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Have you seen this bike? The Stolen Trek Speed Concept.Conman blags four grand time trial bike in Stevenage - plus our safe selling tips
Police in Stevenage are appealing for information about the theft of a Trek time trial bike taken by a thief who masqueraded as a potential buyer.
The owner had advertised the bike on a couple of second-hand sites, so when a man turned up at his house on February 8 claiming to be interested in buying it, it all seemed on the level.
In his ads, the owner said he had spent £6,200 on the 2011 Trek Project One Speed Concept bike and only raced it “a couple of times.” He said he was selling it because “I have a new addition to the family and I can't see myself doing any triathlons anytime soon.”
The offender asked to test the bike and gave the victim a laptop bag, which the victim assumed had a laptop inside. The offender then cycled off down Letchmore Road in the direction of Walkern Road. He didn’t return and after a short while the victim checked the bag, which he found contained books.
The offender is described as a man of ‘Mediterranean’ appearance, in his late 20s to early 30s who was around 6ft 1/2in tall with short dark hair and stubble. He was wearing a grey beanie hat, rectangular narrow glasses, a long grey tweed over coat and brown corduroy trousers.
Investigating officer PC David Vince, said: “I would appeal to anyone who believes they have seen this bike for sale or who has been offered it for sale to contact me with information.
“I would also appeal to people in the local area to call in if they saw a man on this bike around the time of the incident. It is believed the offender may have been in the company of another person in a van and that the bike may have been loaded into a van. If you saw this or anything suspicious please call.
“Finally, if you have had a bike for sale and been approached by a man matching this description or in similar circumstances, please ring get in touch with the information.”
Anyone with information should contact PC Vince via the Herts police non-emergency number 101 quoting crime reference number E1/14/944. Alternatively call Crimestoppers, the independent charity, anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Edit: Bedfordshire police investigating similar crime
Thanks to Dave Van MusicMaster on Facebook for drawing our attention to a very similar crime in Bedforshire last month.
A man from Marston Moretaine had advertised a carbon fibre Cube bike for sale on Gumtree site and was contacted by a prospective buyer who made an appointment to view the bike on Wednesday, January 8, according to the police report.
When the buyer turned up on Wednesday evening at about 8.20pm, he was very knowledgeable about racing bikes and seemed credible and trustworthy. However, he asked to test the bike out in the cul de sac where the seller lives and then when the seller’s back was turned to shut his van door, the thief simply hopped on the bike and rode off at speed.
In this case, the thief also left a laptop bag as 'security'. That bag also turned out to just contain books, and had been recently bought from an Oxfam shop.
Safe selling
When you want to sell a bike, it’s easy to be too trusting. Even bike shops sometimes fall prey to convincing conmen who leave dodgy ‘security’ while they go for test rides.
Here are our tips for safe selling:
- Don’t put your address in the ad or tell it to a possible buyer. Letting someone know where you live, and therefore where there’s an expensive bike, could mean a 2am visit from a man with a crowbar and bolt croppers.
- Ask lots of relevant details, like how tall they are. Someone claiming to be 6ft but interested in a 51cm women-specific bike for himself is unlikely to be genuine.
- Get their full name and phone number. If they’re hesitant about giving that information, that’s another reason to be wary.
- Arrange to meet possible buyers on public, neutral ground. Partly for the same reasons as the first point, and also so that the situation is too public for them to mug you for the bike.
- If they want a test ride get solid security. There have been instances of thieves leaving bike shops with car keys that have turned out to be bogus. Ask for photo ID such as a driving licence or passport, or go for a ride with your potential buyer. Or get the asking price of the bike in cash.
What have we missed? Tell us in the comments below.
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.
Latest Comments
- OnYerBike 3 sec ago
Don't forget your hi-viz and lights, folks. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c7086eepzpxo
- Gbjbanjs 4 hours 19 min ago
Glad to see so many with similar values to my own. BC completely misreading and continuing to ignore members.
- festina 6 hours 54 min ago
I kinda like the look.
- Velo-drone 7 hours 32 min ago
I don't think it is peculiarly Dutch even. I've travelled all over Europe for work, and I'd say that the popularity of this style of bike is much...
- hawkinspeter 7 hours 36 min ago
They most certainly do "separate like that"....
- nick h. 10 hours 19 min ago
Read it again. You seem to have missed what this is all about.
- Secret_squirrel 13 hours 21 min ago
Thanks Neil!
- slc 13 hours 27 min ago
All arguments I am hopeful to see validated, especially (a) and (b) combined....
- hawkinspeter 14 hours 1 min ago
Well, on Lundy the only predators are the humans, and they're far more likely to buy some farmed non-Soay lamb from the pub than try to chase a...
