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Bike stolen outside M&S


jt2

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Yesterday, around 4.15pm, my partners Orbea bike was stolen from outside M&S (East Dulwich train station one)

He run after him up Melbourne Grove but gave up after a while.

The thieve was wearing a hoody and He doesn?t have a proper description. If anyone was in the area and can provide any information to the police, it will be highly appreciated.

He doesn?t have much hope he will get it back, but would like to warn other cyclists.

This person must have been waiting for an easy bike as my parter was only a couple of mins inside M&S.

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its relevant to know whether it was an opportunistic thief grabbing a bike that was left for a couple of mins, vs understanding if someone is waiting outside with bolt cutters to steal bikes locked to the cycle storage. Basically it helps others manage risk. Know it can sound a little victim shame-y but it really isn't generally meant in that way.


In the same way its useful to understand where locked bikes have been taken, what type of lock they were locked with - not so that it can be pointed out that something else might have been better, but that so that people can try to make sure that they don't use locks that are being cut locally.

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That was my point exactly. I use that M and S, park my bike(locked up) there while I shop. It is entirely relevent to me whether the bike was locked or not. Is the area becoming a high risk area for locked bikes, or was the theft purely opportunistic on the basis that a bike was left unlocked...
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http://www.bikeshd.co.uk/ trawls and conveniently publishes details of bikes "found on sale in and around London", specifically to help people trace stolen ones. The first two pages I looked at each had photos and details of 60 bikes, all currently listed on Ebay. I've not worked out what their update protocol is, but it looks as if they add items at least hourly during daytime. Their home page currently says 15 bikes addded today, 139 'this week', which looks as if it means 'from Monday'. I think it's best to assume they trawl only Ebay and to keep checking Gumtree as well.
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It's also useful to know the exact make/model of the bike along with a description - colour, any accessories fitted, anything that stands out a bit like odd tyres or dirty bar tape.


To a cyclist, things like that stand out a mile off and (when I was working in a central London bike shop), we'd recover 2 or 3 stolen bikes a month just by picking up on "out of the ordinary" things.


Just saying "my partner's Orbea" isn't much help to me if I see an Orbea being ridden down East Dulwich Grove. And +1 to what others have said about how it was locked, what to, was it snatch and go or a pre-planned theft requiring angle grinders etc.

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ianr Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> http://www.bikeshd.co.uk/ trawls and conveniently

> publishes details of bikes "found on sale in and

> around London", specifically to help people trace

> stolen ones. The first two pages I looked at each

> had photos and details of 60 bikes, all currently

> listed on Ebay. I've not worked out what their

> update protocol is, but it looks as if they add

> items at least hourly during daytime. Their home

> page currently says 15 bikes addded today, 139

> 'this week', which looks as if it means 'from

> Monday'. I think it's best to assume they trawl

> only Ebay and to keep checking Gumtree as well.


A similar website is Find That Bike. You can register the theft and it also scrapes the main sites (ebay, gumtree etc) to save you having to search multiple places to see if it turns up 'second hand'.


http://findthatbike.co.uk/



If it's an Orbea, I'm assuming it's a half decent road bike, in which case it may be stripped for the groupset etc rather than just sold in in one go. When I got a bike nicked about 4 years ago the police told me that they are often just taken out of the country, but I'm not clear how that would work in practice and how it would be financially worthwhile for the villains.

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snoopy17 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Never use one of those cheap wire locks even for 5

> minutes, anyone with a scissors can cut through

> them.


Cable locks are pretty rubbish as you say, but I do occasionally use one when we've got the kids with us and need to lock up three or four bikes. It's a question of acceptable risk. Plenty of d-locks are also rubbish and only give the illusion of safety. The largest commercially available bolt cutters in the UK can cut through almost all d-locks up to about 15mm, so if you REALLY want something safe then kryptonite new york fahgettaboudit is a good bet with an 18mm shackle. And always get the shortest one that is of use; the ones with really long shackles actually make it easier to lift the bike and twist the lock off.

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se22cat Wrote:

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> Lockpicking Lawyer on Youtube has made mincemeat

> of every single Kryptonite lock..


Of course, no lock is impenetrable... but if your bike is more difficult to get at than the one next to it, then it's more likely to be passed over by any would-be thief.

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rahrahrah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> se22cat Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Lockpicking Lawyer on Youtube has made

> mincemeat

> > of every single Kryptonite lock..

>

> Of course, no lock is impenetrable... but if your

> bike is more difficult to get at than the one next

> to it, then it's more likely to be passed over by

> any would-be thief.


Exactly, it's all a question of risk management. If a thief REALLY wants it they will just wait til you return with the key then push you off as you are riding away.


If you check out Sold Secure (used by insurers to rate locks), the kryptonite lock I mentioned is 'gold rated' meaning that by their standardised methodology it takes a pretty long time to get it off. They are unlikely to have that opinion swayed because a skilled lockpicking expert posted a youtube video about it.

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I had some shopping bags stolen in another M&S store once - the company were extremely unhelpful and would not check their CCTV. Hopefully they have changed their attitude. I also got nowhere when a bike was stolen in central London in accessing CCTV. It appears not to be worth the owners effort, or it is being gathered for other reasons - this was not related to M&S on this occasion just expressing my frustration!
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goldilocks Wrote:

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> I see from the attachment that the lock was cut- this is concerning for those of us who do use the

> bike racks by M&S. would be good if you could let us know what kind of lock was cut within minutes

> of going into M&S if you don?t mind?


In one of the photos you can see a cheap cable (combination?) lock wrapped round the handlebar. There is a lot of nonsense in this thread about locks. Gold standard D Locks are the only way to minimise theft. Cable locks, combination locks, chains etc are cut through in seconds. Most gold standard D Locks need an angle grinder to cut. They are called gold standard for a reason. While no-one should be stealing anyone's bicycle, we sadly do not live in a world like that. It's a hard lesson to learn.

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