Had my bike stolen today. Update: now 2 bikes stolen!

So this all started with the intense storms we had a couple of days ago. Our power was out all day yesterday and was still out when I left for work this morning. There is no way my wife could lift the garage door herself, so we left it open for her to get her car out later. This is clearly where I went wrong. I should have either brought the bike into the house or moved her car out and shut the door. Anyway, I came home expecting only to have to throw out all the spoiled food in the refrigerator only to find another unpleasant surprise. Some hooligan stole my GT Talera with after market shocks right out of my garage! I have sunk over $400 into various upgrades for this bike, and by the time you factor in the original price (years ago) the value exceeds $1000.

I am seething with anger right now, and I just want to vent to a community of caring people in the hopes that it might make me feel better. The bike is very distinguishable since the fork is bright blue while the rest of the bike is maroon, but I still have little hope that the police will be able to reclaim it for me. All the same, I just filed a police report just in case. Thanks for listening friends, and may you all have a better day than I just did.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

Sorry to hear about your bike.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

That sucks man... I know the feeling, 3 bikes were stolen from me, of which one twice and another one was a gift from my grandfather (oldtimer from just after ww2)

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

Sorry to hear about that mate.

Ive had a bike stolen aswell, back when i was in primary school someone stole a whole heap of bikes from the shed where they were stored for the day. I had to walk home.:shakehead

It really p****** me off when people do these sorts of things.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

Some homeowners insurance policies cover situations such as this, HOWEVER...with that open door - probably not. May still be worth checking into?

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

I keep my bike chained to the lawnmower and metal ladder hopefully making it harder to ride/steal. Most criminals ride the bike after they steal it.

Hope your insurance covers it.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

My bike got raped a few times because of all the quick release it has. Now it's all ti bolts. I remember one of the first time, the seat got stolen, I had to stand-pedal roughly 4miles home. After that, both XTR V-brakes gone. Then the Mavic wheels... I know the feeling it sucks... My GT Zaskar '03 now stays at home, I only ride it when I don't make any stops.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

Update: I am talking with my insurance company about filing a claim. It seems they will cover the loss despite the open door. Of course, I am taking some risk in filing a claim since any other claims made in the near future would result in an increase in my rate. But the rate will stay the same for now. After the deductible it is barely worth it IMO to make a claim, but this has already made me feel a little better. I figure I ought to be reimbursed enough to purchase a cheaper replacement bike and add the remainder to my light savings so that I can catch a LunaSol 20 wave.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

I got my bike stolen once. I had it registered with the local PD. It took 3 weeks but I did get it back. I was told it's not the expected outcome from a bike theft, but I was happy nevertheless and will continue to register our bikes whenever possible.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

Hope you find your bike mudman!

My first MTB was stolen from our garage and we found it at the police station a week later, thief rode it about 10 kms and got a flat then abandoned it. That same bike was stolen from outside a store, found the lock cut and on the ground when I came out

Toronto Police Services busted this notorious bike chopshop last week, everyone in the community knew he was buying bikes from addicts and even police would tell you to go to his shop if you were reporting a stolen bike! The whole backyard of the shop was full of bikes piled up, along with rented storage units across the city and his home address. Almost every day this week police have been discovering new locations connected to the chopshop being used for storage! Amazing how he went under the radar for so long, but a lot of people were also turning a blind eye buying 'used' bikes from him as well :thumbsdow

Here's a YouTube link showing some of the bikes, there are an estimated several thousand with more being discovered as the investigation progresses.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=tit18nRnJaY

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/GAM.20080722.BIKES22/TPStory/TPComment

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

mudman cj said:

Of course, I am taking some risk in filing a claim since any other claims made in the near future would result in an increase in my rate.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your bike. File a police report as well. I'm sure you already have.

Also check with your agent. I don't know homeowners insurance to go up with claims. Only auto insurance does that. Too many homeowner claims can get you canceled but rates usually don't go up. I'm not in the insurance business so like I say check with an expert. I've only filed two claims in 15 years of home ownership and no rate increases for those.

Good luck!

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

People stealing my stuff really angers me. I feel your pain and and sorry to hear that. I hope somehow you get your bike back.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

Sorry to hear your story, nothing worse than some low life stealing your property.

Stolen bikes are something that I deal with at work almost every day, the locals here are very good at stealing and have expensive tastes. One disappointing point is the serial numbers being recorded or lack of. I seize/find at least 2 bikes a week that would be worth over $500, yet it is rare that i am able to return these bikes to their owners, as either it is not reported or the details that the owner provides are not sufficient to match it to the recovered bike, so these bikes are put to public auction rather than being returned to the owner.

While I am not trying to lessen the blame on the pieces of work that do the stealing, please guys, make it a little easier for your local LE, record your serial numbers of your valuable equipment, at least then you have some chance of getting it back.

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

Heres a vid i found,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaIWNa1h-O4

Take that bike thevies:devil:

Re: Had my bike stolen today.

Sorry to hear that, good thing you filed a report.

Now keep a constant eye on your local craigslist and ebay. You will be surprised how they appear on there. Yes theives are that stupid. If you do spot it on there, let your local police know. You can then work out a sting operation with them.

Also always register your bike when you buy it and keep the serial number in a safe place.

I can't believe this. My wife unloaded groceries from her car and then decided to leave the garage door open since I was on my way home. Something like 15-20 minutes later I arrived and noticed that now her bike was missing as well. I am not happy to say the least. :mecry: They obviously wanted the second bike and decided to come back to see if we were dumb enough to leave the garage door open again. I guess we all know the answer to that query. And just when I was starting to get over the theft of my bike too.

Did your neighbors see anything?

I hate having something stolen from me.

If the economy was better I'd advise you to move. Real estate is horrible right now...

Ive suggested this thing several times here under similar circumstances:

http://www.defensedevices.com/wireless-video-capture-camera.html

Color Motion Detection Self-contained Video Capture/Storage Camera by Home Guard 1 GB Memory
set at 1 to 60 pics per secomd, 4 aa batteries run it for 5 hours of action recording.

Get one of those, are the hunting cameras from the mailbox thread in this forum.

I would buy a cheapie bike from craigslist and try to setup a bait .

These days, you have to keep your stuff locked up like Fort Knox! I hate people who steal stuff that we work hard to pay for. :shakehead Wal-Mart sells some nice bikes for under $100. I hope you get your stuff back.