Worried about bike theft for moderately pricey bike

[Frimley111R]

I've been promising myself a new Boardman FS bike which is around £1000.

I live next to a big forest/MTB area but I am also a few mins from the town centre for the gym/bit of shopping etc and may use my bike for that. I've seen how easily some thieving scumbags seem to find it to steal locked bikes and I am bit worried about leaving my bike in town, even though it's a fairly low level crime area. I don't want 2 bikes (one cheapy). Am I breing unduly worried? Should I fit some type of GPS tracker into the frame?

[snobetter]

Get a good lock which will put off all but most determined, and will also probably let you claim under your home insurance should it be taken. Check your own policy.

[Wacky Racer]

Take the front wheel with you (If quick release).

[daddy cool]

As an owner of a F/S Boardman that lives near you... I wouldn't leave my bike locked up anywhere for more than 5 mins. In fact, all my bikes live in my spare room now, after my garage was broken into during the night.

O/T - if you do buy it, and fancy a spin round Swinley, hit me up. Hopefully we wont spend the whole time fixing your punctures like last time (if you remember that ride with Lazza…)

[The_Jackal]

You bike will stand out amongst all the other bikes and be stolen very easily.
If you dont want it stolen don't leave it outside unattended full stop.

You should be concerned as bike are stolen very easily these days with bolt croppers that fit up a sleeve.
Get the bus or a crap bike to leave outside for just for short journeys.

[Parsnip]

You can make a bike harder to nick, you can't really make it impossible to nick.

A chunky D-Lock and a cable will be a deterrent, but will only be a minor inconvenience for a scumbag with an angle grinder.

Unless you are willing to risk your bike being stolen, don't leave it out of sight in a public place.

I would also recommend a good one of these (or similar) - the only bike lock I know of that is 100% scumbag proof.

[TwistingMyMelon]

I wouldn't chain anything up in a town centre that I couldn't afford to replace

Even if you lock it components are worth a bit and easy to take off

Having said that I often leave my bike outside cafes in the sticks unlocked!

Up to you, but id buy a cheap bike for £50 and use that

[Frimley111R]

OK, thanks all. It's a 10 min walk into town so I'll just do that and use the Boardman for the forest.

[MadDad]

I'm not a million miles from you and had the best part of £20k's worth of bikes lifted from my garage last year, bikes were locked together with the highest grade D-locks then locked to the rafters of the garage roof - scumbags still took them, along with spare wheels, a crashed frame and a few other bits. I wouldn't leave my bikes out of my sight now.....

Bikes now live in various parts of the house guarded by a very barky anti-theft device with sharp teeth!

[TheRainMaker]

MadDad said:

I'm not a million miles from you and had the best part of £20k's worth of bikes lifted from my garage last year, bikes were locked together with the highest grade D-locks then locked to the rafters of the garage roof - scumbags still took them, along with spare wheels, a crashed frame and a few other bits. I wouldn't leave my bikes out of my sight now.....

Bikes now live in various parts of the house guarded by a very barky anti-theft device with sharp teeth!

Wow, they must have known they were there

[h0b0]

I don’t have a lock for my bike. There will never be a time that it is left alone outside of the house. Literally, (an over used term but appropriate here) every bike that I have ever locked up has been stolen. Not on the first occasion I locked it up but within 2 years. A lock is just a heavy pain in the arse to lumber around that ultimately has no value.

Edited by h0b0 on Sunday 24th March 18:56

[numtumfutunch]

h0b0 said:

I don’t have a lock for my bike. There will never be a time that it is left alone outside of the house. Literally, (an over used term but appropriate here) every bike that I have ever locked up has been stolen. Not on the first occasion I locked it up but within 2 years. A lock is just a heavy pain in that’s to lumber around that ultimately has no value.

Depressingly this

I leave my commuter at work shackled with a £100 lock and chain behind a secure swipe access gated car park but wouldnt leave it anywhere else whatsoever

For town and shop work I have a 'hack bike'
It was nice enough back in the day but at over 20y old nicely slips under the scrote radar

Cheers

[MadDad]

TheRainMaker said:

MadDad said:

I'm not a million miles from you and had the best part of £20k's worth of bikes lifted from my garage last year, bikes were locked together with the highest grade D-locks then locked to the rafters of the garage roof - scumbags still took them, along with spare wheels, a crashed frame and a few other bits. I wouldn't leave my bikes out of my sight now.....

Bikes now live in various parts of the house guarded by a very barky anti-theft device with sharp teeth!

Wow, they must have known they were there

Police believe I was followed home a couple of times and probably watched so they knew my movements. Police also believe the thieves used hand held 'jaws of life' to cut the locks - apparently you can buy hand held ones for circa £1,000, I guess worth the investment if your doing 4 or 5 garages a night. After mine were taken I posted on several club sites, bike shops, faceache pages - had quite a few responses from people in circa 20 mile radius of me who had top end bikes taken within a week of mine being stolen.

Bib say there are a few European gangs operating at a high level, they'll park a truck somewhere and spend a week or so targeting high end bikes and store them in the truck (using Strava/Garmin/FB pages to identify their victims). Once they have enough they'll drive it back across Europe and sell them via various eBay type sites - usually from an Eastern European base. The officer I spoke with said they've got it well sorted, they know they actually have to be caught in the act here to be charged, know they'll not get stopped at the border leaving the UK and the Bib in their home countries have much bigger issues to deal with - easy money and always a market for a £10k bike at half the price....

[Seight_Returns]

I have a few Ebay watch lists set up for components that I'm on the look out for the gravel bike I'm building - I see lots of listings for lightly used parts from Croatia - MadDads post above seems to explain why. I've decided not to buy used components from unknown sources as the chances of giving scumbags a payday is too high.

I agree with others that even if you secure the frame and rear wheel to something solid with a good lock - many other components are sadly too vulnerable.

[Frimley111R]

daddy cool said:

As an owner of a F/S Boardman that lives near you... I wouldn't leave my bike locked up anywhere for more than 5 mins. In fact, all my bikes live in my spare room now, after my garage was broken into during the night.

O/T - if you do buy it, and fancy a spin round Swinley, hit me up. Hopefully we wont spend the whole time fixing your punctures like last time (if you remember that ride with Lazza…)

Was it yours I had a short ride on? If it was, damn you!

[daddy cool]

Frimley111R said:

Was it yours I had a short ride on? If it was, damn you!

Possibly, but that was a few years back - probably had my 2012/13 model then. Currently rocking the 2016 F/S Pro bike (the blue one).
What are you thinking of getting - the current spec MTR?

[Frimley111R]

daddy cool said:

Frimley111R said:

Was it yours I had a short ride on? If it was, damn you!

Possibly, but that was a few years back - probably had my 2012/13 model then. Currently rocking the 2016 F/S Pro bike (the blue one).
What are you thinking of getting - the current spec MTR?

The current 8.8. The 8.6 would be fine but l don't like light metallic green!