Attempted Theft (or preparation for theft)

[simonjb]

Hi BCF, it's been a while since I've been around - so please accept my apologies if this in the wrong section.

Last week I discovered to my horror, that my bike, whilst secured to the wall on my driveway (in a nice neighbourhood) - was prepped to be stolen. It was secured to a wall anchor using a quality chain, and a while back I noticed some scratches on the wall anchor but thought nothing of it.

However, the chain (fully intact and still attached the bike) had been hooked around the number plate - after the wall anchor was shredded; presumably with some heavy-duty bolt cutters (see attached image). Note that the wall anchor is pretty tough steel. I guess the silver lining is that the chain held up to whatever tools they used, since there's only some scratches and a tear in the fabric cover.

https://i.imgur.com/CS7sLPf.jpg

Since this incident, I have repaired and refitted my GPS tracker, and bought a disc lock alarm for added security. I'm also going to look around for a tougher wall anchor. It's not a high value bike, but it is personalised and I've had it a long time; understandably it is valuable to me, hence the extra effort.

Just sharing this for awareness sake, keep your bikes secured in whatever ways you have available to you! If you're in the Birmingham Area - be aware that this London-type theft has very much reached the Midlands.

Let me know: Have you every had your bike stolen, or an attempted theft, whilst it was parked at your home?
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Current Bike: 2008 Yamaha YBR 125

[Hong Kong Phooey]

[Ste]

The wall anchor wasn't tough if someone could do that to it with bolt cutter.

I'd go for a ground anchor rather than a wall anchor.

https://www.almax-security-chains.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=64_60&product_id=60

[Ste]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[Ste]

"So groundbreaking was this April 2015 revelation by the Lanarkshire Police that the British press appeared to have suffered grave amnesia on the matter of new burgling innovations. Both the BBC and the Guardian had cracked the mysterious “Da Pinchi Code” way back in 2009, and the Telegraph only got wind of the burgeoning threat of chalk symbols four years later, in 2013.

Like many claims of their ilk, what the housebreaker’s code warnings rest upon is claimants who believe they were targeted as potential victims due solely to unexplained markings found on the outside of their homes (or near their property, or on their vehicles) even though no evidence demonstrated any ensuing attempt was mde to burgle or rob them. These rumors typically lack any demonstrable connection between a belief in the presumed purposed of the markings and the actual intent of the persons responsible for them, or any details as to how police could have conclusively determined that symbol X was linked to the commission of crime Y.

Nearly all property crime is predicated upon the desire to enrich oneself or one’s interests with minimal effort, and an element missing from the belief that thieves pre-mark homes to rob is one that fails to sufficiently explain where the added value in such a proposition lies. It’s possible to burgle a home without first essaying a legend detailing its contents and the temperament of its occupants, an unpleasant reality of day-to-day life that plays out with unfortunate frequency. As mentioned in one of our articles about a similar legend, gangs of criminals working together can simply jot down the addresses of their targets and share them by a variety of means; there is no benefit or advantage to risking exposure and foul-ups by physically marking homes"

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/grab-and-go-code-chalkers/

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

See, I was right.

[thx1138]

[Ste]

[MCN]

Shambhala Shambollocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jElb5KPMRI


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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[ART-ADS]

[simonjb]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[Hong Kong Phooey]

[Hong Kong Phooey]

[ThunderGuts]

Out of interest, which wall anchor was it?

I think the sad fact is if it's what they want, they'll just keep coming back. The trick I think is to make it such a PITA to swipe that they move on somewhere else. Alarmed disc-lock should be a pretty good deterrent I'd have thought as it'll make a racket if they try to move it?
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TG.

[simonjb]

[stevo as b4]

I'd say either get a big strong ground anchor and chain, and light the place up with PIR floodlights. Put a cover over the bike and an alarmed disc lock or something to make a shit load of noise. If the tougher security, being lit up like a beacon, and a noisy alarm that will wake up you and your neighbours don't stop them and make them run then nothing will.

Plan B is leave the broken light, and bike on full view at night with a normal nothing special bike chain through your wall/ground anchor, and hide in the bushes all night or buy a bivvy bag. If you can be fairly sure they are coming back first chance they get, then one or two rough nights in the garden might be worth it so you can bounce a scaffolding pole off their skull a few times

If you do go for plan B, just don't fuck about. As soon as you catch them and they need to have touched the bike not just stepped into the garden or opened the gate, hit someone very hard first and preferably enough times to make sure they don't get up. The more of them there are the more vital this could be.

[Ste]

[A100man]

Am I the only one who can't see OP's picture?
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[Ste]

Rehosted: https://i.imgur.com/CS7sLPf.jpg

[A100man]

OOOh - that's not good...

What constitutes 'reasonable force' these days I wonder.
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[Ste]

Reasonable force can be lethal in some circumstances.

[Hong Kong Phooey]

[simonjb]