Stolen Bikes - Irvine, California

Jan 14, 2015 at 10:50
by Pinkbike Staff  
Sunday morning one of our Shimano employees woke up to their garage door partially open and 4 bikes gone. This occurred in Orange County, CA. A couple of these bikes had some very special parts including a Di2 Triple on the Santa Cruz Blur LTC. Di2 has not been delivered to any customers and this is pre-production parts which should make this extremely hard to sell and easy to spot. If you see anyone trying to sell a used bike with Di2 with "prototype" printed on some of the parts it is most likely stolen!

Stolen Bikes

Stolen Bikes

Stolen Bikes

Stolen Bikes

In the photos above there is a spec list with details of what was on the bikes at the time of the theft and the most recent photos available. Parts that were different from the photo were noted. Please keep an eye out for any of these bikes or parts. Nothing else was stolen, so they targeted the bikes, so they may know something about bikes as they left behind a few other bikes that were not as valuable. We appreciate any help on the return of these bikes.

Contact Shimano here.

Author Info:
pinkbikeaudience avatar

Member since Jul 22, 2013
3,460 articles

80 Comments
  • 53 0
 Burn in hell, bike thieves!
  • 7 2
 Yeah, that too.
  • 5 0
 This is why my bike is in my living room as I type this. I live right near there an will keep an eye out for these. Sucks.
  • 36 0
 I just busted a guy last week breaking into my truck '86 Toyota 4x4 at 4am. I came flying outside half naked, chased him down and cornered him, and called the cops. Got him on video, he's in jail, DAMN THAT FEELS GOOD-- PUNK THIEVES!!!!!!
  • 14 0
 I would love to see this video.
  • 7 10
 theArtiist is a SCAMMER he sold me a set of damaged enve wheels telling me they had less than 50 miles and looked new. Karma man…
  • 2 5
 You are simply a crazy man. wow... just crazy....
  • 2 4
 Is it crazy to expect to receive what's described in a ad?
  • 7 5
 Last and only reply, this is getting child'sh.. if the open forum only knew your manipulation. for the public record. we have extensive emails. You agreed the bearings were not even broken in, wheels are in phenomenal shape. You sent pictures of USPS busting up your box, there are holes in your box, literal holes!!! .. . the price was so low, and I informed you cost includes basic shipping. Anything above, you would have to pay per our phone conversation. You agreed. USPS damaged your stuff, not me. product was appropriately boxed... and handled as I mentioned prior to sale. I kept my end. I've had no issues with any sales on pinkbike or ebay-- I'm 100%. you are too much... not coo!
  • 5 8
 Shipping expensive $2500 carbon wheels with no padding and expecting me to file a claim because of damage is lame. These wheels are damaged because you threw them in a box with no padding. Yours scamming me and the USPS. BS!
  • 17 1
 @ma2xs @theArtiist....can you two NOT do that here?
  • 3 1
 Agreed. not the place for this! super awkward!! sorry guys. .. :/
  • 3 5
 How do you guys deal with people on pinkbike who rip you off? Is there a proper place to take up a dispute? Never had this happen. the Artiist is a Scammer. I think scammers and bike thieves are similar.
  • 5 0
 Yikes. This sounds messy. Carry on please...
  • 8 1
 So far I'm ruling in favor of ma2sx.... Artiist, No packing or bubble wrap on ENVes? Wtf?
  • 3 0
 Wont somebody please think of the children!!!
  • 2 0
 I ordered a brand new carbine from a bike shop through pink bike. They didn't wrap the bike and it came destroyed. The frame was chipped and the fox fork was gouged on the lowers.
  • 2 0
 That sucks. What did you do? USPS sent me $50. Theartiist didn't insure the wheels. He won't take them back so I'm stuck with a set of enves with 100's of enves chips. Bummer.
  • 1 1
 OH AND I FORGOT LOL IT WAS A SIZE LG INSTEAD OF MD. I sold the frame to my neighbor for 1800 since he wanted that exact bike and size. they sent me a new one. Had to put a new decal over the fork gouge. 99.99% of the many deals ive done through pinkbike have been completely transparent and smooth however. I have gotten so many good deals through here. Like my downhill frame for 500$
  • 21 0
 The same thing happened to me over the summer. I worked the entire time to afford my brand new nomad. I took it on its maiden ride, and it was stolen from me that night. A thief broke a small hole into my garage door's window and inserted a clothes hanger or small device to hook onto the safety release. He engaged the release and opened the door very quietly and cut through my dad and mine's bike locks and took my new nomad and his Bronson. Bikers beware this is a very common way of stealing bikes out of garages!! This was not a smash and grab. I was targeted, scoped, and then carefully robbed of my valuable possessions. I am sharing this bit of information in hopes of sparing my fellow bikers the absolute heartbreak an event like this can bring upon yourselves and your family.
  • 3 0
 God damn I am sorry to hear that man. I cringe at the thought of someone doing this in my hometown. I wish there was some way of ensuring that this would never happen.
  • 4 2
 I live one of the safest neighborhoods in LA. But I always read in the local paper about B&E's where people's Rokex's, wallets, and purses get stolen from their kitchens. Often in the middle of the day, when occupants are actually in the house during the robbery.

