Bikejacking @Bluehills Kyalami

[Mats]

Ai Ai Ai!

 

This is very bad news. I'm so glad you guys are OK.

[jagwil]

Apparently also an attempted bikejacking between Centurion and Olifantsfontein this morning. The group was however ready for them with motor cyclists waiting. Two of them were apprehended, "spoken to" and then hauled off to the police station. It seems as if they are not locals but actually come in by train to ply their "trade". "Commute to work".

[nathrix]

Apparently also an attempted bikejacking between Centurion and Olifantsfontein this morning. The group was however ready for them with motor cyclists waiting. Two of them were apprehended, "spoken to" and then hauled off to the police station. It seems as if they are not locals but actually come in by train to ply their "trade". "Commute to work".

 

That's good news Jagwil. Maybe we should set up something like that so that we can catch these thugs. London Rd is about 1 km away from where they attacked us this morning.

 

It's just unbelievable of how many hijackings are occurring around us! Most probably more then half of it goes unreported that we don't even know of.

 

Hi all,

To add another area to the list and Im not sure if it is the same guys or not but we were 3 of us on road bikes at about 8:30am on Sunday(8/05/2011) morning had 5 guys come out of the long grass at us on London Ave just north of Summit Road near Blue Hills. They all had knives but luckily being three of us we were able to create enough confusion(and they were a little disorganised) that we could weave through them. However the guys were not afraid to swipe the knives at us and definately meant business. Had we been less than 3 I suspect we would not have been so lucky. For what it's worth we are now planning on carrying Pepper Spray.

 

Will definatley keep an eye out for any bikes in the area that look a bit fancy to be a township commuter.

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/103216-bikejacking-in-irene-please-be-on-the-look-out/page__p__1403391__hl__irene__fromsearch__1?do=findComment&comment=1403391

 

Another one this past Saturday morning at about 8.30. Three cyclists were held up on the dirt road behind the cement factory. Two black men armed with long kitchen knives interested only in cell phones and money. They got away with two cell phones. Did not take the bikes and there were no injuries.I spoke to one of the victims, Alexander Beukes, this morning. I have asked him to report the incident to the SAPS for what it is worth. This seems to be the eighth one in the last two or so months in the Irene area.

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/32363-pretoria-danger-areas/page__pid__1425462__st__60?do=findComment&comment=1425462

 

One of my clients has just been hi-jacked on the road running parallel to Summit road.

This was just before Paws for Thoughts.

They pulled her off the bike and also kicked her in the face

 

:angry: :angry:

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/104382-bike-jacking-blue-hills/page__p__1423901__fromsearch__1?do=findComment&comment=1423901

[Chubba]

Geez dude, very scary story! Thankfully you and your mate were unharmed!

[Andreas M3]

Glad to hear that you guys got away physically unharmed. Not that I would object to hijackers being shot dead, but I agree that if more cyclists fought back with guns, it would just escalate the whole thing and soon cyclists will simply be shot and not asked to relinquish their possessions.

 

Typical police, they won't move a muscle to prevent cyclists being robbed or injured. But beware the day when cyclists defend themselves. They'll be labeled vigilantes and the police will put in a massive effort to catch them and put them in jail ... for a long time.

[mark ellis]

yo! sorry to hear this guys, not cool at all.

 

think the idea about getting carte blanche or some other media involved is really good, the extent of these highjacking's needs to be made known now.

[intern]

Absolutely p1ss poor; glad you're OK Dennis. Remarkable that the only hope is for Carte Blanche to do the police's work.

Fact is, being soft targets encourages the criminals to keep plying their trade. It is a real catch-22.

[nathrix]

Thanks guys. Went to Teak Place for a "safe" ride just to get my composure back after what happened yesterday. We are grateful that we were not seriously harmed, I'm very de moer in as I don't know about the early morning rides during the week anymore. I don't enjoy attending spinning classes and there are not many riders who brave the cold in the mornings. When it's warmer we are usually a group of at least 10 riders on every ride.

