Great news!! I'm not sure how many bikes are returned to their owners.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Stolen TT Bike - Porty Prom
(49 posts)- Started 11 years ago by kaputnik
- Latest reply from gembo
- This topic is
resolved
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Posted 11 years ago #
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Excellent news, well done to whichever citizen/policeperson that tracked it down. For such a good frame, it might be worth a small investment to get the frame professionally checked out prior to concluding dealings with your insurance company.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Ditto hurrah! Be intrigued to hear what happened in due course - good to know what methods end up being successful.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"like"
Wait - this isn't Facebook. I actually have to engage. Woo Yay.
Posted 11 years ago # -
(joins in the cheers)
Posted 11 years ago # -
+1
Posted 11 years ago # -
Excellent news indeed. I rarely mention CCE threads to the wife, but I did mention this one to her as it was such grim news. The thing is...:
Porty Prom is not a safe place to leave a decent bike, even if locked up
I'll be honest with you, I don't think anywhere is a safe place to leave a decent bike locked up. It's just not worth it, IMHO. I'll leave my workhorse commuter locked up pretty much anywhere, and much as I'd be gutted if it got nicked, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but there's no chance I'd leave my summer bike locked, even with a fahgettaboudit on it.
Maybe I'm being overly paranoid though - is there a lock that anyone would consider strong enough to prevent even the most enterprising of thieves out there?
Posted 11 years ago # -
"I'll be honest with you, I don't think anywhere is a safe place to leave a decent bike locked up"
There's been a theory on here that 'bikes with dropped handlebars don't get stolen'.
Looks like thieves are getting 'educated'.
"is there a lock that anyone would consider strong enough to prevent even the most enterprising of thieves out there?"
Yes, but there is the issue of riding a superlight bike and carrying a superheavy lock.
Posted 11 years ago # -
There's been a theory on here that 'bikes with dropped handlebars don't get stolen'
I'd have thought that road bikes typically cost more? Maybe they are harder to shift, though.
there is the issue of riding a superlight bike and carrying a superheavy lock
Aye indeed!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yes, but there is the issue of riding a superlight bike and carrying a superheavy lock.
Make the bike superheavy too, then you don't much notice the lock's weight on top. Works for me!
Posted 11 years ago # -
"I'll be honest with you, I don't think anywhere is a safe place to leave a decent bike locked up"
Sadly this is my view as well. I've previously had bikes stolen via a shed break in so I can't even trust that anymore with my most expensive bikes. Inside is the only 'guaranteed' safe place as I don't think there's much overlap between burglars and bike thiefs.
I'm content to leave my rusty old town hack bike chained up anywhere with just the basic kryptonite silver lock. I don't see it being targeted as it usually ends up chained up next to more expensive bikes secured with worse locks in town. Plus as you note losing a battered workhorse bike that can be replaced reasonably cheaply isn't so traumatic compared to say having a £2000 mountain bike dragged from under you in the street - speaking from experience....
If I absolutely have to leave a shiny expensive bike chained up I use a kryptonite New York lock through the frame and back wheel and a thick armoured cable through the frame and front wheel. It doesn't make it theft proof but it does mean it won't be going anywhere quickly without a struggle. That's the best you can do.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@mkns that is correct. You cannot sell drop handlebars for ten pounds in the gunner pub in muirhouse. Mountain bikes go for ten to twenty quid, big names, high volume. It is a shocker I know. Same with guitars, Gibson knicked from student bedroom will go for twenty in boozer then work its way back through series of exchanges to legit shop
I too would like to know details of return. Could be permanent gang operating on porty prom who are educated in what a good bike is and have somewhere to store stolen gear. The operation iI knew in wester hailes lived upstairs from each other and the thief sold on to the fences who kept the bikes in electricity cupboard. Couldn't keep too many polis would get suspicious.
These were all mountain bikes - kona, barracuda etc and idea was to shift them quickly.
Other possibility that occurs to me is stolen to order??
Posted 11 years ago # -
I think as road bikes have become more fashionable and expensivre, so they have become more of a target for theives.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@stiltskin, could be the downside of Froome., wiggins etc but still not spotted any road bikes in wester hailes, pilton or Craigmillar
Posted 11 years ago # -
This would have been ever harder to shift as it was a TT bike. The police did finally get the CCTV and although they had hidden their faces I think the constable had a reasonable idea of who it was (but I've not spoken to him in detail on it). I'm pretty sure it was kids, not pros. They spend a couple of days skidding around on it (so back tyre trashed) and then managed to sell it to someone gullible. That someone did their research after buying it and soon realized it was plastered all over every forum going as being nicked. He did the honest thing and got in touch (via stolen-bikes.co.uk). We met up and I got it back. I paid him a small reward (I had indicated on the website I would). I think his story was legit i.e. not just one of the kids selling it back to me - and the police are likely to follow up with him for more details in due course. I basically got lucky - the bike was so different (v mountain or even road) that unless you were a pro outfit it was going to be hard to pass on. What I did get right was getting it up on every forum I could and e-mail every shop in Edinburgh as quick as possible (and thanks to kaputnik for getting it on here as well). Next project is to upgrade locks - even if just for the house (won't be leaving it on porty prom again any time soon).
Posted 11 years ago # -
Excellent news on getting the bike back - interesting that it was kids and interesting that they spent a couple of days playing around on it before trying to sell it. Kinda makes you wish there was a way they could be convinced to try cycling properly and have them on the track or out on the road rather than nicking bikes.
Was it a light weight lock or a case of kids with industrial bolt cutters?
Posted 11 years ago # -
Seems like Porty might be a bike crime area -
"
Stolen-Bikes.co.uk (@StolenBikes_UK)
25/07/2013 07:30
#stolenbike Trek 6300 in #Edinburgh, can you help us find this bike @CyclingEdin by RTing -"
"
Description
Women specific design (WSD) mountain bike, along with 3 other family bikes. stolen from locked garage. White forks and had a fitted frame front mudguard and the fitting on the seat post for the rear mudguard."
Posted 11 years ago # -
Seems like Porty might be a bike crime area
I know a man who has a lockup down there for his mechanic business who would second this opinion - to the point of parking nearly immobile old vans across the doors of his business as sort of modern-day mobile portcullis.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I know a man lives on the prom, very fine chap. Always having his garage broken into and his scooter stolen. Definitely a crime hotspot
Posted 11 years ago #
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