Point is, nothing is truly safe from theft. You have to take the best precautions you can and having insurance doesn't hurt.
  • 8 0
 I wonder if some sort of GPS tracker could be designed to fit inside of the seat tube or inside the handle bar, or somewhere internal. so that you could track the location of your bike. Like a bike Lo-Jack.
  • 2 0
 @Twofoxes sorta like a gps strava computer but one that sends GPS coordinates while its off to save battery, doubling as a strava tracker as well as a bike locater. Whoa, i just blew my own mind. in that case, all rights reserved
  • 1 0
 If you haven't already remove the freaking safety release. There's no use for it other than letting those idiots inside.
  • 2 0
 house insurance will cover this, make sure and take a pic of the bike and have a receipt indicating value and as a safety measure check in with your insurance agent to insure it is covered under your policy.
  • 24 5
 While I share my fellow mountain bikers' disgust at this brazen theft, I wonder...

Is this Pinkbikes's first in a daily, ongoing series of posts where EVERYONE'S stolen bikes will be posted? Surely you mean to offer this kind of stolen bike broadcast to all users, not just one employee from a major bike parts company?

I'm sure that's what you guys have planned. Right?
  • 9 6
 Since every regular rider has prototype components on their bike, right?
  • 10 10
 Not sure what your point is? It's not like it's a prototype of the next iPhone or something.

Make a case why that matters at all, and I'll retract my statement.

Let me save you some time... "It's important to keep it out of the hands of SRAM so they can't reverse engineer and copy it" is stupid.
  • 4 12
flag ustemuf (Jan 14, 2015 at 11:27) (Below Threshold)
 You aren't sure what my point is... It's obvious you don't know what the point is from your original post so no need to repeat that. In short, these bikes being stolen affect the entire community. Random Joe's bike is stolen and it only affects Random Joe. When you understand the point, let me know, and if I'm feeling nice I will continue the conversation.
  • 5 0
 Prototype parts in the wild are a liability if an unknowing someone rides them and they fail. That being said, I hope your crankarms break off while your sprinting away from the cops theif!
  • 12 9
 No, really... Clarify your statement.

This is a prototype that was most likely being tested by this employee. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe his job was just to show it off on the local trails or bring it to demo days. Regardless, it can be quickly replaced by Shimano to continue serving its intended purpose. While something like a prototype of the iPhone, or a drone being captured by Iran can, and most certainly will be reverse engineered. But Apple has a ton of fierce competitors, as does the U.S. military. But Shimano has ONE real drivetrain competitor in the MTB world, SRAM. They are developing electronic shifting as we speak, but they wouldn't be stupid enough to infringe on any of Shimanos design patents.

So again... What's your point? If you have one at all.

