Bike thief in the area

[notbike]

Last night I caught someone scoping out my bike. Was in bed at 1am and my alarm went off, looked outside and saw a man running from where my bike is parked back to his van and quickly reversing out of the car park. Didn't really realise what was happening so didn't get plate of the van or anything, but my bikes cover had been lifted half off the front of the bike and the wind can't do that (there wasn't any wind anyway) and it's also tucked under the wheel and buckled up. Must've got spooked by the alarm and thought fuck it.

Its an irritating thought that there's a tea leaf in my area. Not too worried about mine getting stolen when parked at home because it'd take them too long to try and remove the Almax and my dad is in and out of the house during the night so can somewhat keep an eye out.

Should I bulk up on more security or just leave it? Paranoid that they just wanted to test to see what security I have and might come back?

[hellkat]

What area?
You have your geographical as "London" but it's a big place, bike thieves abound.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[rubyhorse2]

bike of mine got nicked like this years ago.

got woken up by the sound of the chain moving, looked out of the window but didnt see anything, in my sleepy daze i went back to bed.

Woke up in morning to bike gone.

Apparently they had a van parked around the corner, a neighbour saw 3 guys changing the number plate but at the time didnt do anything.

they simply chucked it into their van and where gone.

Police found them, gypos from rochdale, going all over the area nicking bikes, had ramps, number plates, tools etc in the van but my bike was long gone.

A ground anchor probably would have stopped them i think but hey moved house now with a nice secure alarmed garage and big ass ground anchor.

My advice..if you havent got a ground anchor, get one.

[notbike]

@hellkat at I'm in NW4, not a bad area at all.

Yeah a ground anchor sounds good but it's on a lamp post atm right outside my window, doubt they could chop that down without anyone realising

[sickpup]

[notbike]

[rubyhorse2]

that reminds me, police said the thieves tend to follow bikers and see where they park etc.

Had me paranoid for months after, even now i dont go to my house if a shitty van is following me (live down a long country lane with only a few houses so always gets me thinking)

ps lamp post is good

[notbike]

As much as I'd like to stay vigilant, it never really crosses my mind as to whether the person behind is following me or not. Probably should look out for that more often. I doubt it was random because there's two other bikes here they could have gone for but the only one they decided to take a peek at was mine.

[hellkat]

Jeez, if I had to "stay vigilant" about who might be following me, I'd be paranoid as fuck.

Thing is: in London, there's so many damn people that there's always someone watching you.

Neighbours, thieves (bike), thieves (house), thieves (pickpockets), dossers in the park, DSS detectives in cars (including bailiffs who are watching your neighbour but remember every single thing about you as well); DVLA clamping scumbags; rapists; general psychopaths; Google-fucking-maps cars; louche pavement/restaurant front-window lounge-lizards drinking aperitifs (I like to include myself in this category ) ; small children with ice-creams; large sexually motivated dogs, and even just normal people (of either sex) having a general run-of-the-mill perve ... let alone the ubiquitous CCTV.

Kind of nerve wracking thing to realise, and my life is bad enough already on the "being vigilant" front

But then again (for the same reason) sometimes nobody even notices you.
Which I like even better
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[hellkat]

Tell you what, though, I can't really get my head around the idea of the ground anchor as a much more secure method.

Even if you were to get the council's permission to let you insert one in the concrete outside your house, how does attaching a chain to it make it that much more impossible to stop them, or is it more about slowing them down? Surely someone with a set of bolt cutters adequate enough to cut a chain from a bike attached to a lamp post would be equally as capable of cutting it from a ground anchor?

I kind of get if the anchor is one of them ones with the chain concreted under the pavement and then just two loops coming out that you lock together, but the others ... I just don't really get them as being that much more secure.

Am I being especially blonde?
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Minty]

Hopefully puts off those that just lift a bike, lock and all, into the back of a van.
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My fingers smell of your mum.

[notbike]

Thing is I live on an estate and everyone on the estate and the one opposite can see me uncover/leave/arrive on my bike, so I bet it's one of the scummy ones trying it.

So true about London, too many fucking people and so many dodgy ones, especally the druggies and alkies. I'd probably drive myself mental trying to keep tabs on anyone who gets too close to my bike. Having said that I'd probably blend in more with the local crazies as a result.

[angryjonny]

[Polarbear]

That's utter shite.

MK6 is E, where I live.

The reason it's e, is that it is one of the most deprived estates in MK. However that is because it started life as a council estate of bungalows so the majority of the occupants are old or disabled and therefore obviously on some form of benefits. Crime is almost unknown so why is it so bad mr insurance twat?
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[notbike]

[sickpup]

[bikertomm]

Mate, lock whatever you have onto your bike. They'll likely be back.
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07' Honda Hornet now full powaah! My guide on performing an oil change!

[petalbriefs]

[angryjonny]

[Amber Phoenix]

[wr6133]

[gorillaonabik...]

NW4 is peaceful and generally crime free. The issue is Brent Cross is NW4 so every crime there goes onto the stats.

However, do you think it's locals? May be worth mentioning it if you drop into the pub on Brent Street.
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FZR400 (blown engine), ZXR750 (blown engine), ZX6R (accident), CBR600 which had engine issues after which I learned to change gear..., CBR900, CBR924 (stolen), CB600, CB1300 (everything blew up), BMW K1300GT (written off, hit from rear while stationary), Bandit 1250 for a couple of months, Triumph Sprint ST 1050 (nicked) and somewhere in there, I wrote off a Ducati 748 at Cadwell.

[Snop Doog]

Know anyone who may know any thieves? It can end well in favour of the bike owner. I learned today that a few minutes from me doors can be broken down and hands can be chopped off because of a bike.

But yeah, they'll be back. Your security system is great so all I can say is keep an eye on it.

[Nb]

[notbike]