Has any one ever had their ebike stolen?

[Bigbee]

Alex wrote this on another thread

(I daren't let the Wisper too far out of my sight, even when locked!)

Has any one lost their ebike to hoodie wearing,bolt cutter carrying scum?I bet the percentage is low,and I bet its because most feel the same as Alex does.I used to have a Lotus Elise a few years back.I was too fat to get in it with the roof on.With out it I wouldnt leave it parked any where.So all I used to do was go on round Robin journeys,sold it a couple a years back after leaving it to rest in my garage for a year or so.I could never get it started during the stay in the garage until I asked a mechanic to look at it,mice were nesting in the air filter,arh,bless!

 

[themutiny]

I feel that I can leave my Ezee Torq anywhere, with the battery in situ and with a basic lock (and have done so many, many times). It's not that it's a bad bike, far from it. It just doesn't appeal to the aforementioned hoodie wearing etc element.

The Cannondale Synapse is an altogether different matter. Must be a top quality D lock, double locked with another. I had a couple of yoofs eyeing it up the other day. I got the distinct impression that if I'd even turned my back on them they would have tried to have it away..

 

[flecc]

I've been parking e-bikes, battery-in, and just with a chain lock for seven years without any problem, but they are as rare as hens teeth in my area so not a normal target for thieves.

At least three members have had them stolen, though in one case it was definitely not locked, just left outside a shop. In another case it was stolen from their address so may not have been locked there either. Strange isn't it, we lock our bikes when out and about but often don't when back at home!
.

 

[wurly]

My converted mountain bike doesn't really look that attractive to thieves, but this week i have splashed out on a Marin urban bike that i intend to make electric. Suddenly i have become very anxious about it. It looks very nice and high tech and desirable (just like your cannondale). That is a very good point about locking them when at home Flecc. Wise words indeed. I'm probably more likely to lose it from my unattended garage than anywhere else.
Mel

 

[daniel.weck]

Strange isn't it, we lock our bikes when out and about but often don't when back at home!
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My first quality mountain bike was stolen before my eyes when I was a student. It was parked and locked outside in front of our building, I was on the first floor and caught the thieves operating in broad daylight. We ran after them, drove round the blocks trying to find them...to no avail. The locks were rubbish (cheap cable and chain type), easy to cut through.

I lock my bike at home, especially now that a few hundred pounds have been added to it due to the e-treatment.

 

[Alex728]

I think it depends a lot on the area and the MO of the criminals.

Some want a bike to nick and resell, others don't even want the bike but just nick it as a controlling tactic to show its their territory...

At least two other e-bikes have been nicked in Ipswich and Sudbury (from owners in middle years or elderly) - not high end either (the sudbury one was that ancient type from the company what now makes mobility scooters) and the other was a Chinese "ladies e-scooter" type thing.

Neither of these things have "street cred", and with respect I think that a lot of 700c wheeled e-bikes (even the expensive ones!) particularly the hub geared types fall into the same category, as they look like "older peoples" bikes. Even when I rode the Raleigh Pioneer some younger friends would say "why do you ride that old man's bike?"

However with the Wisper all I've seen are slightly shocked/bemused looks, and one group of youths even suggested that I must have been on drugs to ride that fast.. but contrary to popular paranoia its the younger folks like myself in working class areas who are targeted more by people our own age group as the scum think we are "less likely to grass"..

On one Ipswich estate I lived on when I first moved here I would haul my (unpowered) pushbike up a flight of steps every night and keep it in my room rather than park it outside (I'd already noticed the youths looking at it!). Others living in that area who did not follow suit soon had their cycles stolen, on one occasion by a gang of youths who broke down a entire wooden gate to get at the bike. One rode away but the rest even came back to shout racist abuse at the victims and had to be dispersed by a vanload of Police (the first two officers sent to deal with them were set upon and had to call for "code 00" backup!) I am unsure if the cops recovered the bike - it had got to the stage where their priority was keeping order...

The other risks are vandalism out of spite/envy, one unfortunate on here had the wires all ripped out of the front of his brand new 905SE - I remember David being so appalled to hear this he offered replacement parts for free..

