What would you do if you caught a bike thief in the act

bunnygreen

There's been a lot of talk about bike locks and theft prevention on these boards,but what would you do if you caught the rogue tea leaf inflagrante delicto,so to speak.I bring this up because a friend of mine who lives in New York caught a bike thief in his garage mid act.He has some sort of cc tv set up which gives an alarm when it detects movement near his bikes at night.He saw the would be robber on screen and bravely went down to confront him.When he sprang into the garage shouting "get away from those bikes" the leaf produced a pistol and told him to return in doors and shut the door,he then stroked the carbon Pinerello and the Cannondale Super Six, popped them into a van and off he went,My point being i suppose is that we've all had a bike stroked at some time or other,but really aside from a good lock,there really is'nt much you can do about it and faced with the threat of potential bodily harm,would you let it go or defend your bike.

penexpers

I'd probably let it go for the reasons above. Never know what might happen if you confront a thief.

DirkVoodoo

I'm sorry, I was laughing at the image of a thief who runs around "stroking" bikes!

niceonetom

depends on the context...

little scangers:
put on my best scaryface and shout "that's my ****in' bike". bit of luck and they'll leg it. but then what? i'm not gonna guard some random bike till its owner returns, and the little fúckers would finish the job given the oportunity. some of these little urchins have brothers who are between stretches in d'joy so reinforcements might not be long in coming either. which leads on to...

big scangers:
i'm no hero. i haven't been in a fight since i was 14, so anto, deco, and doyler would have no trouble beating me to a pulp. confrontation is not a good idea here. so photos it is. discretely. for the guards, who will know these faces.

fish-head

Throw the nearest available mountainbike at their head. That'll learn 'em.

Canis Lupus

I've stopped 2 potential car break ins where I used to live (oddly a nice area but then I suppose that's why cos it was quiet).

The first one I was on my balcony and I asked the guy what he was doing to the back of a van (I scared him ****less cos he thought he was alone). Cheeky bugger said it was his and turned back to it till I asked him where his keys were. He cursed me and walked off.

2nd time I was outside having a smoke and a bloke walked past a jeep, stopped as something caught his eye and was about to put a screwdriver through the side window when I simply coughed causing him again to jump (I was in front of a green door in the dark in dark clothes so again he thought he was alone).

Point for the 2nd one was that I just coughed, I could have shouted or ran at him or whatever but he had a screw driver and I just pretended I hadn't seen him and was out just having a smoke so the moment passed. For the first option I said nothing more once he moved and didn't look at him cos a brick cos have visited us via a window later that night.

I'll be damned if I let someone blatently steal in front of me but I'll also be damned if I let myself get hurt over a replacable piece of property mine or someone elses.

EDIT: and OP just use the word steal. Stroking a bike conjures a weird picture in my head. I was like..... why did he turn around and stroke the bike?

LoanShark

I'd get all chuck norris on their little punk ass!

Ghost Rider

Fully agreed. I once confronted two little toe-rags trying to steal someone's bike on O'Connell Street. After a half-hearted attempt at convincing me it was actually their bike and they'd lost the lock, they finally gave up and buggered off.

Had they been adults, I might not have been so brave. A thief who's serious about their profession should carry some sort of weapon. I, on the other hand, don't. End of, as far as I'm concerned.

niceonetom wrote: »

depends on the context...

little scangers:
put on my best scaryface and shout "that's my ****in' bike". bit of luck and they'll leg it. but then what? i'm not gonna guard some random bike till its owner returns, and the little fúckers would finish the job given the oportunity. some of these little urchins have brothers who are between stretches in d'joy so reinforcements might not be long in coming either. which leads on to...

big scangers:
i'm no hero. i haven't been in a fight since i was 14, so anto, deco, and doyler would have no trouble beating me to a pulp. confrontation is not a good idea here. so photos it is. discretely. for the guards, who will know these faces.