cargo bike stolen again

davec

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Joined
May 22, 2011
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this city sickens me to my stomach-nothing but a bunch of bums living off stealing
today is not the 13th but it may as well be
on my way to work my rear tire had a flat no biggie- i replaced the inner tube and took off
after work i took my usual route which is normally over a 1.3 km bridge / with a nice harbour view
anyways half way across the bridge my rear tire blows up.....we're talking 100 lbs yuba mundo cargo bike with 60 lbs of battery on the rear rack- the inner tube got stuck in the rear wheel- this thing wasnt going anywhere- so i just locked the bike to the rail and took off to the bike shop for a new inner tube
when i get back boom my bike was gone....my 1st guess was the bridge commision took it away as it was blocking the path....so i paid them a visit- and get 2 different stories- first they tell me they picked it up took it off bridge and left it on some path at the end... so i told them to take me where they left it.. we hopped in the truck went there and nope.... no bike there..
turns out i mis-understood the correct story was this(they changed the story):
the bridge commision got a call to pick it up and by the time they got there somebody took it already and the commisioner saw who it was apparently and questioned the fella who actually preteneded it was his...... last year my cargo bike was stolen out of a parking lot.. i was contemplating about putting a gps into the frame but procrastinated.....maybe next year this will be a must

here's another fact: when i got back to the bridge i remember walking quickly- i got about half way and almost fainted when the bike was gone. when i got the end of the bridge a guard looked at me and told me it's illegal to walk on the bake lane- i told him sorry but my bike is missing and if he knows anything about it- he did ack that he heard something about a bike that was abandoned on the bridge and called into the office - he told the office that i am here and the office asked what color it was.....i confirmed the color and they acknowledged that was the bike.... when i went into the office they blamed me for leaving it there.....than the lady in the phoned someone who supposedly was sent to pick it up....and i heard the lady talk to this worker but could not hear the conversation. from there on the story was wishy washy and continued to change.... they refused to show me any video and told me to call the police
very clever of them- they refused to show me the video - sent the police a useless clip and knew the cops would have too much on their plate to work my case....
 
i was contemplating about putting a gps into the frame but procrastinated.....maybe next year this will be a must

Yup, gps is a must have. I think the catch is to make sure you test it too, because I've wondered about signal strength and being able to track it when moved out of the area.

Bike thieves are for real.

So you've lost two ebikes now in what city?

Bummer.
 
http://www.integratedtrackers.com/GPSTrack/Spybike.jsp
 
Your not going to see them cameras unless you get the police in quick. They left your bike without a chain, It is that simple. If not, then the thief surely passed a camera before getting to the bike, so you will have his face. It is win win but not if you leave it in the thief's hands(the hands of the bridge people)


Edit: I don't think you can put a gps device in the frame unless you can use the frame or some other metalwork as the aerial
 
yes i lost 2 bikes
last year my bicycle with an xtracycle attachment was stolen right out of a parking lot from a designated bike area.
they chopped the chain and took off with it- it didnt even have wheels on it
the cops havnt gotten back to me- this city is so full of crime that my request is probably sitting in a que- the cops probably wont get back to me for at least a week
turns out that the bridge patrol got a call for an abandoned bike- they went out there and there was a bum walking it off the bridge... when they asked him about it he said it's is friends bike... and so he took off with it - this happened under 40min
the bum must of cut the chain/ chopped off the inner tube and kept pushing it with all his strength... picture 60lbs battery box on rear rack and a rear flat tire.....just grinding.....
 
Wow, 3 different story's
Best get the police in quick, explaining it is them, they have used 3 story's now, and they will soon get rid of the recordings. It is all there unlike the last time your bike went. They need to get there to simply collect the evidence before it's taped over in what may be a weeks time.

Perhaps a solicitor could visit and insist they make a copy and keep it safe. They may even be able to get a seizure through closed court. Ask one.


It sounds like the latest story is from the police, who have either picked up the evidence or given up already. It is one of the two.
 
Sorry to hear about your bike getting ripped off; there is no way to make that feel acceptable. The fact that most law enforcers are deeply apathetic about bike theft just compounds the indignity.

But... you locked it up in a right of way, on a bridge? Why? Surely you could have rolled it or if necessary dragged it out of the way. I've pushed a top heavy 750 lb. motorcycle several blocks.
 
thanks guys
yes i put my bike lock on the frame and chained it to the rails- he probably used a bolt cutter through it as it wasnt a terribly strong one- but i was only gone for short period of time(the bike shop was down the road from the bridge)
the inner tube popped out and jammed right into the rear wheel... if i cut it off i might have been able to push it..but not with ease... this thing was too heavy for me to push-i could have left the battery box there and pushed it- but than again carrying a 60lbs box was a no go
fortunately the bridge keeps footage for 30 days so the police will get something out of it-also the bridge patrol did confront the thief and asked him about the bike- he said "my friend john sent me to pick it up" so the patrol did see his face- hopefully his face shows up on footage as it happned in day broadlight. im not sure if anything will come of this- 2 grand down the drain i guess... next year ill gps my bike up.
 
I see. I had interpreted your original post as saying that the cops had cut your bike off and just left it somewhere for the taking.
 
yup that's the first story the bridge commision has given me- and than they changed the story and they told me i mis-understood- maybe there was mis-comunication on behaf of their staff- i believe the 2nd story to be true at this point.ill know for sure when the video shows up- just as you pushed a 750 lbs motorbike the thief found motivation to push mine off probably grinding the rim and the tires to waste. sadly its almost october and bike season is slowly coming to an end due to winter..the cops havnt gotten back to me yet- im curious about the video footage.. this is a big dissapointment and a financial bruise but have to move on i guess..my next bike will have insrance and will be lighter
 
I know its annoying.. If you want any one to keep an eye out for your bike at least put in your state.
I think he is in Canada somewhere.