Only last night as I rode back home some wannabe rudeboy idiot was shouting at me from the pavement, doubtless trying to distract me / get me to stop and make a move to rob the bike, but instead I rode away at 20mph and left him shouting more angry obscenities in the fog (he was really hacked off I'd sussed him out )

Like Daniel, I keep my ebikes inside the house. They are worth more to me (in both financial and sentimental value) than the carpet

 

[flecc]

On one Ipswich estate I lived on when I first moved here I would haul my (unpowered) pushbike up a flight of steps every night and keep it in my room rather than park it outside (I'd already noticed the youths looking at it!). Others living in that area who did not follow suit soon had their cycles stolen, on one occasion by a gang of youths who broke down a entire wooden gate to get at the bike. One rode away but the rest even came back to shout racist abuse at the victims and had to be dispersed by a vanload of Police (the first two officers sent to deal with them were set upon and had to call for "code 00" backup!) I am unsure if the cops recovered the bike - it had got to the stage where their priority was keeping order...

The other risks are vandalism out of spite/envy, one unfortunate on here had the wires all ripped out of the front of his brand new 905SE - I remember David being so appalled to hear this he offered replacement parts for free..

Only last night as I rode back home some wannabe rudeboy idiot was shouting at me from the pavement, doubtless trying to distract me / get me to stop and make a move to rob the bike, but instead I rode away at 20mph and left him shouting more angry obscenities in the fog (he was really hacked off I'd sussed him out )

Like Daniel, I keep my ebikes inside the house. They are worth more to me (in both financial and sentimental value) than the carpet

It's amusing that there were so many slighting references to London recently in this connection, when in truth there's almost none of this problem in my London Borough, neither did I suffer it with bikes in previous South London boroughs. As I answered at the time, London just gets bad press and it often seems to me that other parts of the country are far worse places to live.
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[Alex728]

To be fair the Met (backed up by CCTV schemes etc) have moved on a bit from the attitudes of 20 years ago and are at least keeping people a bit safer, albeit at the cost of a certain amount of freedom of movement and an increase in surveillance. The older age group (40+) in more affluent areas are in fact much less likely to be victims of crime and petty crime and in particular property crime has actually dropped across the UK, this being replaced by a smaller number of targeted violent crimes between people who know one another.

Although London due to its population density and being a (former) centre of the media is singled out, my younger friends who still live in the capital (from their teens to their 40s) relate many similar stories to my experiences in Ipswich - and worse! In fact I find Ipswich safer than London or Reading, again this is due to a high uniformed police presence (when the area was flooded with cops in 2007 following the prostitute murders crime plummeted)

At "street level" a lot of youths (in London or elsewhere) wouldn't want to nick a "old man's" bike, but are much more likely to rob one they believe belongs to someone their own age group. Particular targets are perceived "posh" kids such as students or "geeky" kids who are thought of as less likely to fight back.

At that same group many wouldn't tell a bobby their bike has been nicked (unless the insurance company insists) but form a gang to go looking for the suspected thief (or their associates) and exact revenge.

Its not just happening in London but in both urban and rural areas, but most people in their 40s upwards do not notice this going on at all unless their children get caught up in it.

 

[uk_steve]

I've been parking e-bikes, battery-in, and just with a chain lock for seven years without any problem, but they are as rare as hens teeth in my area so not a normal target for thieves.

At least three members have had them stolen, though in one case it was definitely not locked, just left outside a shop. In another case it was stolen from their address so may not have been locked there either. Strange isn't it, we lock our bikes when out and about but often don't when back at home!
.

good point that indeed

for me, i am sure my 2 dogs will go nuts with the slightest noise and by then i can play them WHAM and they will leave quickly

 

[themutiny]

Its not just happening in London but in both urban and rural areas, but most people in their 40s upwards do not notice this going on at all unless their children get caught up in it.

A couple of years back, my sons bike got nicked. The local hard man was a customer of my wife's. The bike was returned unharmed by a very frightened looking yoof..

