Richmond Park ; Will my bike be safe?
Discussion
My better half is pushing me to cycle to Richmond tomorrow(Sunday) a.m. and then run with her.
Being a Londoner, I am paranoid about my bike and components being stolen. Should I worry about my D-Locked bike and saddlebag or does the volume of cyclists mean that thieves do not 'try it on' ? TBH I think the Missus is being naive by saying that 'everybody just leaves their bikes'.
What do you think?
Matt
Being a Londoner, I am paranoid about my bike and components being stolen. Should I worry about my D-Locked bike and saddlebag or does the volume of cyclists mean that thieves do not 'try it on' ? TBH I think the Missus is being naive by saying that 'everybody just leaves their bikes'.
What do you think?
Matt
dubbs said:
If your bike is worth more than £50 and looks like it has EVER been looked after then never leave it anywhere.
My £500 of commuter never gets left anywhere that isn't restricted access and even then usually gets some form of lock.
I'll second that on second thoughts. I might leave my dirty black Hybrid/MTB locked up for a bit in town and still be surprised that it's still there when I get back but when I get my new roadie it will be kept in my bedroom, taken out for a ride, no stopping unless I can see it (getting a bacon roll from that place in the middle of Richmond Park) and then back to the bedroom again.My £500 of commuter never gets left anywhere that isn't restricted access and even then usually gets some form of lock.
I have noticed that I never see roadies locked up at the shopping centre or Sainsburys, just hybrids and MTBs.
croyde said:
dubbs said:
If your bike is worth more than £50 and looks like it has EVER been looked after then never leave it anywhere.
My £500 of commuter never gets left anywhere that isn't restricted access and even then usually gets some form of lock.
I'll second that on second thoughts. I might leave my dirty black Hybrid/MTB locked up for a bit in town and still be surprised that it's still there when I get back but when I get my new roadie it will be kept in my bedroom, taken out for a ride, no stopping unless I can see it (getting a bacon roll from that place in the middle of Richmond Park) and then back to the bedroom again.My £500 of commuter never gets left anywhere that isn't restricted access and even then usually gets some form of lock.
I have noticed that I never see roadies locked up at the shopping centre or Sainsburys, just hybrids and MTBs.
AyBee said:
croyde said:
dubbs said:
If your bike is worth more than £50 and looks like it has EVER been looked after then never leave it anywhere.
My £500 of commuter never gets left anywhere that isn't restricted access and even then usually gets some form of lock.
I'll second that on second thoughts. I might leave my dirty black Hybrid/MTB locked up for a bit in town and still be surprised that it's still there when I get back but when I get my new roadie it will be kept in my bedroom, taken out for a ride, no stopping unless I can see it (getting a bacon roll from that place in the middle of Richmond Park) and then back to the bedroom again.My £500 of commuter never gets left anywhere that isn't restricted access and even then usually gets some form of lock.
I have noticed that I never see roadies locked up at the shopping centre or Sainsburys, just hybrids and MTBs.
Unfortunately someone came into the garden and threw off the pile of kids bikes on top of it and nicked it. Hopefully they missed a gear and went under a bus.
The local scumbags have taken to following bikes home then coming back later to help themself. Last week a friend took her £4.5k bike home along with a £4k demo bike for a mate, all on a rack on the back of the car. They simply undid the hinges on the shed and bypassed the locks. Luckily the bikes were in the house.
Gooby said:
The local scumbags have taken to following bikes home then coming back later to help themself. Last week a friend took her £4.5k bike home along with a £4k demo bike for a mate, all on a rack on the back of the car. They simply undid the hinges on the shed and bypassed the locks. Luckily the bikes were in the house.
I had that exact thing happen to me a couple years ago, except the bike wasn't worth anywhere near that and it was in the shed 
since then I have kept my bikes in the house out of view.Gooby said:
The local scumbags have taken to following bikes home then coming back later to help themself. Last week a friend took her £4.5k bike home along with a £4k demo bike for a mate, all on a rack on the back of the car. They simply undid the hinges on the shed and bypassed the locks. Luckily the bikes were in the house.
s
tting Hell!Been looking at ordering a Specialized Allez Elite for myself and although not in the same league, there do seem to a lot of very cheap ones on Gumtree.
Thanks for all of the input.