[BMC]

Not good news for MTBing - Exactly 1 year since I was part of 5x MTBers bike jacked in Irene - Still debating riding with a firearm!

The motor industry shows very distinctive trends in vehicle hijackings. It appears as if this is the case with MTBing.

 

The good news is various various tracking companies are busy with R&D on bicycle tracking devices, however nothing commercially avail as yet. News so far is this year - hopefully this will help determine who is fueling these bikejackings.

 

Glad you guys are okay.

[Tumbleweed]

yo! sorry to hear this guys, not cool at all.

 

think the idea about getting carte blanche or some other media involved is really good, the extent of these highjacking's needs to be made known now.

 

Tough one, Mark. Just about a year ago, the mainstream media were given kudos for publicising the trend when both the Beeld and The Star ran front page stories about this scourge. Alas, is another attack front page news? Sadly, no. Oh, that I wish it could be. Readers and reporters alike get bored.

[Flea]

Sh*t another happening on my route - where to train now. After all the events the other side of Summit, I stayed on these roads - no single track anymore.....

Now will keep my early alone rides to the tar roads around Bryanston - soo boring, might as well give up? Getting in my car to go to Teak etc is not why I started MTB....

I know I will hate riding these areas now as I will look at each of the people I pass in the morning as potential bandits, where most of them are just normal guys going to work, or local workers ....

 

There have been some really interesting bikes stolen in this area - from custom to limited edition (as I class this one) - surely there has to be a way to find these. The cars that get hijacked are more common (Toyota Tazz's, Citigolfs BMW etc) - this is the equivalence of Porsches, Ferrari's etc being stolen. These bikes are not desired by the local commuters as they are too complex and in reality they prefer the cheaper simple bikes. It all points to a syndicate, but that does not make sense as there very few stores selling 2nd hand, and they are not going onto gumtree? Also Za is so expensive, they are probably not being exported, unless the components are the real target, but again who sell 2nd hand?......This is not a mainstream market?

[Weight Weenie]

How about we chip inn and get a private investigator ?

[1kTT]

glad everybody is okay.

 

thats is exactly on my usual saturday morning route, so would have been a nice anniversary present since i was jacked almost exactly a year ago.

 

after our incident, we tried the private investigator route but had no success.

 

havnt felt this down about SA and riding in ages

[nathrix]

I have spoken to someone I know very well at Vodacom who works in some kind of R&D gadget department. It's a department that think of ways to design, create devices/software to utilize the mobile network. We need a device hidden in the frame to track these stolen bicycles, but most of all, to catch these thugs so that someone does not end up in hospital with gunshot wounds or stab wounds or worse, loose their lives.

[EigerSA]

the only way this is going to stop is if the thieves are caught quickly. the only way for that to happen is if a network gets up and running where members of the community can quickly respond to a theft, and by visiting 2nd stores and bike stores regularly. the bikes themselves need to be registered on a central database.

 

The cops on patrol are not detectives, and they cannot just drop everything to hunt for some missing bikes, they have to patrol as well as answer other complaints. the detectives themselves have rapes and murders to deal with, not too mention court dates and witnesses to track down, a bunch of overpriced bicycles are not going to hold their attention spans for any amount of time - and I for one don't blame them!

 

consider offering a nice reward for the return of the bike as well as information of the thieves, post the reward offer in the nearest township. put pictures up, you'll get a far better result than relying solely on the police and the hub.

[RocknRolla]

this is hectic.

 

it's getting worse and worse by the day.

 

Carte blanche, please, i dont want to get into this, but like posted earlier, whatever gets the ratings.

 

as for the police - i also think they have bigger fish to fry. although, you have as much right to be protected as some-one being murdered (it's just a matter of time)

 

Perhaps the "motorised squad" also posted earlier is the answer. instead of being ambushed, rather do the ambushing. I reckon with the aid of the local security companies, set up some patrols, a few vehicles etc.

 

make a stand and protect our own rights.

 

Please i am not saying a vigilante or lynch mob (i know it does sound like fun) but put a message out there that cyclists are not to be f*#ked with!!