 

[uk_steve]

To Alex

there is no doubt the younger lot do go for there age group upto 25s it seems to be the power struggle years,

i come clean b4 my accident in 2001 i was 28 and you would call a streetwise person and pretty known in my area by rank

sounds stupid thats the way it is out there,

(lot of its just having front and looking the part)

i grew up fast being in last resorts boarding schools as a kid

as you can imagine if you was week you got smashed and other teens would be on you,

so i understand the point you getting at ive seen it all b4

and from an outside view it sounds a bit farfetch but its not!

im glad with my circumstances now i am not on a estate or some of the areas i used to live at b4


its 100% not getting better out there! i was never 1 for the law in my early years but the youths now have no fear what so ever for anybody

(when i mean youths its the numb skulls lot)

all the best

 

[Alex728]

To Alex

there is no doubt the younger lot do go for there age group upto 25s it seems to be the power struggle years,

yep thats exactly the case. I used to help put on raves in SE England from the mid 90s to about 2005 and was involved in pirate radio stations, squats and all sorts of other things and you had to think on your feet sometimes and make a stand against gangs or just muppets what wanted to spoil the party.

Ironically it was through extensive listening to a radio scanner as part of these activities that I learned a bit of respect for what the Police were up against and what they had to deal with!

There was a time I could leave my Dawes Horizon tourer in certain squat in Reading unlocked and no one would dare touch it - but that was because I had earned respect by being able to get things like the water and power services activated safely (and yes the squatters quite often at least tried to pay the bills but the utilities companies often refused payments saying it was too much hassle to set up an account!)

We once also had a bike workshop in a disused pub, a bobby once visited it and having assured himself the bikes came from our friends stock of broken/abandoned machines rather than being stolen he said "its a pity you lot aren't officially approved, my Police bike has been in the workshop two weeks for a simple repair and I'd rather be on it than having to use this panda car!"

 

[flecc]

Its not just happening in London but in both urban and rural areas, but most people in their 40s upwards do not notice this going on at all unless their children get caught up in it.

And my point was that exactly Alex, the youth on youth crime is everywhere, but I don't accept it's worse in London than elsewhere. Nor do I agree that people in their 40s and upwards aren't aware of it, we are only too aware no matter where we live.

I was commenting on your experiences as you related them, and although you say you are young, I think you are long out of your teens from the experiences you've quoted. I don't see these things happening to the many cyclists well out of their teens and beyond in my travels around South London or during my periods in the company of South London friends, almost all of whom are many years younger than me. That seems to make Ipswich worse than here on that evidence, though in practice its probably little different pro rata to the population.

London's bad press and biased views of it have been in evidence for many years. For example the Brixton riot that I was present at in the 1970s is still frequently raised when anyone speaks of civil disturbance, but how many remember or ever even knew that this "black versus police" issue kicked off just before in the St Pauls district of Bristol and was merely continued in Brixton when the St Pauls example gave a sort of licence for it?
.

 

[Alex728]

I don't see these things happening to the many cyclists well out of their teens and beyond in my travels around South London or during my periods in the company of South London friends, almost all of whom are many years younger than me. That seems to make Ipswich worse than here on that evidence, though in practice its probably little different pro rata to the population.

The demographics of Ipswich and South London are very similar - there has been a lot of cross migration (myself included) over the years, previously it was port workers at Deptford/Surrey Docks (the site of a radio station I DJ'ed on!)

Round here and I guess in London as well there is a sort of culture where those who aren't married/with kids and are still into stuff like partying tend to hang around in the same groups whether they are 16 or 40 - particularly at the "underground dance music" type events.

Perhaps I misworded my comment - its not so much that some older generations "don't notice" the trouble but unlike progressive-minded chaps like flecc and a few others who genuinely care about it people just shut their minds off to "bad news" and/or want it to be "dealt with" by populist draconian measures rather than anything too progressive.

Also for those who have no kids of their own or theirs are grown up or worse they are estranged from them they won't have as much of a stake in "making society better" - particularly as life is actually a lot safer for these middle england types (who tend not to go out late at night anyway or socialise much) despite their paranoia!

but how many remember or ever even knew that this "black versus police" issue kicked off just before in the St Pauls district of Bristol and was merely continued in Brixton when the St Pauls example gave a sort of licence for it?
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I certainly remember it in the 1980s (was only a kid in the 1970s!). its actually mentioned on one of Linton Kwesi Johnson's tracks..

