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Bikes & gear worth £25,000 stolen from Bath's Odd Down circuit

Council appeals for help tracking down bikes

The folks who run Bath’s Odd Down bike circuit are appealing for help after thieves stole 25 bikes and other equipment worth an estimated £25,000 from the facility on Wednesday night.

The bikes are Cannondales and Konas and a mixture of drop-bar road bike and flat-bar bikes with slicks. The bikes are mostly used by local youngsters using the closed circuit to build their cycling skills and get a first taste of racing.

A spokesman said: “By any normal standards, the bikes and equipment are protected by robust security measures.

"The gang who stole the bikes and equipment were clearly well organised because they required an oxyacetylene tank and lots of cutting equipment to break into the metal containers.

"The people who committed this planned attack should hang their heads in shame.

"This is an excellent, well supported community facility and the people who lose out are local taxpayers.

"We urge anyone with information about this theft to contact the police to help bring these people to justice.”

Anyone in the Bath or Bristol areas who has information about these bikes is urged to contact Avon and Somerset Police  or Crimestoppers.

All stolen bikes have Go by Bike stickers attached to the top tube and police security stickers. Most bikes have bike stands and computers also attached. The majority of bikes are newly sourced Konas and Cannondales from Cadence bike shop in Bath.

3 x Jake 24, youth road bike, blue
2 x Kona Shred 24, youth mtb, white
2 x Kona Kula 24, youth mtb, black
2 x Paddy wagon single speed bikes, chrome, size 49 and 52
1 x Kona Shred 26, adult mtb, blue
5 x Cannondale Synapse ladies road bikes, white and purple, size 2 x 44, 3 x 48
3 x Cannondale CAAD8 road bikes, white, sizes 51, 54, 56
3 x Cannondale Quick hybrid bikes, white and grey, sizes T, P and S
1 x Schwinn crusier bike, black with smoothie maker blender attachment
1 x Haro BMX, black
1 x Mission Tri Speed youth trike, red (Avon Valley Cyclery, Bath)
1 x AVE ladies electric bike, black (Take Charge bike shop, Bath)

Other stolen items include 4 helmets with Go by Bike stickers attached, two boxes of Knog light sets and youth waterproof clothing.

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.

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11 comments

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AnalogueAndy | 10 years ago
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 2

Yes, you'll gather from the list that we spent a great deal of effort selecting a great range of bikes especially for the young riders we work with at the fantastic new circuit at Odd Down.

We are gutted beyond words.

Whoever did this knew exactly which container to target. They'd clearly been on site when the container was open.

They'd seen the kids riding these bikes. They would have seen how much joy and excitement they brought.

Yet they weren't there to see the kids smiling and having fun.

They were there to work out how best to steal them.

And to steal the fun and excitement of the kids that ride them.

I hope they get a few quid for them, and they spend the money wisely, whatever 'enjoyment' they get from whatever they spend the money on, it will be a million times less the enjoyment that our kids had riding them.

When I heard I was initially inclined to agree with some of the posts above! But I don't hate whoever did this, I pity them.

Whether you believe in 'karma' or not, one thing is certain: Life has a funny way of making sure that one day they will pay for what they've done.

Andy
Chairman,
Sulis Scorpions Youth Cycling Alliance
Odd Down Cycling Circuit, Bath

Avatar
PJ McNally | 10 years ago
0 likes

This is serious organized crime - why is the appeal from the bike club? If it was a car that was nicked, would the police leave it to the owner to appeal for info?

Avatar
veseunr replied to PJ McNally | 10 years ago
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PJ McNally wrote:

This is serious organized crime - why is the appeal from the bike club? If it was a car that was nicked, would the police leave it to the owner to appeal for info?

Pretty much ... that's all they do for cars too!!

I hope these turds get caught.

Avatar
perelik | 10 years ago
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As a person who had his bike stolen at the Prudential Ride London 100, I can only sympathize with their loss. If the thieves are caught they will only get a menial sentence, more needs to be done.

Bikes are an easy target, even with gold secure locks.
The police showed me how quick and easy it was to steal a bike with bolt croppers.

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SteppenHerring | 10 years ago
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Can I say "utter fucking cunts" on here?

Going and robbing a facility for kids. That is low.

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zam | 10 years ago
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When they catch them, they should be forced to ride a stage of the Tour on a bike without a saddle, only a sharp stick in its place - with an 80lbs bergen on their back.

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jarredscycling | 10 years ago
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What is with the spree of recent bike thefts? I guess one bad thing to come from increased exposure of cycling is the realization of the real value of bicycles

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t0bber | 10 years ago
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Utterly disgraceful what people will do. I agree with Charlierevell-bring back hanging!

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Batfink | 10 years ago
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Loads of this about, unfortunately.

If only high-end bikes had GPS trackers and remote killswitches. *presses button*

*distant explosion*

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usedtobefaster | 10 years ago
0 likes

Scumbags.

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charlierevell | 10 years ago
0 likes

Pretty sad news that... such a great facility too.
Bring back hanging??

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