MY point is that Pinkbike is corny for using its site to help ONE person, and ONE company find something that was stolen. Who is that serving? Us? No. Absolutely not. I'm sorry the dude lost a lot of expensive bikes, that sucks. But this guy can also get a new prototype if he really needs it. So once more... State your point and I'll honor your Pinkbike Plus status by retracting.
  • 6 2
 It's ironic that the person slagging PB for using their site to help someone else recover stolen property has a free account, and the person defending them for doing so pays for theirs.
  • 6 1
 I agree with you @MasterSlater it's not fair, yes it might it be 10k+ worth of bikes, with some prototype parts that he was given. The guy might have a full time job so can afford to buy bikes like that. Just think of this, my friend had his bike stolen, that took him just under a year of hard work, to pay for the bike with cash in hand. So why does this guy get to have his bikes on the main page were thousands can see it, compared to some who is at school and has a weekend job. I just think it's slightly unfair.
On the other hand pinkbike you could start doing a page like this were users get to submit here stolen bikes, and pink bike post them.
  • 2 2
 nilswalk, can you elaborate? I don't follow your logic. If there's irony to be enjoyed, I wanna be in on the joke!
  • 6 0
 Just wondering pinkbike, if I told you my local bike shop had some bikes stolen(which actually happened) one of them being one with a prototype pace frame. If they would have contacted you lot to put something up on the home page, would you have done it?
  • 3 1
 Thank you NUKEproofJosh for helping to prove my point, as I don't think PB would give a f*** about your local bike shop. Someone pulled some strings to get this article on the site. And I'm simply questioning the ethics of it. They know the collective rage regarding bike theft will distract from the questionable motives behind the post.
  • 4 0
 I thought the mention of the prototype parts was meant as a means of identifying the bike, so if you noticed it being sold the thief could be caught.
  • 4 0
 Why didn't shimano post about it and not pink bike, just don't think it's worthy of home page, perhaps I should contact my lbs as the prototype frame hasn't been returned yet, so if pinkbike will post for one bike manufacture then surely they would do it for another?
  • 6 0
 @MasterSlater Why are you questioning ethics of this article? Not everyone has access to be posted on the front page, but so what? Friendship has it's privileges in ever aspect of your life...to ignore that or cry about it is a complete waste. And if the pinkbike mods can help someone get back tens of thousands of dollars of product that was stolen from them, why the hell not?
  • 2 0
 @masterslater, what industry do you work in?
Ever notice that firemen get a ll more wiggle room from police. ..doctors get slightly better treatment from fellow doctors...military get special discounts/privileges. ..etc
Its called professional courtesy.
  • 15 0
 I was riding the FL loop yesterday 4:30ish pm 01/14/15 and noticed the White Nomad near mid loop residential home area. Its not unusual to see 5+K bikes racing about but what was a little off was to guys standing by the "watch your down hill speed" sign in regular street clothes. The white guy with sick Nomad had jeans and a huge Chargers jersey and the other dude had a black beach cruiser and just shorts and tank-top. Both where gringos without the usually bike gear you see on the trail. They looked suspicious but who knows maybe they where just OC Joeys?
  • 2 0
 This needs to be upvoted to the top. More details if you got 'em!!
  • 1 0
 LOL
  • 2 0
 The only thing that would stand out for I.D sake is the guy with the Chargers Jersey was a red-head with a very short buzz-cut the other guy simply looked like a slack-jawed yocal, skinny short and pale looking. They eye-balled my bike and ignored my "Whats up nod" as I cruised by. I wish I could give a better description but it's all I have. Once again they could have been Joey's but these cats didn't match the avid racer look if you know what I mean.
  • 2 0
 chargers fan - mos def a joey
  • 13 0
 To educate the viewership to prevent this from happening to them. How the scum get in to a closed garage door was eye opening to me:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMz1tXBVT1s

