London Bike Thief Foiled by Door

Mar 6, 2019
by James Smurthwaite  

A would-be bike thief in London was left empty handed as he struggled to negotiate a shop's door.

The man entered Cloud9 Cycles in Bloomsbury last Wednesday and spotted a £6,500 ($8,500 USD) Yeti on a bike stand. Footage shows him lifting the bike off the stand before trying to scramble out of the shop with it. However, he bungled his getaway as he was unable to get the handlebars and front wheel through the doorway. Billy Dye, the workshop manager, was watching him on camera and is seen sprinting to confront the man. The thief then panics and flees empty-handed.

Billy, who has worked at the store for four years, told the London Evening Standard, “It happened within seconds. I was in the workshop at the back and saw him on CCTV lifting the bike off the stand. I knew he was going to nick it. We are a small shop and the bike retails at £6,500 and for it to disappear would have been a big loss for a small business. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to confront him and I’m glad we saved the bike.”

Shop owner Adam Garrett, 34, uploaded the video to social media and praised “super” Mr Dye and likened him to Usain Bolt. He said, “the man looked so shocked by the speed of our own Billy Bolt. He was frozen in place and threw the bike back, it was over in 30 seconds."

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113 Comments
  • 340 1
 Seems like a pretty compelling argument for ever wider handlebars.
  • 135 1
 To his face.
  • 29 0
 lol. The key is to have an extra loose door, and a cramped entry. This takes more maneuvering to get out with a bike. Something real customers can handle
  • 4 0
 @mtbros1264: well said...
  • 1 0
 Don't forget the pegs and the stabilizers.
  • 9 20
flag PocoBoho (Mar 6, 2019 at 16:06) (Below Threshold)
 He should have stayed in school and become a de.......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….......…….rmatologist. Only way to afford dem fancy squish-squish mountain cycles.
  • 3 0
 maybe a door sensor, locks on displayed bikes close to front door...atvvery least make sure the gears are oddly shifted on every bike..park bike, thumb the gears twice.
  • 2 1
 Just use V brakes. When your not using them uclip it and then they don’t have brakes. Then you just wait till they wreak.
  • 1 0
 @Santamtnbiker: funny enough there is a perfect bike thief death trap in my town. A street with no joining streets, going across a steep hill. Put a dummy bike with damaged brakes and the dude will eat it properly. He’ll be easily doing 30MPH at the bottom with no chance to turn and a couple of streets to cross as the hill levels out. The only issue is for him to not ride into anyone at that speed.
  • 1 0
 @WAKIdesigns: then you just cruise along behind him till he crashes. Problem solved! Smile
  • 148 0
 On the bright side, turns out this shop is 5 minutes walk from my work and i didn't know about it, probably gonna pop in and buy stuff i definitely don't need now i know it exists
  • 19 0
 Ditto
  • 109 0
 Best to leave bikes in first gear but click the shifter all the way down to last, so when they go to pedal away the gears crunch like fuck and they go nowhere.
  • 12 0
 I always do that when I pop into a store somewhere, figure even if they snap the lock it'll give me the chance to run them down.
  • 5 0
 I also do this on the commuter bike. I would like to see some would be thief trying to pedal away with a 44 tooth front ring and and on the 11tooth!
  • 32 0
 Back in the day when I had V brakes ( and was dumb enough to leave it outside of shops unlocked ) I would unclip the cable and let them ride into traffic.
  • 17 2
 No pedals works even better
  • 6 1
 Good luck peddling without any peddles.
  • 8 0
 My pub bike has old Hope C2’s, I just wind the pad adjuster all the way in. Good to see the little shit didn’t get anything
  • 4 3
 One of my mates broke his chain after a day in the bike park, so we simply left it in the bed of his truck knowing that if someone tried to pedal away with it they would be left with a nice surprise
  • 5 0
 Take the front axle out and put it on your pocket, proceed to watch theif fall on his face as the front wheel rolls down the road onfront of him
  • 36 0
 @vtracer: Perfect plan.......until Aaron Gwin steals your bike.
  • 2 5
 @bigburd: a dead thief is a good thief!
  • 3 1
 @Roguee: just don't forget to put it back in before you hop on the bike !
  • 4 0
 @twd953: or until you're 100 feet down the road and wonder what's in your pocket...
  • 4 0
 Zip ties to compress the brake levers.
  • 2 0
 Loosen the stem and watch the show!
  • 1 0
 @vtracer: We used to leave bikes in the truck bed for when we went in for beers. My friends red healer would wait in the shadows for someone to stick their hand over the side of the truck. It was so much fun to watch. We never thought someone was going to steal them and we were close by. Even fellow bikers oogling the bikes would get a serious surprise. 40 pounds of rage who takes his job seriously!
  • 76 0
 Back in the day i when i didnt have a lock i'd pop the v brake cable out of the caliper... just to be safe. One time, when i was getting a hair cut, the idea proved itself bigtime! Some guy tried to snatch it, i ran after him but he really put the pedal to the metal... i knew he's only making it worse for himself. He ended up just narrowly missing a parking car, then made a spectacular otb onto the sidewalk. Bike was fine, i was laughing my ass off, and he was laying there bleeding and feeling stupid. Good time, good times...
  • 31 0
 I feel all warm inside now.
  • 8 0
 When I commute around town, to work or whatever, I ride fixed. Had a similar thing happen, bloke nicked my bike and went hell for leather until he went to coast to turn through an intersection, Bike threw him off and he landed in the middle of the intersection. Had a wee chuckle as I picked it up and walked it back into work
  • 36 1
 Excellent work stopping that scum, it’s disgusting that idiots like them are happy to almost ruin a business taking what isn’t theirs. However...why don’t they lock the bikes up? We use cable locks to lock all of the bikes in our shop up. Granted they’re easy to cut, but no one can wander in when we’re busy and just pick a bike up, they have to physically cut something. Two shops on our area have had bikes taken off of displays and taken. Locks stop this happening. Just my two cents!
  • 9 1
 Not sure about smaller dealers, but when I worked in large shops it was completely impractical to lock all the bikes during business hours. Either you have a single lock for every bike (50-100 units which is a HUGE investment) so you can pull it easily for a prospective customer, using keys or a code, or you have a single long cable for a whole line of bikes that takes forever to set and remove every time someone wants to take a closer look at a product.

