Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Ok, so last week in the Adelaide CBD, 22 bikes were reported stolen (10 from around the University), mine included. Yesterday, I heard on the news that a man had been caught in the Northern suburbs with 10 stolen bikes and is being lawyer'd, etc. Now, assuming that my bike was one of the 10 which he was caught with, will I get it back and how long might it take? (ie do they need to hold it as evidence until the (slow & drawn out) process of the law has run its course)
Thanks for the help everyone!

Dunno.
But am interested in how your bike got stolen. What sort of lock did you use?

PawPaw wrote:Dunno.
But am interested in how your bike got stolen. What sort of lock did you use?

My lock was ignored, rather he cut my chain with bolt cutters. In retrospect, the chain was very unreliable and I will be investing a lot of money in a D-lock/chain combo. Any recommendations on security strategies?

paolo_ski wrote:[Any recommendations on security strategies?

There is only one 100% reliable strategy - do not let your bike out of your sight...

RonK wrote:There is only one 100% reliable strategy - do not let your bike out of your sight...

I wish that were possible.. the day it was stolen i spent 9 hours in a basement doing a uni assignment
Looking forward to a nice ride home and BAM, bike is gone

I was gonna put 100 grammes of C4 in the seat tube of me commuter with remote activation but a plod acquaintance recommended against it
The only good bike thief is fertiliser.

Mulger bill wrote:The only good bike thief is fertiliser.

You have a way with words, MB.

paolo_ski wrote:

PawPaw wrote:Dunno.
But am interested in how your bike got stolen. What sort of lock did you use?

My lock was ignored, rather he cut my chain with bolt cutters. In retrospect, the chain was very unreliable and I will be investing a lot of money in a D-lock/chain combo. Any recommendations on security strategies?

http://www.lfgss.com/post563834-1.html
from
http://www.lfgss.com/thread17938.html#post563834

paolo_ski wrote: Any recommendations on security strategies?

There are many deterrents you can try, but there is no guarantee.

You can remove your quick release skewers. You may be lucky & find the thief down the road after the front wheel falls out.

Take your seat & post out. The bike looks abandoned, but may also incite others to trash it further.

Wrap the entire frame in duct tape. Tear your bar tape up & never clean it. If it looks really ugly nobody will want it.

ZepinAtor wrote:Wrap the entire frame in duct tape. Tear your bar tape up & never clean it. If it looks really ugly nobody will want it.

That sounds way too hipster for my liking

ZepinAtor wrote:If it looks really ugly nobody will want it.

Yeh... including the owner.

Max



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Youd wonder...I mean with all this technology stuff...would a sticker that says 'Phantom bike tracking system installed' work?

paolo_ski wrote:Yesterday, I heard on the news that a man had been caught in the Northern suburbs with 10 stolen bikes and is being lawyer'd, etc. Now, assuming that my bike was one of the 10 which he was caught with, will I get it back and how long might it take? (ie do they need to hold it as evidence until the (slow & drawn out) process of the law has run its course)

Assuming you reported your bike stolen, get online and find the police media release to identify which station nabbed him. Call the station, give them your theft report number and bike description (ideally with a photo) and ask what happens next. It may well take a while, but worth asking. It will save them some hassle if they know who owns the property.

Id be surprised if they want to keep all the bikes that long just for the sake of evidence, and if someone turns up claiming one and getting emotional, I reckon good chance it will be released..

was your bikes theft reported to police before the big mass bike bust went down?

as big a deal as a bloke being caught with 10 stolen bikes sounds to the bike community, I doubt it is exactly The Great Bookie Heist to the police.

This is a key issue as to why cycling is not taking off in my opinion.

I want to be able to cycle a good bike to/from a whole bunch of places but as there are no secure bike parking places it is not worth losing $3,000. Sadly it would be cheaper to get taxi's everywhere.

Maybe bike theft should be seen as a serious crime and attract at least 12 months in gaol, I can only guess that your 'average' bike thief is not going to fare so well in a prison. Their daily shower might include some extras.

JM

Sydguy wrote:This is a key issue as to why cycling is not taking off in my opinion.

