- JL Russell |
So please. Don't give them ideas!!!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=qSnS4ZkTGUY&feature=em-share_video_user
Must see funny bait bike pranks blowing thief's off bike with airbag.
Thief posted the bike for sale for $500 or weed: toronto.craigslist.ca/tor/bop/5768856625.html. Appears to have been sold as the number is not in service and they won't respond to emails. I've posted my own Reward ad to buy it back for the price paid: toronto.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/5785424489.html. Hopefully some good person returns it at some point - but I pity the person who pedals it past me on the trail....
So no, if you have an expensive bike, a half-decent lock is not enough - just spend another couple hundred dollars and get a nice big chain (I got the On Guard Beast for my eventual replacement bike) and some sort of security alarm system! It's not worth the pain and hassle of dealing with scumbags.
L O C K S
K E E P
T H E
H O N E S T
P E O P L E
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E X P E C T
N O T H I N G
M O R E
Thanks again!
As stated elsewhere in the comments they get multiple bikes and swap out components, rough them up a bit, or simply ditch the frame completely. I wouldn't be suprised also if they do not move the sale locations of the bikes a county over (easier to do in the UK) or sell from another city.
I had my GT DHi stolen from my shed. It didn't re-appear for years and I actually saw it re-sold on here. By that time it had most of the components swapped out and the paint stripped but still enough of it remained for me to recognise it. I didn't do anything about it though.
Making an automatic CL search is an awesome idea. I found an old hardtail frame that was stolen from me in Tacoma, WA on an Orange County CL post 8 months after it was stolen. By that point everything had been stripped, I'd replaced the bike under property insurance, and it wasn't worth the effort of tracking down the seller. Only knew it was my frame because it still had the bike shop sticker from Denver CO on the downtube. Still wish I'd gone after him/her in retrospect.
But, and this is question, would you really want it back? Most bikes are not retrieved in the condition stolen, parts swapped, damaged to make them less obvious as the original. I lost out to both thefts first time as house insurance didn't cover the cost of the bikes. My own fault. But would I have wanted them back? I don't know.. Sure if they were completely as found, but if not, and assuming properly insured, I'd probably rather take the money.
The retrieved bike was unchanged but i still lost 200 euro in broken lock and a few removed components. And it was only my commute bike..
Only real use of it is to avoid troubles for short time in opened space.
And of course someone can steal some components and it's still a bad situation.
What I consider better is a GPS tracker installed in/on the frame.
You have much better chances of finding out in useful time that your bike was stolen and you know where it is in real time.
This solution has problems too of course:
- I found no available device suitable for installation (size and battery life) right out of the box so you have to pick a small one and install a bigger battery (BTW, do some research if you want to try this, batteries can actually explode if charging or installation is improperly done).
- GPS signal is not available everywhere, true. But you usually have the GSM signal location and you can locate it within a range of 500m. And most trackers have a Geofence feature which will inform you when the bike leaves some predefined area and you can trigger a monitoring until GPS signal is lost (where the stolen bike is first stored). This can be done also with
- tracker cannot be installed inside metal frames because you don't have any chance to get GPS signal lock. So you must be creative and mask it somewhere on the frame. But the battery and the cables (biggest part) can be hidden inside the frame.
- if discovered, these devices can be easily dismounted. But what thief thinks about such device or does anything about it in the immediate moments after the thief took place? If installed with properly, chances are the device remains undetected even after all bike parts are dismounted.
- costs: device, battery, other tools for installation and monthly/annual fee for GSM network services. This adds up to about double of a good bike lock and comparable to a bike insurance (which would not pay you the full bike price anyway).
The above is what you can do.
But the police could actually do more than just waiting for the bikes to be stolen by the society parasites. That would be bike thief "fishing".
Take a "stealable" bike, leave is as bait and catch all M0 F0kr$ one by one.
And the Justice system could also be actually protecting the society from these parasites and give some proper sentences.
It's not only the stolen bike value that counts but primarily the act of stealing itself that should be adequately punished.
This can be applied to all crimes of course and there are so many advantages to all affected parties (identity of the police investigators can be protected and there are no witnesses to protect).
But it would not make headlines so why should the greatest parasites of the world (found among politicians) care?
I don't believe there is anything that can protect against an angle grinder, makes sense if I can cut quartz with it...
For what is probably the best (heavy/expensive) chain look up "Pewag Hardened Chain", but then you need an expensive lock too... or they'll steal your expensive chain. I think its best to just never let the bike out of your sight...
Link to my PB post
www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1630683
Long story short pinched from my garage, it was recorded and the police gave me a crime number. That sucked losing that beast, it was ace machine back then.
never saw it again, but its out there somewhere.
Still hooked on Riding.
Note to the tech Bods, develop a PB App we can all carry in iphones / Android ( next to strava of course ) and have the stolen numbers register to check against.
Next, know you're neighborhood. Prescott, AZ and many CA beach towns are notorious for "recovery homes". The people who run these places import addicts from all over the country, and the rate of recidivism is pretty high. So what's an out of town addict do to feed it's habit? The shop I worked in is in a CA (OC) beach town known for it's high number of these places and we constantly heard about bikes getting jacked. If you live near these places, and know that they usually look like and in fact are, private homes, be extra careful.
But sketchy people abound the world over. A friend who works for Shimano and lives in a really nice neighborhood got 4 bikes stolen out of his garage while he and his family slept. He has his own work area in his garage and like to wrench on his bikes with the door open. My guess is some D-nozzle drove by casing the 'hood and came back later, popping a side window and opening the garage door with a long wire. My friend joked about them making off with a couple of 26'rs, but I know it rattled his cage.
