Stolen bikes!

[Bass]

I really don't see why people get so wound up over stolen shit.

For me it's just a bike - sure i love riding it - but whether its my black one or something else its only a bike. I can't bring myself to give it a nickname or invest any emotional energy into it. .

In my case, it's because I have put some work into it. It has had a few aftermarket mods to make it do what I want pretty well really. The problem is that, the mods, while costing me significantly, do not add anything to the market value (and hence insurable value) of the bike. Hence, even if the insurance paid out in full, I would still be out of pocket to replace it with another the same.


But then, maybe I could talk to my insurers about insuring the mods separately...........

[MotoGirl]

So people, are these victims of crime being slack with security, or are the crooks getting smarter (unlikely IMO), or the opportunities we present to the thieves to good to be overlooked?

It’s useful to differentiate between opportunists and organised crime here.

In terms of opportunity, I think it’s a combination of people being blasé about security and thieves getting cheekier. Stories are continuously circulating about thieves who chat away to the neighbours so they appear inconspicuous and don’t draw attention to themselves.

When it comes to premeditated theft, you can’t do much to stop it. If someone knows your bike is stored in a particular place and they really want it, they’ll come prepared with whatever tools they need to take it away. Realistically, even with a house alarm, any burglar would have set it off and left with your bike before anyone has time to react.

I wasn’t particularly thrilled to find someone had broken into my house and attempted to take the RSVR from the garage. In this case, it wasn’t us being slack with security, it was more about someone knowing it was there and thinking they were entitled to it.

Naturally we wanted to decrease the chance of someone actually getting the bike should they return for a second attempt. We did a few bits and pieces but stopped short of committing ourselves to a life within a residential jail with metal bars on the windows. There really is little point in going nuts with security when a house is effectively made of glass.

This said, being the victim of theft doesn’t exactly inspire you to continue earning a legitimate income when it’s so easy for other people to benefit from what you have paid for.

[Forest]

A lot of the "bike stolen" threads here have one thing in common.

The bikes are being stolen from apartment building car-parks, or from parking buildings. Both of these are semi-public spaces.