It will likely also discourage sales as customers want to feel free to check out product without a member of the sales team breathing down their neck. So many customers want to pick a product up, sit on it, or just inspect it at a different angle. Having to ask a sales person for help just to pick up a bike to feel its weight is not a good customer experience.

So, there is a cost to locking the bikes up. Its up to the owner if the cost is worth the decreased risk.

That said, we did lock bikes at night or if they were on display outside the shop.
  • 7 1
 We have all our bikes locked up at work (and across all our stores), its not as bad as you think.
Doesn't deter actual customers at all.
  • 31 0
 Just greedy, he's already got a bike
  • 53 0
 n+1
  • 2 0
 @whitevanman: the only justification
  • 14 0
 Probably stole that one too.
  • 21 0
 Well done on investing in a good clear security camera. Amazing how many shops don't.
  • 6 5
 But not investing in even a simple lock for a bike worth that much ruins all that work.
  • 20 0
 Harry Main fallen on hard times?
  • 2 0
 runnin through those Mafia bikes..
  • 19 1
 Lucky it didn`t have 26" wheels, would have made it out the door....
  • 15 3
 Pleased to see that you didn't lose the bike but the would be thief has shown you just how lax your security is, a buzzer on the door alerts you to customers entering, bikes tethered / locked to the display stands, you have to look at yourselves before this happens again with a more expensive result.
  • 12 0
 Looks like Billy Russo, someone call the Punisher.
  • 10 0
 Good luck trying to get away on a bike without PEDALS!!
  • 10 0
 £6,500 Yeti.
Must be the Comp level.
  • 9 0
 Pre owned
  • 7 0
 In London - he's probably been stabbed by now, with the rate that it's going on.
  • 2 1
 Chavs with shivs?
  • 1 0
 I hope so Smile
  • 4 0
 Nothing lower than a thief...got my MTB pinched last year..thanks to PINKBIKEs help I got it back. It was advertised on this site. When buying a used bike PLEASE ask for proof of ownership otherwise your contributing to the problem.Cheers
  • 12 5
 £6500 bike....
just sitting there .........
no security........
  • 5 9
flag Dustjunky (Mar 6, 2019 at 10:35) (Below Threshold)
 My thoughts exactly mate ...stupid
  • 23 0
 What are you talking about no security. That door did a great job.
  • 6 1
 Damn that shop employee was like "whatever man..."

