Attempted robbery - Stellebosch - R44/Helshoogte Rd

[Oufy MTB (Roadie)]

Thieves probably use the bikes themselves or sell them in the townships for R500?

Possibly, but then we should see the okes riding these sparkling machines. when I do see commuters on bikes close to a township (or whatever you want to call it) it is normally old bikes, and far from high end. So yip, where are they going

[Fisan]

Agnee. Is there any safe exit road out of Stellies left?

 

Guess I'll just do 100x circle repeats in the neighbourhood now.

 

Speedy recovery to W!

[Smurfy]

Hope you recover buddy. SKIET VREK DIE BLIKSEMS.   :cursing:  

[Smurfy]

Agnee. Is there any safe exit road out of Stellies left?

 

Guess I'll just do 100x circle repeats in the neighbourhood now.

 

Speedy recovery to W!

Probably the JC Leroux road towards Devonvale.

[Mads]

Joh .. this is scary... I actually thought coming from Pniel side to Stellenbosch over Hels is safe. I have done it in this year still alone.... meeting other riders on top of Hels.

 

Obviously mistaken.

[Ferro]

So on the same day that the guys were doing such great work Everesting for August, this sh*t goes down. Its so hard to stay positive lately when we need to be thankful that your attack at least wasnt worse than it was. What an outlook to have!

 

i am truly glad you guys are mostly OK by the way, i just wonder where we are heading and how far you can push a reasonable man before he snaps.

 

Think i will head back to the Puffy thread

[hayleyearth]

 

This situation is just getting worse.

[WimpievdMerwe]

I have purposefully not made the media or the public aware of recent attacks on myself as cyclist because I did not want an atmosphere where people either fear the area or the activity of cycling. Since the similarity in the attack reported here I thought it might be a modus operandi that is similar that cyclists need to prepare themselves against.

 

On Jan 3, at daybreak, I was riding in Beach road, Strand on my way to meet up with fellow cyclists. In front of Arendsig flats there were 3 'pedestrians' of colour. As I passed them the one shouldered me off the bike. This fractured my leg (fibula). As I came up the other hit me with a beer bottle over the head. The third one pulled out a 30cm knife.

 

My first reaction was surprise because there was no inclination of the attack. I thought they wanted the bike, but when the one started stabbing at me with the bottle stub and the other with the knife I knew it was to seriously harm me. They encircled me trying to take my bike off me which I was using as a weapon and shield. Eventually one from behind got hold of my back wheel and jerked it, breaking my arm and dislocating my shoulder.

 

By now there was a proper brawl in the road and none of the cars prepared to stop to give assistance. I was severely wounded and losing the battle. Later the knife swopped owners and the new owner shouted to the others to hold me down so he could stab me.

 

I brave motorist eventually stopped and pepper sprayed them. I was left lying on the side of the road. This all happened within 400 m of the police on the beach. A security company arrived and they eventually caught 2 of the 3. I spent 2 days in hospital. I had about R 25,000 damage to my bike and equipment.

 

On Easter Saturday I was training past Stellenbosch at 0700, having passed Kayamandi and halfway on my way to the intersection to Welgevonden and next to Cloetesville, when I saw 4 pedestrians of colour walking on the right hand side of the road, towards Stellenbosch. By now I have become semi-paranoic for any person next to the road whether on a bike or car. It immediately attracted my attention when about 200 m from them one guy crossed the road.

 

He kept walking towards me and I moved to the yellow line so I can advertise my route in advance. He moved to the yellow line too. I moved a meter to the left and he moved too. I knew a confrontation was going to happen and I geared up for a fast reaction sprint. By now I was about 20 m from him. The pedestrians on the right played their part. They formed the pincher movement so that if I sprint past him on the right they have closed off the road. There was no way that I could have gotten through that gap with the maneuver, hadn't it been for a car that came from behind and prevented them from closing the gap.

 

This whole attempted attack happened in less than 3 seconds. No pepper spray, gun or other weapon would have helped. In retrospect and this being my motivation for making this known is trying to answer the question, what are we to do in a situation like this?

 

Accept that you are going to be taken down (learn to fall safely - judo rolls help, tucking your head and not falling on protruding, outstretched limbs). Try and minimise initial injuries so you can defend yourself or get away. I am trained in martial arts and that helps nothing when you try and get footing on cleated shoes!

 

Once you are down you need to defend yourself, possibly from the bottom position upwards and from attacks from several sides. Cyclists need to empower themselves with very basic deadly self defence techniques which should be close combat: eye gouching, groin grabbing or punching, anything that could preserve your life.

 

I shall be much more comfortable when I know as parent or spouse that my family who is on the road and in general for the days we are in, in SA,have been trained in some form of life protecting martial art.