I been eyeing GPS tracking devices on ebay, some are incredibly cheap so I am wondering if I am missing something here. But on the flip side I can't help but think since cheap android phones can do the same job so it does actually seem about right.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1311.R5.TR9.TRC1.A0.XGPS+tracker&_nkw=real+time+gps+tracker&_sacat=0&_from=R40

I think we are on the path with such devices that we can turn 007 James Bond style and link them to our lipo batteries and just hit a button on our smart phone tracking app that will deliberately cause a short on the lipo battery and burn the thief to death via the convenience from our smart phone.
Fortunately for me I am in AU so I can post such an idea and not have someone knocking on my door about terrorist like ideas. Will see anyway :mrgreen:
 
yup
10 days have passed and no information-
only that the cameras on the bridge were too high up there to yield any visible footage
so what good is it?
they are either pulling my chains or this means that any crime can happen on the bike lane and they would know nothing
there is no way i will get this back- it's probably shipped out of my province by now
UGHHH most annoying thing was that my CA- was on it :(
everything else was worn and used..
lesson learned -2g down the drain i am more than angry- i will never leave the sight of my bike again- i will always carry a spare tube+ pump and call a cab if i have to- with a city full of thieves that's what you need to do
talk about my luck- lock my bike with a flat tire to a rail - step away for a minute to buy a tube and BAM stolen F sakes
what can one do?
cant keep eating myself over it
maybe it is time to forget about this one- and move on with life
 
davec, condolences man for your loss. sure you have a heavy heart. Its why if I need to lock up my bike, I put it in a visible place with people on the street (very common in my walkable urban neighborhood). then hope if the crumbums come, the theft will be quickly reported. but this also brings up the question theft insurance - does anyone do that?
 
I've had a few bikes stolen from my carport in the last few years and 1 of them was an ebike.

Now, my wife's ebike is locked with 2 locks and I have an alarm on the way. People without money are struggling in ths economy and the police budgets are decimated, making the perfect environment for increased theft.

There has been a couple of people "casing" our place and I feel they are planning to steal again. I recently had a Trek frame stolen and a 72V LiFePO4 battery (it was puffy and I had it just sitting there)

One good thing to note is that summer is basically over and the crime rates should drop back down a bit.

Sorry for your loss.
 
thanks alot for the support guys
seems like we all lost something in one way or another
turns out that the bridge cameras are zoomable- the bridge commision sent the cops a bad video so i will have to push these guys a bit..... because i was told 2 stories from the bridge commission i need to see the video for peace of mind - if it clearly shows someone pushing it off i can live with that- if the bridge guys took it and didnt follow up proper procedure than great they owe me $
regarding insurance you can add a bicycle/ebike to your home insurance- if you got a ghetto bike not worth it- bit if you got a 2thousand dollar bike than surely is.
 
What is always so incredible is that this is a piece of the action on what police, security, etc. are there for, but do they care about doing their job? As far as they are concerned, we are all here to provide them with a place to go be cops, security guards, etc.

But maybe this particular thief is working your area. I'll bet the cops are afraid to even try to take him down.

screen-shot-2013-09-20-at-12.29.48-pm.png
 
Posted to ES facebook page. Check local craigslist/kijiji pages. Some people had success recovering their stolen bikes.
 
sk8norcal said:
http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/News/Local/2013-09-13/article-3388951/Police-asking-for-help-finding-stolen-electric-bike/1

Wow.
I like how they point out 'the middle of the bridge' from a few angles.
 
yup that's my story in that link
anyhoo -until i see the videos- i really think the bridge officers screwed up- they were probably pissed that the bike was left there blocking the path(thought it was abdanoned) cut the chain- took it to the end of the bridge and threw it on the sidewalk where obviously someone stole it
now bthey're trying to cover it up- i mean the bridge has 5 cameras 6ft in the air pointing at the bike lane- why would they send a video footage to the police from a camera sitting 200 ft up in the air(like seriously).....it was also strange how they suddenly changed the story when the bike dissapeared. Also i can't picture how someone walked that bike off the bridge with that 60lbs rear box+flat tire in under an hour that quick- i mean i could barely move the thing. the spotter would have to of been either in a car or walking on the pedestrian lane on the other side of bridge- which mean they would of had to come back and walk another 20 min to get to it (than another 20-30to get it off)- also walking on the bike lane of the bridge is not allowed.....seems fishy. trying to push to cops to get better footage but they're too busy, so this wont be easy- we'll see i guess - at this point im just focused on my next build-

Edit: the bridge commision is not allowing me to view the camera- only the police can see it(and they are way too busy)- I will post back on this thread once i get more information
 
Does your local TV station have a "Crime Solvers" reporter ? After having 3 completely different accounts of the incident, I would find it interesting to look into this matter, IF I were a reporter.
 
If a camera is watching you, don't you have the right to see that footage?

From day one you should of gone after that footage. It was there, and it did show what happened. I have never had any doubt over who moved it. Your not helping yourself though.

Surely someone you know drove past and saw the bridge vehicle dragging your bike on board. You know it happened. The police will do nothing though until you change the game.
 
Have you tried using this locker called Tigr lock using titanium alloy harder for anyone cut down. I have think getting this one but dunno if it is worth to have it.

http://tigrlock.com/product/


PS. sorry about your cargo bike stolen. Hope find it before it gone for good.
 
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