I would have at least grabbed the dude and got a couple licks in or something.
  • 1 0
 In modern day England they would prosecute you for that.
  • 3 0
 I used to have to leave my bike outside under the back porch because I was continually smashing the walls trying to bring it in and down the stairs. It was locked of course, but I knew it was only a matter of time before someone cut the lock and tried to take it so I used to loosen the stem and disconnect the brakes so that even if they did manage to get the bike in their possession, I'd hear them crash right outside my window. It did not disappoint. Heard the slam, then the grunts and saw a guy running away with blood pouring out of his mouth as I came outside and brought the bike in Smile
  • 2 1
 Hmm...odd thief chap!... one glove? a very bad Michael Jackson impersonator maybe? great clear pic's of this dick, so I can't see his choice of career, lasting very long!
Probably time though for Cloud9 cycles to break out the bike locks, as hindsight is a wonderful thing. I would think they sell them? (are there bike shops that don't?.. especially in London!) be a good idea to show just how effective they can beSmile
  • 3 0
 Looked more like a trade in! He peddled off on a bike outside....I think! He was gonna leave that POS and ride the Yeti home. Whata Maroon!
  • 3 2
 All mtb’s, yes, the Wal-Mart model, the receptionist model, the hygienist model, straight up to the oral surgeon model should come with a tracking device & app so you can hunt the loser down and break both legs, ideally compound style with marrow exposed so they can never ride a bike ever again.
  • 1 0
 I work at a small bike shop also... Love showing off the sick rides. Anything near the doors we use a simple cable lock and an eyelet screwed into the floor or wall. Looks more intimidating then it is robust. But it'd at least slow someone down considerably.
  • 3 1
 The thief took his time grabbing his own bike from in front of the shop after that... Would have been plenty of time to "apprehend the perp".
  • 3 0
 When you forget how to open a door, therefore losing your $6,000 stolen prize. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
  • 1 0
 Out of all the bikes to steal, he takes the brightest, most expensive bike. Gee, I wonder if authorities can track down the only $8000 florescent blue yeti bike among the plain Jane commuters in town.
  • 2 0
 Nice suspension drop test.... Just kidding great work from the guy to stop him, he deserves a bonus in his pay packet!
  • 3 0
 His fingerprints are one the seat tube.
  • 14 0
 Even better than that though... his face is all over pinkbike
  • 4 2
 Who the fuck would put an unlocked 6.5 grand bike right next to the door ...we all know what thieving twats are about
  • 1 0
 Glad that scum didn't get away with it. Only thing better would have been if he run into a pole trying to escape, knocking him to the ground so My Dye could have pounded him
  • 3 0
 Here's to his anal cancer diagnosis.
  • 1 0
 This makes world news? Here they drive a LDV through the shop window and take a load full. Or they pull a knife or gun on you while out riding.
  • 2 0
 The world needs more Billys!
  • 1 0
 BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY BILLY!
  • 2 0
 Now I understand why the wheelbase increases from year to year.
  • 1 0
 This article, and the comments that inevitably followed, made me think of this: m.youtube.com/watch?v=NF3XAtx2Yyk
  • 2 0
 Never trust a guy with one glove!
  • 1 0
 He had a get away bike! So was he going to leave it there while he rode away on a Yeti with no pedals! Too much! Smile
  • 1 0
 Is it real? Is it not a fake movie? Seems like a nice way to advertise any store... Smile
  • 1 0
 This is what I look like trying to get my bike out of the back door on a regular basis.
  • 1 0
 NO NO HABIB THATS NOT YOURS
  • 2 0
 Kaaaaaaant!!!!!
  • 1 0
 Not sure theif looked a bit posh. Cynical me.
  • 2 0
 Funkin junkie
  • 2 3
 Another goof in skinny jeans; surprise!

My guess is we'll continue to see more and more of these types of thefts as the prices of bicycles continue to sky rocket.
  • 1 1
 Too bad billy bolt wasn’t a little quicker with his left hook. Nice work though.
  • 1 0
 In america, that's how Billy Bolt gets shot.
  • 1 1
 Would have loved to se him tazered by the shop guy just like that out of the blue xD
  • 2 1
 I'd rather have seen him foiled by flying knee and repeated elbow drops
  • 1 0
 oi dont you have to have a loicense to confront criminals in the UK?
  • 1 0
 Thanks to slack HA!
  • 1 0
 Promote that man
  • 1 0
 29er safer.
  • 2 2
 So that’s how a dentist affords those bikes
  • 1 0
 Doucher.
  • 1 3
 #curbstomp
  • 1 3
 GYPSY Big Grin
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