Big Business

I have had my new  Specialisd Hardrock Mountain Bike Stolen. I am so angry and upset.  It was locked  with a heavy duty lock apparently one of the best ones out there  ( but obviously not best enough as they  took my bike) and an additional chain and padlock  I simply did not think that my bike would get stolen it was locked and looked after but they still took it Stupidly i did not have it tagged or logged so that it could be identified if found     

Since having my bike stolen i have been looking on the internet about stolen bikes and suprise surprise to find that Bristol is the worst place outside of london for stolen bikes I was suprised to find that many bikes are stolen to order or they see you riding the bike and will follow you home and then come back at a later time to steal it when its convenient to them ( not you)

Most popular are those that are designer bikes such as Specialised, Konas, and Muddy Fox ect and getting your bike back is unlikly,

The one thing that has shocked me though is that these bikes are worth around £400 - £800 and  many often cost a lot more than this but once your bike is stolen there is no way of tracking your bike like you can with cars ect   its totally crazy that bikes are stolen constantly and there is no way of tracking them  i m sure tha tif each bike that was mauaactored had a trackers of some sort init this would stop a lot of the bike thefts 

its a shae

As a keen bike rider ( yes me on a bike - dont laugh guys ) i was recently made aware of how easy it is to still a bike and what huge "Business"it is as such

I have loved bike riding since a kid, its keeps you fit and its free and relativly pain free execise and although i am truly at heart a gearhead who much prefers cars i have had many types of bikes from yes a BMX ( yes i was a tomboy ) and a chopper  ( dont laugh ) to my most recent bikes which were a Kona Fire Mountain which i adored and had some custom bits and pieces on it and a Specialised Hard Rock Comp 

I suppose that I had been very lucky in that all the years that i have had bikes ihave not had a bike stolen untill recently -

So it was a great start to the month when I had my beloved Kona Mountain bike stolen form outside a shop in broad daylight on a busy main rd and my nephew recently had his new bike stolen from a safe and secure bike shed in Bristol last month

Ok so both my bike and my nephews bike were those expensive designer mountain bikes but both were locked up with bike locks but even so both bikes were stolen within minutes but apparently its the designers bike that are desired by bike thief

Stupidly none of our bikes were insured or tagged, but we have been lucky and both myself and my nephew now have new bikes which are now data tagged and chipped and locked up with a D lock and a chain lock and are now insured and hopefully wont get stolen

Sadly for me I have now become obessed with mountain bikes. Everywhere I go I now see mountain bikes ( lots of them) and i am constantly looking to see if its mine and some sod is riding my beloved bike around the town. I have to force myself not to drag people off bikes that look even remotely like my bike

But I had no idea what huge business stealing bikes are especially in University towns such as Bristol

What i found really hard to get my head around is that even though a bike will cost on average £350 £500 for a decent mountain bike,and even more if your into serious biking, there is no way to track your bike once its been stolen only if its data chipped/tagged and only then if the police find it at some point which is unlikly. I have even been told by the police that bike thieves will even follow you home on your bike or to where you lock it up to, so that they can come back and steal it at a later time when its more convenient for them

What is really needed for us bikers is some sort of sat/nav tracker like what cars have on them, embedded into the frame of the bike when built, so that as soon as they are stolen the bikes can be tracked to the location of where it is

( and then the owners can go along a grab the theif and take them on a long bike ride - ha ha)

but seriously something like this would drastically recduce the amount of bikes that are stolen which are around 3/4 million every single year ( but thats just the ones that are reported) - you could probably double the figure as i, like many others almost did not bother to report my theft to the police

When I think of the cost of what i paid for my mountain bike and my nephews which were probably around the cost of £1000 for both of them and realise that they were stolen most probably by some F....ing junkie and sold for a few bags of crack its really makes me very very angry

 Anyway as i said i have a new bike now so im off for a long bike ride this afternoon

My obession with bikes is slowly going ( Oi is that my bike your on mate !!!) or maybe not

Love and Kisses and bike chains

Paris

Posted at 03:52PM Mar 23, 2008 by paris in My Blog 2007 / 2008  |