If I took my bike onto the Liverpool Street train today and then rode to South London, I would be much more worried about traffic than attacks but still on a "high state of alert". I might be out of my teens but am lucky enough to be mistaken regularly for age 18-25 which puts me in the "target zone" anywhere in the UK.....

 

[flecc]

I might be out of my teens but am lucky enough to be mistaken regularly for age 18-25 which puts me in the "target zone" anywhere in the UK.....

That's certainly true, though by far the worst area of the target zone is being young and black in London.
.

 

[uk_steve]

yep thats exactly the case. I used to help put on raves in SE England from the mid 90s to about 2005 and was involved in pirate radio stations, squats and all sorts of other things and you had to think on your feet sometimes and make a stand against gangs or just muppets what wanted to spoil the party.

Ironically it was through extensive listening to a radio scanner as part of these activities that I learned a bit of respect for what the Police were up against and what they had to deal with!

There was a time I could leave my Dawes Horizon tourer in certain squat in Reading unlocked and no one would dare touch it - but that was because I had earned respect by being able to get things like the water and power services activated safely (and yes the squatters quite often at least tried to pay the bills but the utilities companies often refused payments saying it was too much hassle to set up an account!)

We once also had a bike workshop in a disused pub, a bobby once visited it and having assured himself the bikes came from our friends stock of broken/abandoned machines rather than being stolen he said "its a pity you lot aren't officially approved, my Police bike has been in the workshop two weeks for a simple repair and I'd rather be on it than having to use this panda car!"

how mad

i have a small record label in d and b

also put on a series of nights for a year with my m8s in my home town

also done a open air rave in the middle of timbuck two
(you know the sort of thing)
simular things as well been to a few pirate radio stations in my time with friend djs and mcs

also helped form a doorman*security company with a friend which did have the contracts for parkholidays uk ltd around sussex kent and essex for a few years




we deffo have a simular walk of life even my walking days are now over he!he!



back to the law i respect because it was a police officer which helped to keep me alive

so my young views are now void and have been for awhile now

you get your good and bad in all partys

 

[wurly]

Locks

If i can steer this thread back a little. How effective are the spiral cable locks? I've never tried to cut through one but i can imagine it would take quite a bit of effort.
I can't imagine bolt cutters slicing through the wires cleanly whereas cheaper less substantial D locks i can. (i am thinking about the well equipped determined thief here).
I used to carry a case hardened chain and lock for my m/c which stored under the seat, you would need an angle grinder and make a load of noise to get through that. I've been thinking about using the same for for my bicycle but it weighs too much!!
What do you use?

 

[Mussels]

If i can steer this thread back a little. How effective are the spiral cable locks? I've never tried to cut through one but i can imagine it would take quite a bit of effort.
I can't imagine bolt cutters slicing through the wires cleanly whereas cheaper less substantial D locks i can. (i am thinking about the well equipped determined thief here).
I used to carry a case hardened chain and lock for my m/c which stored under the seat, you would need an angle grinder and make a load of noise to get through that. I've been thinking about using the same for for my bicycle but it weighs too much!!
What do you use?

They are stranded so can be cut through with much weaker cutters or even side snips. They are much better than nothing as most thieves are opportunists but someone with tools will be laughing. I carry one for emergency use and keep a heavy D lock at work.

 

[flecc]

I used to carry a case hardened chain and lock for my m/c which stored under the seat, you would need an angle grinder and make a load of noise to get through that. I've been thinking about using the same for for my bicycle but it weighs too much!!
What do you use?

I do use a motorcycle chain lock on my bike, despite it's weight. I think these can be even better than a D lock since to hold a link still for angle grinding would be extremely difficult, while a D lock is much easier to angle grind.
.

 

[Haku]

Strange isn't it, we lock our bikes when out and about but often don't when back at home!
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I lock mine up virtually everywhere, even at home because I'm pissed off with losing bikes to scum theives over the years.

The last bike I had was nicked out of my shed literally a month after I got it, it was an interim cheapie mountain bike to use whilst I was waiting the 3+ months for my ebike to become available (delay was because of waiting for their first ever batch of lipo batteries), so once I got my ebike I got someone to make a rudimentary frame to go inside the shed that can only be taken out by taking it apart, the bike gets locked to it so if someone tried to nick it they'd practically have to take the shed apart to get it out.