Dave Rayner Fund rider's bike stolen from parents' garage in Norfolk

dodgy wrote:

This must be a huge set back, hope something comes up for him.

Isn't £8000 rather a lot, even for an aspiring pro? Surely you can be competitive on something around the £4000 mark? Diminishing returns kick in massively after about £2000.

It's a fair point - you could spend £3k on a Canyon and have pretty much a pro-standard bike.

notfastenough wrote:

dodgy wrote:

This must be a huge set back, hope something comes up for him.

Isn't £8000 rather a lot, even for an aspiring pro? Surely you can be competitive on something around the £4000 mark? Diminishing returns kick in massively after about £2000.

It's a fair point - you could spend £3k on a Canyon and have pretty much a pro-standard bike.

For pro racing you must use equipment that the team uses/ allows. Ie you cannot race on a canyon if team uses specialized bikes.

With regards to bikes being nicked, I had two MTB nicked not so long ago. But it became apparent that they were after my canyon road bike and had been following me to my home. Very disconcerting!.

The biggest issue is that you cannot get your bike back once stolen, even with microdots ect. The biggest way to stop bike being nicked is stopping thief's from stealing it in first place.

Add to this a simple sticker saying its been registered on a immobilise style site( ugly sticker but seems only way of putting them off).

So to sum up...once nicked little you can do sadly.that's the overall response I got from police.

Sausages best friend wrote:

Maybe I'm being a bit naive but how are thieves identifying which properties to target? I presume that Tom would probably notice someone following him home from an event, assuming he was riding the bike. Kenninghall doesn't strike me as being a hotbed of bike-savvy criminals!

From experience, at least for MTBs, there were a number of ****s who hung around in car parks and were known to follow people home. I don't doubt the same applies now. Go to a race/sportive and then follow someone home after, come back in the early hours and break the garage door.

There is also the paranoid view of Strava, Garmin Connect, Endomondo, etc. IF you are not careful the traces lead to your house! As a word of advice, use the privacy settings, vet follower requests etc.

Other methods, google is your friend/enemy, it is scary how much is out there!

I know a few people who have had multiple break-ins, ie wait for the insurance to pay out and then nick the replacement. I have also heard rumour but no evidence that some bike shop staff have been in on this nick to order as well.

I also am fairly sure the Police do know who many of these thieves are, whether they have the evidence to do anything is a different question. And whether they consider bike theft a "serious" crime is a third question.

notfastenough wrote:

Maybe the frames aren't going anywhere - all about the components maybe?

I was wondering the same the other day after the Team Sky thefts (following the other pro team ones), and came to that conclusion. I can't see these bikes getting a rattle-can spray job and swapped for a £10 wrap like the 'good old days', and nobody's going to question individual components being sold. On fleabay bits are going to go for market value too, so it's not even easy to spot as suspiciously cheap.

Dunks517 wrote:

These targeted thefts of expensive bikes both at home and during organised events seem to be on the rise. I hope he gets back on his bike soon.

Agreed, although it used to be MTBs and now that road bikes are more popular!

Simple question though, where are these bikes going, if they are, as I believe, stolen for a market, that means that a lot of people out there are buying either knowingly, or niavely, stolen bikes. I guess part of the solution is, if you see something that is too good to be true it is, if you buy second-hand demand to see the original receipt.