and the very simple fix:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgwJXwKK3f4
  • 3 0
 An excellent contribution to the conversation. Thanks!
  • 1 0
 I push the slide lock every fuggin time. My aging, forgetful mom has left the garage open by pushing the wrong button on the controller several times now. Nothing gone yet, but skeery to come home to my wife's, my kids, my own and the thrasher beach cruisers (13 bikes), surfboards, tools and whatever wide open to the street.
  • 4 0
 Good points. I am sure the thieves were noticing that the owner was in possession of some really expensive bikes. My garage is always open with my kids in and out with their bikes etc........ I have a huge cable running through the frame of my three bikes. They are only items and can be replaced but I hand picked every component on those bikes and I would be PISSED!!!!!
  • 5 1
 lol not everyone in orange county is rich, most everyone in Irvine is though. I will keep an eye out for all of the above on the local trails and on CL, hate thieves!!
  • 6 2
 They are a Shimano employee's bikes. Not just a fellow rider @CaliCol but a guy who works his ass off to make sure you have more fun riding your own bike.
  • 2 0
 And everyone at my house Bitches when I double lock the gate that leads to the bike shed. Bike thieves really piss me off. Hope these bikes get back to the owners and not get found and shafted like that other case we saw on pb a while back.
  • 2 0
 Dam so sorry on it bike thieves know bike worth now they can get a quick sell on it cash . So best thing have a dog and always check neighborhood watch community on your area i have a good eye neighboor who have gun no question ask if he saw u went on a property that ur not belong dead duck u thieves . I keep eye on black market on this joe
  • 4 0
 Doods, I live in the ghetto and know what's up. In this case It's one of your neighbors. Some closet tweaker douch who knew the stash was worth it.
  • 1 0
 As a long-time resident of "Americas Safest City" I was actually surprised by the amount of non-violent crime that seems to take place around here. I've actually had an ipod stolen out of my car in my garage. Granted, I left the door open overnight, but you can't even see my garage from the street.

I have a Santa Cruz V10 and Titus El Guapo + a Triumph Tiger 800 XC in my garage. We have our garge door open quite a bit (even though the HOA frowns on that). Maybe I should think about bike locks either way.

Feel bummed for the folks who got their babies jacked. I see bikes like the ones pictured above all the time on the trails but I'd think it be pretty hard to ID a stolen rig when it's flying past you.
  • 1 0
 As a former resident of East Oakland, who now resides [comfortably] in Irvine, all I can say is... don't get too comfortable. Getting jacked sucks, no matter how much money you've got.
  • 5 0
 two words, just in case: Renter's Insurance.
  • 2 1
 Bike theft is an issue in any college town (there's a UC in Irvine) but that is typically limited to street/commuter bikes. This is a shame and an outrage; I'll keep my eyes open on the trails for these builds for sure because THE COPS WONT DO SHIT.
  • 3 0
 Next week on Pinkbike news: "Shimano releases new GPS tracker for your bike"



Sucks to hear about the stolen bikes, hope he'll find them back!
  • 1 0
 my room stolen my bikes on me ..i been rob like 4 times lost 47 bmx bikes 5 mtn one bass road bike ....now i never go now where stay at home bikes bed room ..all time ....sucks them people had bikes stolen hope get them back ...
  • 3 0
 Humans are scum !! Work for it !! Earn it !! Enjoy it !
  • 1 0
 These are serious bling bikes. In the world of serious bling, you take pictures, take out renters insurance, and train your dog to use a 9mm.
  • 1 0
 Pretty sure hell be dusting off the shotgun and practicing home invasion scenarios.
Everyone should, especially w/wife and kids!
  • 1 0
 Apparently Shimano XTR DI2 is already available for purchase on none other than Craigslist.

orangecounty.craigslist.org/bop/4827242897.html
  • 1 0
 This is why my living room looks like a bike shop full of bikes. I sleep next to my bikes lol
  • 1 0
 I know EXACTLY how this feels. Hell, I still have my "STOLEN" ads up here and on CL even though it happened in July
  • 1 0
 Anaheim Hills, not Irvine.
  • 2 0
 Maybe they didn't want too much exact info (future thieves may be lurking)
Cover up windows in ur gargare, disarm quick release mechanisms.
  • 1 0
 Shouldn't have posted it all over FB then. And yes, good advice.
  • 1 0
 What stems are those ? All the bikes rock the same ones. Look nice
  • 1 0
 If you look closely at the pic with the white Santa Cruz you can see it has the PRO Components logo on the back of the steerer clamp. Here is a link: www.pro-bikegear.com/en-gb/catalogue/components/81/stems/prss0237_main/tharsis-stem-alloy
  • 1 0
 Joe Lawwill needs to get some dogs, or better neighbors.
  • 1 1
 Probably already south of the border, heading to South America.
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