Let's Hear Some Crazy Stolen Bike Stories

[The duke]

Everyone talks about the need for 2....3...4 locks on their ebikes. Fahgettaboudit Kryptonites, Street Cuffs, Foldylocks. We're told to check on our bike every hour, and even under this much iron and steel, to not dare and leave our precious ebikes out overnight.

Is all this caution an overreation....fear of the urban legend of the super bike thief, riding around with power tools and lock picking equipment?

I'd like to hear the stories of well guarded bikes that were still stolen.

The best story I've got is from 20 years ago in college. My bike was parked overnight at my dorm. I had a u-lock on the frame and two cheapo cable locks...one locking each tire to the frame. I came out the next morning to find my frame intact but both cable locks cut and the wheels gone. Are wheels worth the effort?

I didn't have any place else to take the frame so I left it locked to the bike rack until I could buy new wheels. That ended up taking me almost a month (I had no money). I may as well have hung a 'free components' sign on it because in that time, the handle bars, seat and seatpost and a few other components were removed from the bike. Luckily it was only worth about $800. Let's hear some better stories!

 

[PaD]

Mid October was warm last year so I rode my 3 months old 2018 Specialized Vado 4.0 to the Specialized Concept Store to check price for a larger battery.
Locked the bike with an Abus Bordo 6500 but I didn’t lock it to any fixed rail or pole because there weren’t any just outside the store. I was only going in for a short talk but took off my bags and the display. I wasn’t in the store more than 7-10minutes.
No Vado to be seen when I walked out the door.
I guess that store is under surveillance by bike theives.
Last time I had a bike stolen was in the mid 80’s. Left my 10speed Peugeot outside over night locked with a cable lock to a tree.

 

[Over50]

https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/n...-cat-bicycle-robbers-sought-police/854984001/

 

[jwt355]

Its defenitley not Hype. Its happening every day in every city. The struggle is real. Bike thieves are normally drug users who use the bikes to pay for their habit or to get around town. I know in Denver its a huge issue. We even have dedicated Facebook groups for Denver Stolen Bikes. I watch new BOLO's pop up daily on that Facebook page.

 

[Cowlitz]

I have been scatterbrained and left my bike locked up but with the keys in the ignition but this isn't a very stealy place. All was well when I came out of the store. That's happened twice and always at Safeway.

 

[Camac]

We had a woman in our group bought an expensive mountain bike, non electric (paid about 4k). Nine days later she came over to ride and on the way home stopped off at a shopping centre. The bike was secured to a bike rack on the back of her (older) Land Rover. She only had a quick look around the centre and half an hour up the road noticed she couldnt see the bike front wheel in the rear vision mirrors. The bike and the rack were gone. drove back over the road a couple of times....nothing. Cops had had no reports of a bike being found.
When she finished swearing took the insurance money and bought a carbon full suspension MTB. She now has a new bike rack which locks to the tow ball and the bike.