My first trip over there was from 830-930 today. I stayed on my bike while the missus ran. If I was ever to lock any of my bikes up I would leave them at Roehampton gate (as suggested by Croyde) as it was packed with people/cyclists.
I took the Road bike today, but may take the MTB next time as there seemed to be alot of them about so it must be fun on the tracks as well.
Cheers
Matt
My first trip over there was from 830-930 today. I stayed on my bike while the missus ran. If I was ever to lock any of my bikes up I would leave them at Roehampton gate (as suggested by Croyde) as it was packed with people/cyclists.
I took the Road bike today, but may take the MTB next time as there seemed to be alot of them about so it must be fun on the tracks as well.
Cheers
Matt
Seems they're an easy sell once stolen...
Evening Standard said:
One in six cyclists who have had their bike stolen has spotted it for sale online, a new study has found.
The London Cycling Campaign today called for tough rules to be brought in for people selling bikes on sites such as eBay and Gumtree.
Full articleThe London Cycling Campaign today called for tough rules to be brought in for people selling bikes on sites such as eBay and Gumtree.
Matt London said:
My better half is pushing me to cycle to Richmond tomorrow(Sunday) a.m. and then run with her.
Being a Londoner, I am paranoid about my bike and components being stolen. Should I worry about my D-Locked bike and saddlebag or does the volume of cyclists mean that thieves do not 'try it on' ? TBH I think the Missus is being naive by saying that 'everybody just leaves their bikes'.
What do you think?
Matt
You're right, she's wrong.Being a Londoner, I am paranoid about my bike and components being stolen. Should I worry about my D-Locked bike and saddlebag or does the volume of cyclists mean that thieves do not 'try it on' ? TBH I think the Missus is being naive by saying that 'everybody just leaves their bikes'.
What do you think?
Matt
Speaking as someone who's had every bike he's ever owned stolen. The current one has been going for 1 year now, because I've never left it locked up outside for more than 5 minutes, and I can count the number of times I've left it locked up outside for less than 5 minutes, on one hand.
Has it really changed that much in the 8 or so years since I lived in West London?
I used to work for Richmond Cycles as a Saturday boy, saved up my pennies and bought a Trek OCLV with full Dura-Ace, and, in conjunction with a Kryptonite New Yorker chain left it pretty much anywhere and everywhere.
That was in US Postal colours and with FiR Antara carbon rims too, so not exactly inconspicuous....
Yet never once did I worry about it going missing, and there was never any indication that I should have done.
I used to work for Richmond Cycles as a Saturday boy, saved up my pennies and bought a Trek OCLV with full Dura-Ace, and, in conjunction with a Kryptonite New Yorker chain left it pretty much anywhere and everywhere.
That was in US Postal colours and with FiR Antara carbon rims too, so not exactly inconspicuous....
Yet never once did I worry about it going missing, and there was never any indication that I should have done.
Things have changed. It is nigh on impossible to get insurance on supersports motorcycles in London as it is a case of not if but when it is stolen.
I'm nearly 50 and I had a bicycle stolen when I was around 15 and returned a day later with a note warning me to lock it next time. My last bike, a Univega, which I had owned and not locked for 15 odd years went walkies last year, hidden from the street in the garden, covered in rust and 3 kids bikes.
My latest motorcycle, one I could just afford the insurance for, a Street Triple, has been owned since last Summer and has had 2 attempted thefts. Once when parked outside the lounge window with loads of people in the room, and the other time in a busy London street outside a number of restaurants. That time somebody called the cops and the would be thieves ran.
It is a shame but thefts are now so commonplace that it is just not worth having anything nice.
Sorry all slightly off topic, rant over.
I'm nearly 50 and I had a bicycle stolen when I was around 15 and returned a day later with a note warning me to lock it next time. My last bike, a Univega, which I had owned and not locked for 15 odd years went walkies last year, hidden from the street in the garden, covered in rust and 3 kids bikes.
My latest motorcycle, one I could just afford the insurance for, a Street Triple, has been owned since last Summer and has had 2 attempted thefts. Once when parked outside the lounge window with loads of people in the room, and the other time in a busy London street outside a number of restaurants. That time somebody called the cops and the would be thieves ran.
It is a shame but thefts are now so commonplace that it is just not worth having anything nice.
Sorry all slightly off topic, rant over.
Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff