Thief posing as bike shop customer rides off on £4k mountain bike

The owners of North West Mountain Bike Centre in Stockport have published a CCTV image of a man who rode off on a £4,000 mountain bike on Wednesday November 25. The man posed as a customer, putting a £50 deposit on a child’s bike, before asking to test the mountain bike outside.

The Manchester Evening News reports that the man pretended to test the suspension on an Intense Tracer Carbon 275 2015 in Black/Charcoal before riding off. Staff gave chase on bikes, but he managed to get away.

Interview: Inside the mind of a bike thief

Store owner Andy Kyffin said:

“We are very security conscious so this is a bit of a shock. Someone has been smart with us. Now we are going to have legitimate customers asking to try a bike out and they are not going to be able to. This is a wake up call for us.

“He had done his research as he was talking about suspension and put down a deposit on another bike. He didn’t look untoward, there was no reason to think he wasn’t a genuine customer. But he just pedalled off the site and disappeared. We went out chasing after him on bikes as we know the area well, but we couldn’t find him.”

The thief was captured by the shop’s CCTV and the store has published an image on its Facebook page. He is said to be about 5ft9in.

Kyffin said there was a market for stolen bikes and that the store would be watching sites such as eBay and Gumtree.

“It is a bit embarrassing, but there is a cycling community and we have put it on Facebook and it has been shared across the UK. If anyone knows anything then we would ask them to call the police.”

Anyone with information can contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.