Bike Theft Stats - Looks Ok If You Have A Big Bike

[KTMsm]

This popped up on my feed

https://www.visordown.com/news/general/uk-motorcyc...

Whilst it seems a bit pointless comparing the theft to the population - I presume they haven't got stats of how many bikes are registered / used in each area - which would probably show that London thefts - per bike in the area - are relatively low

Regardless the number of thefts are lower than I thought - particularly if you remove 125s and below, from the stats

[Cheeky Jim]

I can't help but feel that most larger bikes nowadays are owned by the more mature gentlemen riders, who are less likely to leave them on the street or without elements of protection. I had the option to ride into London the other day on my relatively costly (£9k to me) 1000cc bike... the parking was going to be about £30 in a secured underground carpark.... the other option was to leave it on the street for a cost of about £3. I took the car instead... less bothered if that got nicked...(pretty unlikely).

Anyone who is spending £5k+ on their bike (most for fun times and not as their daily ride) are just way more careful where they leave them..

[KTMsm]

Certainly older riders tend to be more risk averse - including me

I had the choice of leaving my bike at the local train station all day. I looked the day before and saw all the bicycles were really old crappy ones and decided to pay and leave a car instead

[paddy1970]

The theft rate in London is only 33 per 100,000 compared to Cambridge 99 per 100,000.

[MrGman]

paddy1970 said:

The theft rate in London is only 33 per 100,000 compared to Cambridge 99 per 100,000.

Is this just a way of dressing up the stats to look like it’s not the issue it really is?

[nute]

Id be interested to see the clear up / conviction rate for those theft numbers. Id bet its damn near zero.

Have to admit the figures are lower than I was expecting, I see endless "my bike has been pinched, pls look out for reg XXXX" on the local bike Facebook groups

[FourWheelDrift]

They have their population figures all over the place, Birmingham and Manchester are both over 2 million and London almost 10 million now.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/294645/populat...

[Krikkit]

MrGman said:

paddy1970 said:

The theft rate in London is only 33 per 100,000 compared to Cambridge 99 per 100,000.

Is this just a way of dressing up the stats to look like it’s not the issue it really is?

If anything it's the opposite

[KTMsm]

Krikkit said:

If anything it's the opposite

Agreed, if they're correct

Although we could do with knowing how many people actually own motorbikes...


If it's 33 in 100,000 then 100% of them are getting stolen (obviously it's far greater than that)

Similarly I looked at the accident stats when I returned to motorcycling - If you remove the couriers, the young, sports bikes, mopeds and commuters - suddenly the risk doesn't look so bad

[Bodo]

Can filter out regional motorcycle registrations for end of Q3/2023 here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-set... in table VEH0105: Licensed vehicles at the end of the quarter by body type, fuel type, keepership (private and company) and upper and lower tier local authority: Great Britain and United Kingdom (ODS, 15 MB)

Examples (in thousands):

United Kingdom 1.470,4
Great Britain 1.440,0
England 1.274,4
Greater Manchester (Met County) 35,4
Manchester 2,9
Birmingham 8,9
Coventry 4,6
Cambridge 1,9


London 123,9
Inner London 44,7
Outer London 78,4