Saturday 24 November 2012

Brompton Theft!

It is a very sad day when someone you know gets their bike stolen on the streets of London. When it is a Brompton, fellow Bromptonians almost share the sense of loss and why?

This recently happened to a member of the Brompton Club. They had parked their Brompton with a modest cable chain and with good intentions left it there. Apparently captured on CCTV it took the disgusting, vile creature less than five minutes to make off with it. A bike that had been on many adventures. One that had been looked after and perhaps taken great deliberation to buy.

Thoughts of course turned to my own bikes. I cannot imagine how upset I'd be if one of my Brompton bikes were stolen? It is perhaps for this reason that I don't leave them anywhere locked up or unattended. If my Brompton is not welcome when I take it out and about, my patronage for such locations is removed - even when I return without my bike!

The sad truth is that people do know how expensive Brompton bikes are. A look on Gumtree will provide lots of Brompton bikes for sale, but how many are genuine? Before buying my Orange Brompton new, I did consider a second hand one. I remember ringing the buyer up and getting the vaguest of answers to my questions. Suspicions were confirmed when a friend showed me a google image search revealing the very same bike I was ringing up about, which belonged to a blogger in Japan!

I suppose what I am trying to say is be careful out there. Whatever your bike, invest in a lock to match the quality of your bike (if you have to lock it up at all). If you own a Brompton, perhaps consider my stance and take it everywhere!

7 comments:

  1. You have to be careful with your well earned kit,their are creatures out there which will nick a saddle of a night mare given half the chance!

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    1. If only he had been around all those years ago...but to be honest the bike I had back then wasn't really worth much and I could not think why someone would bother stealing it?

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  2. Dear MR O,

    Please allow me to share the happy ending of this story. An eagle-eyed club member spotted a suspiciously identical Brompton listed on Ebay about a month after the theft. The police were then able to locate the cycle and successfully reunite it with the rightful owner.

    Adrian (a.k.a Mr Philip K. Anders)

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  3. I found very good advice about locking up a brompton: use two locks, one a D-lock, as small as possible, so the fit is very tight... makes it difficult to get a jemmy in. Second have a chain or cable lock through the saddle, with the saddle right down (so the brommie is half folded) and cable the saddle tight to the structure. This prevents theft of saddle and makes it impossible to unfold the bike.. Then photography your brommie with your phone for insurance purposes. Photo will show where and what time and date and how well you locked it up. Apparently it takes about 15 minutes to get through one good lock... so you are looking at 30 minutes minimum... which means they are more likely to leave it alone, especially if you have locked it up in a public place, not a quiet back street. Vivian

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    1. Many thanks Vivian. I am sure this will be of help to lots of my readers.

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    2. you're welcome... I love my brommie... mine is orange and dark blue...

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