I want to be able to cycle a good bike to/from a whole bunch of places but as there are no secure bike parking places it is not worth losing $3,000. Sadly it would be cheaper to get taxi's everywhere.

Maybe bike theft should be seen as a serious crime and attract at least 12 months in gaol, I can only guess that your 'average' bike thief is not going to fare so well in a prison. Their daily shower might include some extras.

JM

Id agree that the spandex/lycra outfits wont work in prison...or else will work a little too well.....
the lifting weights thing will also screw up your training times with too much upper body weightgain...

Seriously, as for the penalties, I mean young punks need to be on their XXXth offense to even get jail time for car theft...so taking bike theft seriously would mean taking the whole gammut of proeprty crime seriously, in fact taking crimes which dont happen to politicians or civil-liberties activist lawyers seriously also in general including mere crimes of serious violent injury..
We'd have to start somewhere with this flogging and stocks platform ..
I'm all for it....I just doubt it would be starting with bicycle theft.
Id personally start with "graffiti-artists" taggers..Singapore-ise that offence.
and start working upwards.

Sydguy wrote:This is a key issue as to why cycling is not taking off in my opinion.

I want to be able to cycle a good bike to/from a whole bunch of places but as there are no secure bike parking places it is not worth losing $3,000. Sadly it would be cheaper to get taxi's everywhere.

Maybe bike theft should be seen as a serious crime and attract at least 12 months in gaol, I can only guess that your 'average' bike thief is not going to fare so well in a prison. Their daily shower might include some extras.

JM

Theft is largely treated the same regardless of object stolen. ie don't count on the cops to do much. they might recover it if its dumped, or if the thief screws up royally fencing items.

There is no reason that you can't own a $100 bike to cover the most risky journeys and parking locations, and still do 95% of your commuting on a nicer bike. In any case, my MTB has survived some 6 years of being d-locked in public and occasionally overnighting - $2700 new. The main loss of owning it has been depreciation - its probably not worth much more than $500 these days despite getting an updated warranty frame in 2009.

Max wrote:

ZepinAtor wrote:If it looks really ugly nobody will want it.

Yeh... including the owner.

Max



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I don't believe we've met ?

How do you know how ugly I am ?

ZepinAtor wrote:

Max wrote:

ZepinAtor wrote:If it looks really ugly nobody will want it.

Yeh... including the owner.

Max



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Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk. All typos are Auto-Correct's fault, not mine

I don't believe we've met ?

How do you know how ugly I am ?

I belive he ment that the owner wouldnt want said bike as it'd be ugly

UPDATE: The thief was caught and is currently being charged with stealing over $22,000 worth of bikes. The matter is before the courts and the police are contacting those who reported their bikes stolen in an attempt to compile receipts which will be used to secure compensation for the owners of said bikes.

paolo_ski wrote:

PawPaw wrote:Dunno.
But am interested in how your bike got stolen. What sort of lock did you use?

My lock was ignored, rather he cut my chain with bolt cutters. In retrospect, the chain was very unreliable and I will be investing a lot of money in a D-lock/chain combo. Any recommendations on security strategies?

I have a few bikes. For my expensive one's that I leave in a public space I have a Newyork D lock - I read a blog about different locks that were tested (with hacksaw, hammer, bolt cutters etc) in a blog (might have found the link somewhere on this site) and it came out on top.

For my ancient dippy hybrid bike (complete with a fastened broom stick to mount a surfboard carrier - I think if there was an ugly bike competition I might be the winner) I lock it with two cables and two locks - just to make it slightly less attractive to potential thieves than what it already is

Each bike will be an exhibit and generally would be released at the end of proceedings or earlier, if they catalogue properly.

Either way, you are a victim of crime (VOC)... nice to see a reference that affected owners will be paid out - but to what value?

If you have suffered any loss of income (aka economic loss) or incurred expenses (e.g. alternative transport) you may try applying for more via the VOC scheme for which the Crown Solicitor is responsible but they always play hard ball and pay peanuts (see http://www.lawhandbook.sa.gov.au/ch36.php).

I know it is not always that easy as it sounds but, most of the time, I simply don't let my bike out of my sight...