A London cyclist has warned fellow riders to beware of parking their bikes on bike racks that have gaffer tape on them – because thieves are using it to hide the fact that they have cut through the metalwork to make it easy for them to steal bikes.
Pictures of a Sheffield stand that had been subject to that exact treatment were posted to Twitter by Sarah King, a Labour councillor for South Camberwell in London.
Cyclists please watch out for gaffer tape on bike racks covering up that they’re cut straight through pic.twitter.com/RRiJYVfnwV
— Sarah King (@sezking78) February 25, 2016
She added that fellow Labaour councillor Mark Williams was in touch with Southwark council to have the stand removed.
Here’s road.cc’s bike locking tips – to which we’ve added this latest trick by would-be thieves.
> Beginner’s guide to bike security—how to stop bike thieves and protect your bike
10 thoughts on “London cyclist highlights bike thieves’ latest trick”
Rather than remove it why not
Rather than remove it why not just weld it back together? that’s got to be cheaper and easier.
fatbeggaronabike wrote:
You can’t easily weld two large straight-cut solid sections back together. For a maximum-strength joint they have to be cone shaped like this: >< so that the welder can gradually build up from the centre. Unless you have one of those plasma things they use to join rails.
matthewn5 wrote:
Thanks for that, I always thought they were made from tube like all the ones round my way and so therefore could be welded.
fatbeggaronabike wrote:
I thought they were, but even with tube the same tapered weld prep needs to bd done. It is easier with less thickness. However I would expect that after cutting there will be a gap between the tubes at least the thickness of the cutting tool, or there may have been two cuts, so the lock can more easily be moved through the gap.
This is nothing new. I made
This is nothing new. I made the mistake of locking an (admittedly) quite cheap bike, to a ‘doctored’ rack, three years ago. You have to be awake all the time.
You could wrap some tape
You could wrap some tape around your favourite rack to deter other people from using it.
If I saw a possibly-doctored
If I saw a possibly-doctored stand, I would have a go at it with my D-lock and Swiss Army knife. And throw any bits which came off in the Thames.
I can’t help but wonder what
I can’t help but wonder what the official response would be if there was this much effort being put in by *car* thieves… Probably have soldiers on the streets by now.
Do councils have some obligation to check that their bike racks are still fit for purpose? Like carrying out visual checks (like checking for road flaws &c).
Or allow you to report it online, like those council sites for reporting broken street lights.
brooksby wrote:
In my experience locally, they’re pretty good actually. Their biggest problem with bike racks is abandoned bikes, and most London authorities will now routinely tag them if reported and then later clear them away. Have also seen bike racks get replaced, as there’s a constant attrition rate from lorries and other vehicles damaging them.
bikebot wrote:
Those are the racks that don’t have enough situational awareness.