Recently, we were having dinner at local eatery after a big group ride in Palm Springs. All the bikes were stacked outside un-locked, right beside the door. We were sitting right inside the door. Guy comes up, jumps on a bike and rides off. Buddies give chase, one on foot, another on a bike. Thief rides around corner and tosses bike into truck, jumps in after it and driver floors it. Buddy on bike wisely gave up chase after truck turns into an "ethnically diverse neighborhood" (his words . Month later we read about a bike theft ring in Palm Springs
Bottom line: Get a Really good lock and use it everywhere, home, in car, outside package store or coffee shop. Don't make your $hit obvious, keep garage doors closed and if open, cover nice stuff with old sheets. If you keep a bike in the car or a van, cover it up. If you commute, check the area where you leave your bike: check the bushes and surrounding area for bolt cutters. This is a common trick for bike thieves as they buy a big set of cutters and leave them near where folks park their bikes. Bust the lock or cable, ride off, and if they get stopped, no tools to incriminate. Last but not least, watch where you ride, especially where you end up. Be aware of people in cars, they could easily follow you to your work, house or burrito stop and jack your steed. Don't laugh, it happened dozens of times in New Mexico.
Here's something kind of funny though: This drunk comes into my shop and buys a $500 Trek hybrid. Tells me his wife took his car and kicked him out. He comes back 2 weeks later and buys another (exact same) bike. Tells me the first one got stolen. Buys a cheap lock. 3 weeks later comes back in for another bike. Grouses about lock getting cut. Buys same bike and same lock. 3 weeks go by and scenario is repeated again. He's on his 4 bike in as many months. I'm driving home one evening and notice a Trek hybrid leaned up outside a bar room door, lock neatly coiled around the seat tube. Couldn't help myself, took the bike back to the shop. It takes him almost 5 days to come in, going on about how some scumbag stole yet another of his bikes. I told him I know the scumbag and bring his bike out. I show him unused lock on the seat tube. He turns bright red, slurs a "thank you" ( i think) and leaves. I'll bet he's riding a specialized now from the other shop in town.
Be careful out there!
Next, know you're neighborhood. Prescott, AZ and many CA beach towns are notorious for "recovery homes". The people who run these places import addicts from all over the country, and the rate of recidivism is pretty high. So what's an out of town addict do to feed it's habit? The shop I worked in is in a CA (OC) beach town known for it's high number of these places and we constantly heard about bikes getting jacked. If you live near these places, and know that they usually look like and in fact are, private homes, be extra careful.
But sketchy people abound the world over. A friend who works for Shimano and lives in a really nice neighborhood got 4 bikes stolen out of his garage while he and his family slept. He has his own work area in his garage and like to wrench on his bikes with the door open. My guess is some D-nozzle drove by casing the 'hood and came back later, popping a side window and opening the garage door with a long wire. My friend joked about them making off with a couple of 26'rs, but I know it rattled his cage.
Recently, we were having dinner at local eatery after a big group ride in Palm Springs. All the bikes were stacked outside un-locked, right beside the door. We were sitting right inside the door. Guy comes up, jumps on a bike and rides off. Buddies give chase, one on foot, another on a bike. Thief rides around corner and tosses bike into truck, jumps in after it and driver floors it. Buddy on bike wisely gave up chase after truck turns into an "ethnically diverse neighborhood" (his words . Month later we read about a bike theft ring in Palm Springs
Bottom line: Get a Really good lock and use it everywhere, home, in car, outside package store or coffee shop. Don't make your $hit obvious, keep garage doors closed and if open, cover nice stuff with old sheets. If you keep a bike in the car or a van, cover it up. If you commute, check the area where you leave your bike: check the bushes and surrounding area for bolt cutters. This is a common trick for bike thieves as they buy a big set of cutters and leave them near where folks park their bikes. Bust the lock or cable, ride off, and if they get stopped, no tools to incriminate. Last but not least, watch where you ride, especially where you end up. Be aware of people in cars, they could easily follow you to your work, house or burrito stop and jack your steed. Don't laugh, it happened dozens of times in New Mexico.
Here's something kind of funny though: This drunk comes into my shop and buys a $500 Trek hybrid. Tells me his wife took his car and kicked him out. He comes back 2 weeks later and buys another (exact same) bike. Tells me the first one got stolen. Buys a cheap lock. 3 weeks later comes back in for another bike. Grouses about lock getting cut. Buys same bike and same lock. 3 weeks go by and scenario is repeated again. He's on his 4 bike in as many months. I'm driving home one evening and notice a Trek hybrid leaned up outside a bar room door, lock neatly coiled around the seat tube. Couldn't help myself, took the bike back to the shop. It takes him almost 5 days to come in, going on about how some scumbag stole yet another of his bikes. I told him I know the scumbag and bring his bike out. I show him unused lock on the seat tube. He turns bright red, slurs a "thank you" ( i think) and leaves. I'll bet he's riding a specialized now from the other shop in town.
Be careful out there!
Either way, congratulations to Mr. Gore and every owner reunited with his or her bike, and kudos to everyone who helps that happen! I hope I get the chance to help someone out that way someday (not that I would wish bike theft on anyone); I bet it feels amazing.
Rule 2 states "Properties returned shall be done so only in an honest, sincere manner motivated not by personal gain or want but by a true love, respect and understanding of our brothers and sisters."
A friend of mine was prosecuted for felony possession, even though he bought it from Craigslist. It is still on his criminal record.
I just reinforced his self-acknowledge fact of how stupid he was to buy the bike.
No locks on the bikes, but pretty funny.
Good tips
Register your bikes, it works.