High-end cycle theft warning as thieves steal bikes worth £20,000 from Cheltenham family

.. what's with the mean spirited comments on the value of the bikes? Nobody would blink twice at the cost of a motor vehicle that was worth £20k ...

Jesus, what kind of Spec is the On-One 456 if it's valued at £2500!!!!

My brother and his son had their mid-price mountain bikes stolen from the top of his car when he went back inside to get something. He was only inside for a few minutes and the bikes were gone. The thieves then came back a month or so later, scaled the wall into the garden and broke into his shed so they could steal the replacements. My nephew then began bringing his replacement, replacement Kona inside - which needless to day my sister in law was less than happy about when he trailed mud all over the place.

He moved in the end.

I keep my best bike in the house after a spate of thefts from club mates with garages. Does anyone know how to get chain oil out of a duvet cover?

if this is the same gang doing the rounds in Cheltenham, they have taken doors out, gone in with angle grinders, etc. This is not opportunistic, If they want the bike you have very little say in the matter.

Surely that value of bikes in a garage should have protected by multiple high end chains (think Thatcham approved motorbike locks, not average mountain bike ones) and there certainly should have been an alarm.

I know personally I can't insure my bikes (2 of which are very expensive) because the unavoidable exclusions will almost always apply ... I'm just very sensible about where I keep them and use extremely good locks.

I managed to negotiate great cover for my bikes this year on a home insurance policy; two months after taking it up the insurance company phoned my broker to try and get out of covering the bikes! He refused to let them.

One of the factors that enabled the cover in the first place was the sensor burglar alarm that I have fitted to the garage, it is attached to the main house alarm.

I have about £10k's worth of bikes and having the garage alarmed just seems a sensible step to me.

I hope they get their bikes back.

I'm sorry to say I'm with the above.
£2,500 on a kids bike.
If my teen can save £475 for a Bianchi and still beat Kristian House up a CAT 4 climb, I'm sure the boy would be better off training on a lesser stead and then know the value of a decent bike when older.
Gutted for the family and fingers crossed they nab the scum.

re insurance, to be honest, in that part of town the insurers might just laugh at you! one of the suspected bike thieves lives round the corner!

Erm, who in their right mind has £20,000 (pretend the £20,000 is in red, bold, italicised and flashing, it adds to the effect) worth of bikes and doesn't insure them? I feel for the family, but that's just mental.

I think the police do know who it is,

The chances of catching the culprits or recovering the bikes are no doubt miniscule.
I'm gutted for them but there are plenty of insurance policies available for bikes outside of home contents insurance. My bike collection is worth a quarter of this particular haul but I can't afford to replace them so I stumped up for a decent policy. Whilst it isn't particularly cheap (on a par with my car insurance!) I know that if the worst happens I'm covered.
Who in their right mind would have 20k worth of anything so easily nicked and not have it insured?
A lesson for us all.