Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Bike stolen at RideLondon spotted being ridden by suspect in offical event photos

Police appeal for help after RideLondon FreeCycle bike theft

Police are appealing for information about the rider of a bike stolen during the RideLondon FreeCycle event on Saturday, August 3 that subsequently turned up in official event photos.

The green Trek Madone 4.9 was stolen from Green Park near Constitution Hill, SW1 at 1pm while the FreeCycle ride was underway.

Its owner, a 42-year-old man, was about to take part in the ride and had locked his bike, but the thief or thieves cut the lock. When he found his bike missing, he told officers from the Met’s Cycle Task Force who were attending the event.

Browsing through official photos from the ride, he put in his ride number, and up popped an image of the bike being ridden along the Mall, with said number still attached.

Police investigating the theft would like to trace the male in the photograph.

The suspect is described as a white man wearing a blue cycle helmet, sunglasses, a blue and white striped t-shirt, beige/grey shorts and blue and white shoes.


Police would like to speak to this man, photographed riding the missing bike.

PC Charlotte Brierley, of the Cycle Task Force, said: "The victim was about to take part in the FreeCycle event when his bicycle was stolen. The theft took place in the middle of a very busy event and we are urging people who were there who may have seen anything to come forward.

"As a result he could not take part in the event which he was looking forward to participating in."

Anyone with information is urged to contact PC Brierley who is leading the investigation for the Cycle Task Force on 07768 928456 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.


An earlier pic of the missing bike.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

Add new comment

47 comments

Avatar
perelik | 10 years ago
0 likes

I had my Cannondale Synapse stolen at the same place and time. As I was reporting my theft he was reporting his at the same time.Still not found fine. Was the bike recovered?

I was lucky I managed to hire a bike at the last minute from British Cycle Hire, saved the day for me.

Avatar
southseabythesea | 10 years ago
0 likes

I wouldn't leave my Susan on her own, even if Bernard Hinault was giving away free punches!

Avatar
RTB | 10 years ago
0 likes

Two points:

From the way the thief is holding the hoods it looks like he knows how to ride (sadly it seems there might be thieving scumbags in our midst)

Even a locked bike cannot protect all the valuable bits on it, rims especially. A real mistake to walk away from it locked or not. Similarly I was at the TdF on Ax 3 on the very corner where Froomey made his break and it was mobbed all over the mountain like a zoo when the caravan/riders came through - it is very easy to get distracted and lose your pride and joy. Fortunately we kept all our kit together in our group with someone present at all times.

Avatar
swelbo | 10 years ago
0 likes

Still has the ding ding bell on it.

Avatar
andyp | 10 years ago
0 likes

'Maybe, but the police are going to struggle to take any fingerprints because the bike is missing. That's the whole point, really.'

Love it  1

Avatar
Tricky Business | 10 years ago
0 likes

I think the bloody great number strapped to the bars might be the biggest clue that this is the same person's bike, looks like they've blurred it out for this picture.

Avatar
zaskar.le | 10 years ago
0 likes

Hi i think as been said above this is the wrong picture as yes no"whitewalls" but also head tube looks green not black as in other pic unless half and half colours?
black left side green right side?

Avatar
BearstedCC | 10 years ago
0 likes

Very sad indeed...
Come on Prudential you're an insurance company. Take the Kudos and replace the bike !!!

Avatar
john wells replied to BearstedCC | 10 years ago
0 likes

The Prudential settled my claim without any fuss when my BMC SLT01 was stolen from my integral garage.

Avatar
ag_hind | 10 years ago
0 likes

And where's his gloves? Must be finger prints all over the steed.  26

Avatar
matthewn5 | 10 years ago
0 likes

You're right, SammyG, they are different tyres! Maybe he nicked some wheels, too.

Avatar
Mat Brett replied to matthewn5 | 10 years ago
0 likes
drmatthewhardy wrote:

You're right, SammyG, they are different tyres! Maybe he nicked some wheels, too.