- mdavidford 14 hours 1 min ago
"Just a little bit off the sides"
Add new comment
23 comments
Not at all... Plenty of people are naively stupid when they believe those emails saying they're going to be the sole benefactor of a large sum of money in a Nigerian account and if they could please send £1000 to "aid the transaction"...
I used to work in a bike shop and we had some fairly elaborate scams tried on. Some worked, some didn't. Classic one involved a customer building a rapport with a young/new salesperson, trying out a couple of bikes, bringing them back, allowing themselves to be talked up a price bracket or two, repeat until they were on a £3000 bike and off they'd go.
Obviously we put in measures to stop all this. Bikes chained at all times on the shop floor, picture taken off all test ride customers, card verification checks etc.
But on a private sale, you don't have that backup and you always want to believe the best in your fellow cyclists - if this guy is talking the talk, being chatty etc, you'd be surprised how uncomfy and stupid most people would feel saying "hang on a sec, give me the cash and also let me take your photo before you touch the bike".
Same at a Sportive or race - you leave your bike unattended while you sign on and someone dressed in all the cycling gear casually wanders up, picks your bike up and rides off. No-one bats an eyelid. Thieves are getting smarter and moving with the times, it's not just dodgy hoodie wearing scrotes with bolt cutters any more.
can you imagine that bloke in a long grey tweed over coat and brown corduroy trousers on that bike
rules on sales/deposits....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqtjbWJPIgQ
Apparently there was a spate of similar thefts a couple of years ago in the southeast, 'Policeman' would go into a shop to test ride high end bikes, leave his warrant card with the shop and never come back....
Who would question a copper?....
Obviously he wasn't a real copper but makes you think... You never can be too carefull.
TAKE A PHOTO
This is extremely easy to stop happening if you get a picture of anyone about to ride off on your bike (or anyone buying/ selling a car, motorbike etc.) - the would be thief is very unlikely to go ahead with the theft if you have a full face picture to show the world, I've been doing this as a matter of course for years, even if everything appear to be completely in order.
Wonderful description of the thief, especially the, approx 6'and a half inch.
The entire story doesnt add up for me. A 6K bike and he lets it roll off down the road for a test ride with a total stranger and is left clutching a bag he hasnt even looked in to check 'said computer' was in there... 6K bike v a laptop as security??
What's your theory for the 'real' story then?
Just sounds incredibly far fetched to me. And if true naively stupid.
insurance scam? maybe the "thief" was his mate? double whammy!
I dunno -would insurance pay out in those circumstances anyway?
There are bogus sellers as well as buyers. For £6K, I think I would take precautions both ways, and I doubt I would try to either buy or sell a bike privately at that price - just too iffy (unless a known seller). A bike is even riskier than a car - at least there is ownership paperwork for a motor vehicle.
Ah, those Mediterraneans, plaguing these shores for over 2000 years.
Seriously hope he gets it back, pedigree bikes should really be chipped.
Why would you take a laptop as security against a £4k bike? There aren't many laptops that are worth £4k and I'd certainly be checking before letting someone else ride off on my bike...
I feel sorry for the guy. If I was selling a £6200 car I wouldn't just hand the keys to someone and let them test drive it, I'd make sure they were insured to drive it for a start and then go with them.
I'm not quite how you do this with a bike. You could ride with them on another bike or get a moped. A car wouldn't work really if they really wanted to lose you.
A laptop though even if there was one would be a pretty small deposit against a £6200 bike.
Luckily I don't have a £6200 bike for sale.
in this situation, the option might have been to offer to cycle along with them (assuming N+1, you'll probably have a spare bike). Obviously there's still the risk of them out-riding you, but that's a big risk to take for your average scrote, too.
I like that idea, the thief trying to get away on your £1k carbon bike but he can't drop you on your rusty mountain bike! It would be even better if you lived somewhere like, I don't know, the bottom of Alpe d'Huez!
Not sure about this one. I'd never buy a car from someone in a carpark or on a random street. I wouldn't expect anyone to buy one from me in that situation.
And to be honest, if someone's planning on nicking the bike, I live near London so would assume that the would-be thief is tooled up...
The answer of course is N+1 and never N-1.
No definitely not in a public place. The advise if you are buying say a car is to make sure you are buying it from the person at the address where it is registered if you can. ie if vehicle is registred at that address and the person selling it lives at that address there's less chance it is nicked and is there's to sell.
More difficult if you are the seller and a buyer turns up. But neutral ground can't ever be a good idea.
if they want a test ride they can leave the full amount...after you've checked they're not fake notes.
Last time I bought a bike from someone in that situation, I left my 8 year old son as a deposit!
It certainly wasn't unusual in the medieval world for nobles to put a child in their liege lord's custody as a pledge of loyalty and good faith, for example after taking part in a failed rebellion - although "hostage" is the commonly used word in that context
Have you been back for him yet