Stolen Bikes Thread - Mod Note please read post #1 before posting

Boom_Bap

If I was to guess, I would say that is his shop window. He robs bikes, strips them and locks them there for people to view.
No thief would rob a bike they can't cycle away on, so they would be safe enough there. When he gets a sale, takes the frame, re-assembles and gets cash from a buyer.

rubadub

dartstothesea wrote: »

Basically I saw him once pulling at a bike for a weird length of time.

If you suspect him the trick is to roar out "thats my bike" from a distance and see if he runs off. If I passed him and saw him clearly at it I would still walk away a distance and then shout, I would not want to confront him as he might have a weapon -even if it was really my bike.

dartstothesea

rubadub wrote: »

If you suspect him the trick is to roar out "thats my bike" from a distance and see if he runs off. If I passed him and saw him clearly at it I would still walk away a distance and then shout, I would not want to confront him as he might have a weapon -even if it was really my bike.

Well, unless I was actually confronting him (not saying I should) there's not much point in that shouting strategy either, it pretty much just amounts to me saying "hey man just a heads up that I suspect you of being a bike thief, so you should scarper now in order to remain free to steal more bikes in other places". Better not to spook him I'd have thought like.

check_six

dartstothesea wrote: »

Well, unless I was actually confronting him (not saying I should) there's not much point in that shouting strategy either.

I heard a story about a guy who returned to his bike to find a thief crouched beside it attempting to break the lock. As you'd imagine, he let out a shout to try and scare the fellow off. However, the thief just looks up at him and smiles.

Then the nightmare gets a bit worse as it is revealed as he stands up that this particular scumbag is quite large and burly and has no intention of running off. The owner tells him where to go, but the skanger just stands there and declares that he is going to wait till the owner has unlocked the bike and then take it.

Panic sets in with the owner as he looks around desperately for some kind of help. He can't leave the bike, and he can't hang around either.

Luckily a plain clothes Guard happened to be wandering by which solved the problem ultimately, but you can imagine the dilemma if this hadn't occurred.

You can only hope that the proliferation of mobile phones nowadays would prevent this kind of thing, but it does make you think!

CramCycle

check_six wrote: »

I heard a story about a guy who returned to his bike to find a thief crouched beside it attempting to break the lock. As you'd imagine, he let out a shout to try and scare the fellow off. However, the thief just looks up at him and smiles.

A friend of mine had similar done to him, outside Tara St. station, only that when he called the thief out (it wasn't his bike but it was clearly being stolen), the thief stood up and told him to F Off or the next place the screwdriver in his hand would go was through him.

Needless to say, my friend did not wait around, no one walking by even seemed to notice (or want too). He rang the gardai who in the end, sent no one.

rubadub

dartstothesea wrote: »

Better not to spook him I'd have thought like.

Well I certainly thanked a guy who did spook several lads robbing my bike. It was on talbot street and he was shouting out "thats not your bike" or similar, he was not claiming it was his. I think he said there were 3 lads and they did head off.

Now I am sure they did head off and rob another but if it happened over and over it would be beneficial to be doing it.

I am surprised enough to hear about the thief threatening people to that degree. That is turning it into a far more serious offence, why not just go around openly with a weapon mugging people or holding up shops for a few grand, why mess about with bikes.

I was reporting my bike stolen online and there was some section to say there was no force involved or similar. I am guessing if I said there was force they would have wanted me to call into a station.

arybvtcw0eolkf

CramCycle wrote: »

A friend of mine had similar done to him, outside Tara St. station, only that when he called the thief out (it wasn't his bike but it was clearly being stolen), the thief stood up and told him to F Off or the next place the screwdriver in his hand would go was through him.

I'd something similar last summer, just up the river on Aston Quay.

A scumbag was trying to rob a BMX type bike locked to a pole.

I told him to 'F*ck off & leave the bike alone'.. He told me to 'f*ck off and mind my own business because its not my bike' LOL.

A few words were exchange, and a gave him a few clatters and chased him and his scumbag junkie chic off.

But it was the bare neck of the fooker telling me to 'f-off because its not my bike ~ silliness.

endacl

Maliyah Yellow Rig wrote: »

A few words were exchange, and a gave him a few clatters and chased him and his scumbag junkie chic off.

No better man! Fair play.

On a break from the door?

shansey

I want to get back to cycling to work.. but I just feel that the next bike will also be stolen.. esp a new one..;

If I buy an old banger for €200 and a lock for another hundred its still a lot of money down the drain again..

sebcity

shansey wrote: »

I want to get back to cycling to work.. but I just feel that the next bike will also be stolen.. esp a new one..;

If I buy an old banger for €200 and a lock for another hundred its still a lot of money down the drain again..

I'm the exact same. My apartment isn't big enough to bring the bike in and I don't trust the bike rack after last time....

Thargor

€200 for an old banger? My old banger I leave locked in a DART station overnight most of the week cost €25 and its a perfectly fine mountain bike, €100 will get you something decent on Adverts. Think of it paying itself off in fat burned instead of petrol every day and it wont hurt.

dragratchet

sebcity wrote: »

I'm the exact same. My apartment isn't big enough to bring the bike in and I don't trust the bike rack after last time....

you are right not to trust it... im not allowed to bring bikes into my apartment, though i have 3 coming in and out regularly, whilst the locking in the basement is very secure in theory, electronic gate, secure cage etc.. nothing has proven to be 100% secure.. they've all been breached in different workplaces/domestic facilities. the only option for a commuter if you dont have super secure parking both at home and in work is buy a functional banger and then make it look even more bet-down so no one would want it.

yosser hughes

dragratchet wrote: »

you are right not to trust it... im not allowed to bring bikes into my apartment, though i have 3 coming in and out regularly, whilst the locking in the basement is very secure in theory, electronic gate, secure cage etc.. nothing has proven to be 100% secure.. they've all been breached in different workplaces/domestic facilities. the only option for a commuter if you dont have super secure parking both at home and in work is buy a functional banger and then make it look even more bet-down so no one would want it.