Or maybe, seeing as that is a pic taken at an earlier time, the owner changed them.

ag_hind wrote:

And where's his gloves? Must be finger prints all over the steed.  26

Maybe, but the police are going to struggle to take any fingerprints because the bike is missing. That's the whole point, really.

Avatar
gb901 | 10 years ago
0 likes

The fact theres a MET Police Cycle Task Force is laughable! It appears theres a unit or task force for everything these days - no wonder you never see any police officers actually plodding the streets!

Avatar
workhard replied to gb901 | 10 years ago
0 likes
gb901 wrote:

The fact theres a MET Police Cycle Task Force is laughable! It appears theres a unit or task force for everything these days - no wonder you never see any police officers actually plodding the streets!

Well that would probably be because members of the Met Police Cycle Task Force cycle the streets wouldn't it?

Avatar
TeamCC | 10 years ago
0 likes

London has a billion CCTV cameras, can't they simply follow this person around? I mean, as long as we have all our public activity recorded by the government, can't they use it for something helpful?

Avatar
spongebob | 10 years ago
0 likes

different tyres to the picture at the bottom?

Avatar
Gkam84 replied to spongebob | 10 years ago
0 likes
SammyG wrote:

different tyres to the picture at the bottom?

The owner realised that white walls suck....replaced them and the thief liked his new treads  19

Avatar
Dr. Ko | 10 years ago
0 likes

Too bad the thief did not come across these police men:
http://innercitymobility.blogspot.de/2013/06/transformation-fashion-crim...

2.5 grand shopping bike? Come on, no one would like to be seen on such a cheap bike if he wants to go shopping in Knightsbridge. My advice: If You can not afford a 10k custom build, park at Victoria&Albert, walk over to H.  3

Before someone starts asking I'm currently riding the Brompton to work - in a business suit.  4

Avatar
markrjl | 10 years ago
0 likes

Perhaps he was signed up for the !00 the next day. I did the freecycle on a half decent bike but left it with 2 ubolt locks and a heavy duty cable lock for good measure while I popped off to EXCEL to register. Half expected it to be gone when I got back. Obviously a less desirable bike than I thought!

Avatar
DonnyCampo | 10 years ago
0 likes

Who'd steal a Trek AND let themself be photographed riding it?...

Avatar
snooks | 10 years ago
0 likes

That is one ugly bike.

Avatar
billyman | 10 years ago
0 likes

lovely looking bike, such a shame, I hope someone recognizes him and he gets it back, all good bikes should be fitted with gps tracker h

Avatar
londonplayer | 10 years ago
0 likes

Not sure if this is of any use but his t shirt is from m and s. I have one myself...

Avatar
Dog72 replied to londonplayer | 10 years ago
0 likes
londonplayer wrote:

Not sure if this is of any use but his t shirt is from m and s. I have one myself...

And where were you 2 Saturdays ago?

Avatar
londonplayer replied to Dog72 | 10 years ago
0 likes
Dog72 wrote:
londonplayer wrote:

Not sure if this is of any use but his t shirt is from m and s. I have one myself...

And where were you 2 Saturdays ago?

*badoom Tish*

Avatar
Paul M replied to londonplayer | 10 years ago
0 likes

.

Avatar
Paul M replied to londonplayer | 10 years ago
0 likes
londonplayer wrote:

Not sure if this is of any use but his t shirt is from m and s. I have one myself...

That should narrow it down a bit.....

Avatar
davecochrane | 10 years ago
0 likes

If only there was a Govt. agency with the ability to track your face across any camera netwo...oh wait.

Avatar
usedtobefaster | 10 years ago
0 likes

First rule of good bike owner ship ignored.

Never leave your pride and joy out of line of sight, and don't trust anyone you don't know.

Avatar
SideBurn | 10 years ago
0 likes

Maybe he misunderstood the meaning of 'FreeCycle'?
But seriously this is a pretty s**t thing to happen.
I was at an event last year where the Police caught an organised gang stealing bikes; you have been warned  22 Keep your stuff safe and your eyes open. Who would ride a bike with clip-less shoes and deck shoes? Someone must have seen that and thought that's a bit odd....

Pages

Latest Comments