To Catch a Thief
 

I live realy far away and traveling to my house on bike isnt the safest thing in the world esp at night, so I leave it at my friends house(car parking is free here) Unfortunalty he has nothing solid to lock bikes to so I have to lock anything to another movable object ie another bike, grill, etc. So this morning I parked my car at my friends house to get my bike then go to work, I go around the corner and my bike is gone. My friends bike wich I locked it to was also gone. Given the number of chains and locks that were on both bikes they would had to be taken together. Im fairly devestated. It was a saphire 1992 Trek 790 multitrack that i had custom built into more of a hybrid. I planed on starting some light touring with it. My friends bike was a Trek 800sport, nothing great, but all he had. These are the 4th and 5th bikes weve had stolen from this location, this month!!! (I have around 20 bikes) The first 3 bikes were left unlocked so im not suprised. I have no doubt that theyll be back for more. Id realy like to get this guy in the act and possible get my bikes back. My current plan invloves a junk Roadmaster and a few car batteries. But before I fry anyone I wanna know if any1 has had any luck with catching a bike theif.

Just to clarify, I will no longer leave bikes here. Ill remove the front tire everyday and put in my car like i used to.

i guess they are being stolen during the day? so a motion detector light wouldn't do any good, and nor would a friday night stake out? would the car battery thing really work? sounds pretty sweet. i don't have any ideas for during the day though. put the bike on the other side of a covered pit?

I wonder what the laws are for the car battery thing. I think the satisfaction of catching him during a stake out would be the greatest.

Why not put the whole bike in the car? How is taking off the front tire (I assume you mean wheel) going to keep someone from taking it again? They can just toss it in their trunk or carry it away.

I think legally, you can't boobie trap an item. However, feel free to shoot, stab or club him over the head.

Go figure.

I've come to the reluctant conclusion that bikes I value are either within sight or secured indoors.

Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times.....

hey they must be related to the s.o.b. that took my cannondale t800 locked with a cable and a chain. panners,everything gone. i was on the american discovery trail.what a letdown. now im bikeless. feels like my left arm isnt there,you know what i mean.

These people were fooled five times. How is that even possible?

No "booby traps". As tempting as it may be to zap a potential thief, imagine being booked when little Johnny, the 5-year old neighbor kid, decided to put a hand on the pretty bicycle...

The law has consistently held against any sort of theft or burglary-preventing traps, and even awarded money to the thief for any injuries incurred.

In some states, you are able to use force (even deadly force) to prevent property crimes. In most, this is not the case. You may legally attempt to take the person into custody if you witness him trying to commit a crime, but this is filled with peril.

Far better to rig up some sort of surveillance video system. Likely the thief is known to local police, and they can take care of any prosecution.

Sorry about your situation and I think you've learned thieves don't always need to roll or ride bikes away. I'm sure they thought two for the theft of one.

If you do this again consider also getting a 25-50lbs boat anchor or something. Just don't chain it to a bike or grill or whatever and think it's secure. I have my bikes hanging from the rafters in my garage but I still lock them together and also to beams in the garage (in case the wife leaves the door open for extended periods of time).

With regards to catching these guy(s), video is sure handy but in the long run they may not strike your friends place for days, months or a year. I think it would be a waste of your time and you should channel your anger, etc. elsewhere. The battery scheme you got shows how frustrated you are. I would be too. Don't do this. You don't need Little Timmy or Sally getting shocked and then legal action taken against you & your friend. Heck the garbageman would come after you as well if he got shocked. Don't try to append as you don't know what they got in their pockets (knives, razors, or worse a gun, etc.)

You're better off in the short run finding a better means to secure your bike in the future. Heck consider GPS'ing if you are really concerned it will get stolen again- super expensive. Scour craigslist, pawn shops, etc. to see if your bike or your friends shows up.

Check out http://www.baitbike.com/ for additional ideas if you want to try something.


Good luck.

How about leaving your bike in your friend's place, or removing both wheels and putting the whole thing in the car? A folding bike would make this easier.

No, they're being stolen at night when I go home to sleep. I once slept right under the window where one was taken and another time we were wide awake when it was stolen.

Well each time we keep upgrading the security of the bikes. It seams the best we can do isnt good enough.

Thats what I origanly meant when i said id take of the front wheel of and stick it in my car. I meant the whole bike. Though with my primary this hard to do with my racks and panniers. oh well. Ill be calling pawn shops today searching for my bikes

Some times when I didnt have a lock on me Id disable the bike by removing the front wheel and maybe the seat, Ill have to try that right after I U-bolt my bike to a massive chain attached to a 200 pound cement block. :notamused:

To bad they don't have some kind of GPS tracker thingy that could be mounted somewhere on the bike. (to the frame inside the shaft or somwhere that takes a while to disassemble) then you just log onto a web site and it says your bike is blinking one state over in a yard sale.

Keep an eye out online and in the papers too. You might get lucky. Just a thought but you might look for compenents you had on your bike like your panniers too. See if they are parting out your bike.

Room for one more bike? How about buying a folding bike (preferly new but consider used if money is an issue). I use my folders now exclusively for almost a year-5 years before that with regular nonfolding bikes in my "collection." I gave away or sold the regular bikes and use only folding bikes now. 99% of the time, I must leave my old bike unattended (either locked or not) and theft is very high around my area. My folders I simply fold up, bag it, and take it with me anywhere other bikes are not welcomed. I recommend you look into buying at least one. And keeping one in your trunk even just for emergencies (bet you can't do that with your other ones). For more info:

Put the bike inside next time.