This is a sad indictment of societal and policing failure.

arybvtcw0eolkf

endacl wrote: »

No better man! Fair play.

On a break from the door?

No, that was the funny thing. He was stealing a customers bike and I'd to mind my own business because I didn't own it lol

BailMeOut

from Irish Examiner today

Gardaí use undercover tactics to combat 'Dublin problem' of bike theft - Gardaí have launched a new pilot using "undercover bikes" to bait thieves to steal them - so they can follow suspects with the aid of GPS trackers.

New figures show there were 6,750 bikes reported stolen across the country last year, and more than 2,000 reported stolen already this year.

Gardaí say it is a "Dublin problem", with 34% of all thefts reported in Dublin city centre, 40% in the rest of the Dublin Metropolitan Region and 26% outside of the Dublin Metropolitan Region.

Inspector Liam Geraghty from Pearse Street Garda Station has said that a number of people have been arrested Dublin in recent weeks, as part of the "bait bike" scheme.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/gardai-use-undercover-tactics-to-combat-dublin-problem-of-bike-theft-682458.html

jon1981

I cycle up Amiens st and the surrounding area every day to/from work. I always laugh when I see lads of questionable character cycling around on bikes as it is as clear as day they were "borrowed" ... fold up bikes, good quality road/mountain bikes about 3 sizes to big or small for the rider.

I often wonder if the Gardai would be doubtful as I am to the legal ownership of the bike and stop them to question them.

Thargor

Whats the point in arresting them if they're out the next day to carry on? The people who steal cars and have 20+ previous convictions barely get jail anymore so its not like they're going to sentence a bike thief.

jon1981

Each arrest is like a badge of honour for the little f**ks

BailMeOut

how about we also focus on the f**ks that buy these stolen bikes. There are two sides to these crimes.

magicbastarder

jon1981 wrote: »

I often wonder if the Gardai would be doubtful as I am to the legal ownership of the bike and stop them to question them.

question them how? a bike being the wrong size strikes me as dubious probable cause.

jon1981

magicbastarder wrote: »

question them how? a bike being the wrong size strikes me as dubious probable cause.

Use any excuse to stop them: cycling on the footpath, breaking a red light...whatever reason they can use within the law and then ask the questions relating to ownership...

magicbastarder

committing offence A =/= suspicion of offence B.

dragratchet

magicbastarder wrote: »

question them how? a bike being the wrong size strikes me as dubious probable cause.

was spinning down to my girlfriends work around 11 the other night.. took my good race bike with deep sections as it was standing by the door. so im sitting outside her work on this rig, 11pm in a hoodie , trackies and runners, and the gardai drive past.... expected them to at least slow down. nope

Buchaill_Mor

So, I am thinking of getting a banger/junker to have for spins around to the shop, and if I am going somewhere that I won't care if it damaged,nicked. Want to spend €100 or less. Reluctant to use Adverts or DoneDeal because I don't want to buy stolen from a thief. But I am thinking about the Garda Auction. I know these bikes have been stolen, and unclaimed. Moral quandary. What do Boardsies think? Would I be contributing to the problem as someone who knowingly buys a stolen bike?

endacl

Buchaill_Mor wrote: »

So, I am thinking of getting a banger/junker to have for spins around to the shop, and if I am going somewhere that I won't care if it damaged,nicked. Want to spend €100 or less. Reluctant to use Adverts or DoneDeal because I don't want to buy stolen from a thief. But I am thinking about the Garda Auction. I know these bikes have been stolen, and unclaimed. Moral quandary. What do Boardsies think? Would I be contributing to the problem as someone who knowingly buys a stolen bike?

No, you wouldn't. Those are recovered bikes. Also, if the original owner had the cop on to take note of the frame number there'd be far fewer recovered biked going to auction. The Guards do reunite bikes with owners where they can.

Bloggsie

I saw the best response to a question on a facebook page this morning(Lucan Life) A lady posted images of 2 individuals in her area taken from a dash cam of a neighbours car, her home had been broken into & she asked if anyone could recognise them, had they seen them around the area etc, 1 response asked how she knew they were suspects, her response is brilliant, " its my bike he is cycling away on".

magicbastarder

dragratchet wrote: »

was spinning down to my girlfriends work around 11 the other night.. took my good race bike with deep sections as it was standing by the door. so im sitting outside her work on this rig, 11pm in a hoodie , trackies and runners, and the gardai drive past.... expected them to at least slow down. nope

y'see, i see that as a good thing. what is it about wearing a tracksuit which should arouse suspicion?

ThisRegard

Generally it's the skanger thief's uniform. And if they're stopped and they're not thieving, at least they can be directed to appropriate websites on how to dress like an adult.

endacl

ThisRegard wrote: »

Generally it's the skanger thief's uniform. And if they're stopped and they're not thieving, at least they can be directed to appropriate websites on how to dress like an adult.

It's also my uniform when slobbing about on a Saturday afternoon, heading to the gym, doing a bit of work around the garden.

I'm an adult, btw. Have been for years. Sometimes I even cycle in my tracksuit.

Bloggsie

when playing with my son, doing some garden work or going for a ramble along the canal at the weekends I would wear a tracksuit, I even used to wear one when going to meet my teamates before playing a match, like endacl, I am also an adult & I can guarantee that I am not a scumbag. I can understand that it is like a uniform for a certain percentage of individuals but to pidgeon hole everyone that wears a tracksuit is not correct.

I havent cycled in a tracksuit yet though!