Stolen bike alert: Tall bike with no brakes taken from Bristol garden

Thieves in Bristol stole a nearly two metre high tall bike over the Christmas holidays, and its creator and owner is asking people to keep their eyes peeled for it.

Pierre Covell, 22, was puzzled at the theft from his garden in Redland, not least because tall bikes are not straightforward to mount and dismount, and the bike had no working brakes.

Covell, who lives in Redland, told road.cc he came home after the Christmas break to find his bike gone. He assumed the thief took it for a joyride and abandoned it somewhere.

9 top tips for setting up your new road bike

Covell told road.cc: “The bike vanished without trace from my garden in Redland while I was away over Christmas. It is not of any financial value but certainly of sentimental as it was my first attempt at building a bike.”

Covell says he constructed the bike in his parents’ garage three years ago, after being inspired by tall bike builders at the Bristol Bike Project, a local community bike workshop. 

“I had two old steel frames and some plumbing pipe so I learnt how to weld and managed to stick all the bits together resulting in my tall bike," he said. 

"I named it 'The Tibet Liberation Bike' and tied prayer flags around with the aim of prompting conversations about Tibetan freedom.”

Beginner's guide to bike security—how to stop bike thieves and protect your bike

After discovering it was gone from his garden he searched the immediate surroundings, assuming the thief couldn’t get far with it. Today there was a potential sighting of the bike in Bradley Stoke, 6.5 miles North East of Bristol's Redland, near the Baileys Court Inn. 

There are few tall bikes in existence, and are mostly built by their riders. Pierre’s is one of a kind, pictured above, and anyone with information can contact him on 07397 067420.