Thieves have no standards!!

[funnymummy]

Son #1 has a Tesco MTB, or rather he had a Tesco MTB
It's the biggest pile of crap you've ever seen, the cones have gone, the back wheel is buckled, got a couple of broken spokes, the frame squeaks, the brakes are tempermental.. the only good thing on it was the saddle - A Spesh one off an old bike of mine..
Last night someone stole it - smashed right through the lock & rode off on it - Seriously what is the world coming to when even the thieves round here steal junk!
But on the bright side... I had alreday arranged to go look at a bike a friend is selling today, so the thief has saved me trip to the tip!!

 

[Cyclopathic]

It's nice when that happens. However just for the heinous act of stealing a bike I still hope the theif is in someway inconvenienced by his theft.

 

[funnymummy]

It may just be a coincidence... Hmmm yeah right! But i've just been told by my friend, that a large 'mobile community' have moved into the parkland at the North end of our village (she lives next door to the park) and the police have been inundated with calls over bikes, mowers & other smallish items going missing since Friday!!

 

[abo]

Sounds like they did you a favour! Shame about the saddle though...

I had a MG Metro years and years ago. It was a shitter, the bodywork was poor and the rear subframe made an alarming knocking noise when cornering, but the seats and dials were in good nick and the engine was brilliant. I was planning on transplanting it all into a Mini. Anyway, it got stolen and the thieves drove it literally 200 yards before deciding they'd rather walk and abandoned it in the same street!

Some time before that I had a 1.0 Nova base model with *no* equipment beyond what made it go. It was stolen one night from a carpark in Middlesbrough when it was my turn to be the driver. Presumably some scrote didn't want to pay for a taxi from Middlesbrough to Saltburn or Loftus or wherever and decided to use my car to get home. Only the joke was on them because there was hardly any petrol in it and it ran out of juice literally in the middle of nowhere, where the police found it abandoned.

 

[ian turner]

The heavier the bike the higher the scrap value

 

[funnymummy]

. Anyway, it got stolen and the thieves drove it literally 200 yards before deciding they'd rather walk and abandoned it in the same street!

When my son told me I laughed & said did you serach the nearby streets, I reckon if it's kids they'd have dumped it within couple hundred yards.
He's more annoyed that he had to walk home at 5am then about it being nicked

Last night got bcak from the Wight Ferry & was dog tired, #2 & 3 came home from their dads, so by time listened to all their tales & then had a bath I just fell into bed... Only realised this morn i'd left MY bike on the bcak of the car!!
Me legging it doen the drive in my nighty to check was not a pleasant sight at dawn... My bike is still there, but I use the same type of lock as what was on my sons bike ... Will be upgrading to Gold Standard today i thunk!!

 

[funnymummy]

The heavier the bike the higher the scrap value

Does rust count on that value..?

 

[BSRU]

I always thought bike thieves stole decent bikes until last year.
They used a stolen BSO to ride to our companies bike shed, nicked a £1000+ bike locked with a £5 lock, just dumped the BSO in it's place and rode off on the nice expensive bike.

 

[abo]

He's more annoyed that he had to walk home at 5am then about it being nicked

Lol that was my reaction when the Nova got nicked! I was pretty disappointed when it was found intact

 

[apollo179]

I always thought bike thieves stole decent bikes until last year.
They used a stolen BSO to ride to our companies bike shed, nicked a £1000+ bike locked with a £5 lock, just dumped the BSO in it's place and rode off on the nice expensive bike.

Definitely worth investing in a decent lock.
I allways just used to leave my bike leant up against the side of the house. Eventually i went out one morning and it had been stolen.
My next bike i did the same thing but bought a lock that i seldom bothered to use. One day it got stolen in broad daylight by a couple of hoodies. I just saw them making of on it. I pelted after them on my other bike - eventually caught up with them down the woods and got it back. Lucky cos id just put a new schwalbe on the rear.
Now i always take the bike round the back.

 

[HLaB]

I don't know if its true or not but I've heard low end mtb's are more likely to go walk-a-bout's rather than a high end road bike. As junkies are just looking for something they can sell on quickly to get their next fix.

 

[apollo179]

I don't know if its true or not but I've heard low end mtb's are more likely to go walk-a-bout's rather than a high end road bike. As junkies are just looking for something they can sell on quickly to get their next fix.

Maybe an opportunistic junkie but junkies usually go shoplifting as its a lot easier.

 

[funnymummy]

Forgot about the front end damage...
On Saturday I returned from a little toodle to Brighton to find an ambulnace in my drive with the BSO propped aganist it - PANIC!!
#1 had hit a sunken drain & gone over the handlebars, bike landing on top of him - Luckily the ambulance pulled out the petrol station he had just passed so they scooped him up & brought him home Luckily no major injuries just a nasty gravel rash.....

The crash resulted in the handlebars being bent, the front brake lever twisted & the front wheel developing a wobble!
This was when I said I would buy him a new bike!

 

[Angelfishsolo]

So apart from the scrap value of the old bike the thieves did you a big favour. I have lost count of how many times my arms have looked like that. Climbing trees when I was a kid and over the bars as an adult

 

[funnymummy]

So apart from the scrap value of the old bike the thieves did you a big favour. I have lost count of how many times my arms have looked like that. Climbing trees when I was a kid and over the bars as an adult

They did indeed, My mate said on Saturday he was selling a Giant Agressor. It was going to be my n+1, but then an hour later the above mentioned 'prang' happend, so told #1 he could have the bike, as long as I could use it odd times to have a blast over the Downs. Am going to get the Giant later today, so would have been launching the BSO into the local tip on route

My arms have somehow managed to stay scar free - My knuckles & knees on the hand are crisscrossed with a childhood history of tree climbing & slagheap surfing!