openmind Posted August 22, 2013 Posted August 22, 2013 (edited) On Monday morning at about 6:30am my son noticed that our garage door was open. Our single garage is a separate building at the back of the property - the garage door is visible from our kitchen window. I went to investigate and found that the family's fleet of mountain bikes had been stolen. Five bicycles were taken in all. I owned three mountain bikes varying in vintage from 1992 to 2010. My wife's and son's bikes were the other two that were taken. The bikes were all locked with a chain to bolts which are set into the wall of the garage. After breaking into the garage, the thieves managed to pry the lock of the chain open and gain access to the bikes. They had got onto my property by forcing the motorised driveway gate off its rails and sliding it open. The missing bikes are: (redacted) Edited August 25, 2013 by openmind
straatvark Posted August 22, 2013 Posted August 22, 2013 Reminder to myself to make a list of bikes & bike parts like this... Hope the bikes is found!
shaper Posted August 22, 2013 Posted August 22, 2013 sorry for your loss, hope they are recovered. You should also take pics of your bikes, makes it easier to identify.
mazambaan Posted August 24, 2013 Posted August 24, 2013 I've just been buggered up by having 2 computers nicked - suspect a bit of an inside job but the identification aspect came out strongly with the detectives. Put a small sticker, paint mark, something that enables easy ID.
DJR Posted August 24, 2013 Posted August 24, 2013 Openmind, sorry to hear, hope you are insured because recovery is unlikely. I'm in Mowbray too and will keep my eyes open anyway.
kosmonooit Posted August 24, 2013 Posted August 24, 2013 Sorry to hear that ... Worth investing in decent locks, Abus is a good brand. I just built a storage shed, its has multiple levels of security, also linked it into my alarm system.
openmind Posted August 25, 2013 Author Posted August 25, 2013 I have really good news!!! - by a stroke of extraordinary luck, a guy walked in to Bowmans Cycles on Friday morning and showed pics of my bikes on his phone to Shane (Jansen van Vuuren), pretending that he'd bought them cheap and wanted to sell them. I bought one of the bikes at Bowmans years back and Shane had serviced two of the others in the past so he recognised the bikes immediately and phoned me. I went to the Mowbray police station and sped off to the bike shop with two officers. The station had radioed an officer in Cape Town to nab the guy in the mean time. We got to the shop and the guy was still there, telling his sorry tale to a burly cop. Long story short - the guy confessed, told the cops where the bikes were (at a "friend's" place) and a police team went and staked out the house. I got a call from the cops yesterday afternoon to say that two people were arrested and bikes were confiscated! For some reason I need to wait for the cops to call me before I can go and ID the bikes and get them back, probably tomorrow. I'll only know then if they were all recovered or not. I (we) owe a huge debt of gratitude to Shane from Bowmans Cycles - he had the presence of mind and a strong will to do the right (and difficult) thing. He talked the guy into staying at the shop, made him coffee and let him think that a "buyer" was on his way to look at the pics. Thanks to him, a likely bike theft syndicate is behind bars. He reminded me of the the Edmund Burke quote - "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." A lesser person may have just chased the guy out of his shop. Thank you Shane. johannrissik, Messier87, nickc and 22 others 25
DoubleDee Posted August 25, 2013 Posted August 25, 2013 I love it when the bad guys are caught! Well done to Shane for doing the right thing! Nice to know the cops reaction was so fast also! I just hope the cops beat the crap out of the thieves!
Vetseun Posted August 25, 2013 Posted August 25, 2013 (edited) Well done Shane and the arresting officer's. Now lets hold thumbs that your bikes dont get stolen again, by the cops this time whilst in police storage Edited August 26, 2013 by Vetseun
Kranky Posted August 25, 2013 Posted August 25, 2013 (edited) I'm glad some of these stories end up with happy endings. Well done everyone involved. I just hope the cops beat the crap out of the thieves! I get your frustration but we need cops with integrity, not taking the law into their own hands. Everyone needs to be able to trust the police to do their job honestly. Plus, this kind of behaviour only assists the accused's case and can end up with the government paying over damages for abuse (our tax money). Edited August 25, 2013 by Nick.
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