 

I encourage a 360 degree awareness not only for traffic, but people and things that are out of the ordinary. Rather safe than sorry. Yes, pepper spray will work once the attack or confrontation is well advertised, but most of the time the attackers have the element of surprise and initiative to their advantage. In a crisis get the advantage and initiative back by doing things that they not expect: scream, make a noise, even if no one hears you, it might encourage you and frighten them!

 

Select safer routes. I personally find MTB in that respect more dangerous than road biking. On the road there is a chance for help but in remote areas in a mountain, there is not.

 

Ride as a group. They always go for the easy target, but when they are on drugs they become irrationally brave. That is when you have to hit hard. Your bike is a weapon if used properly.

 

Even with all the risks mentioned here I love the sport. These dangerous, malicious elements we have to share life and space with is what I have come to accept and have adjusted accordingly.

[Warren_G]

I ask myself the same. And I know the popular view is "huge containers of stolen bikes being exported overseas" but it that really accurate? Or are there some people among us who "love a bargain" enough to buy off the road rather than off the shelf?

 

Glad you're ok anyway. Come see us in Spain sometime and I'll take you for a nice ride :-)

I dream of settling in Malaga, want to go back

[Smurfy]

I have purposefully not made the media or the public aware of recent attacks on myself as cyclist because I did not want an atmosphere where people either fear the area or the activity of cycling. Since the similarity in the attack reported here I thought it might be a modus operandi that is similar that cyclists need to prepare themselves against.

 

On Jan 3, at daybreak, I was riding in Beach road, Strand on my way to meet up with fellow cyclists. In front of Arendsig flats there were 3 'pedestrians' of colour. As I passed them the one shouldered me off the bike. This fractured my leg (fibula). As I came up the other hit me with a beer bottle over the head. The third one pulled out a 30cm knife.

 

My first reaction was surprise because there was no inclination of the attack. I thought they wanted the bike, but when the one started stabbing at me with the bottle stub and the other with the knife I knew it was to seriously harm me. They encircled me trying to take my bike off me which I was using as a weapon and shield. Eventually one from behind got hold of my back wheel and jerked it, breaking my arm and dislocating my shoulder.

 

By now there was a proper brawl in the road and none of the cars prepared to stop to give assistance. I was severely wounded and losing the battle. Later the knife swopped owners and the new owner shouted to the others to hold me down so he could stab me.

 

I brave motorist eventually stopped and pepper sprayed them. I was left lying on the side of the road. This all happened within 400 m of the police on the beach. A security company arrived and they eventually caught 2 of the 3. I spent 2 days in hospital. I had about R 25,000 damage to my bike and equipment.

 

On Easter Saturday I was training past Stellenbosch at 0700, having passed Kayamandi and halfway on my way to the intersection to Welgevonden and next to Cloetesville, when I saw 4 pedestrians of colour walking on the right hand side of the road, towards Stellenbosch. By now I have become semi-paranoic for any person next to the road whether on a bike or car. It immediately attracted my attention when about 200 m from them one guy crossed the road.

 

He kept walking towards me and I moved to the yellow line so I can advertise my route in advance. He moved to the yellow line too. I moved a meter to the left and he moved too. I knew a confrontation was going to happen and I geared up for a fast reaction sprint. By now I was about 20 m from him. The pedestrians on the right played their part. They formed the pincher movement so that if I sprint past him on the right they have closed off the road. There was no way that I could have gotten through that gap with the maneuver, hadn't it been for a car that came from behind and prevented them from closing the gap.

 

This whole attempted attack happened in less than 3 seconds. No pepper spray, gun or other weapon would have helped. In retrospect and this being my motivation for making this known is trying to answer the question, what are we to do in a situation like this?

 

Accept that you are going to be taken down (learn to fall safely - judo rolls help, tucking your head and not falling on protruding, outstretched limbs). Try and minimise initial injuries so you can defend yourself or get away. I am trained in martial arts and that helps nothing when you try and get footing on cleated shoes!

 

Once you are down you need to defend yourself, possibly from the bottom position upwards and from attacks from several sides. Cyclists need to empower themselves with very basic deadly self defence techniques which should be close combat: eye gouching, groin grabbing or punching, anything that could preserve your life.

 

I shall be much more comfortable when I know as parent or spouse that my family who is on the road and in general for the days we are in, in SA,have been trained in some form of life protecting martial art.

 

I encourage a 360 degree awareness not only for traffic, but people and things that are out of the ordinary. Rather safe than sorry. Yes, pepper spray will work once the attack or confrontation is well advertised, but most of the time the attackers have the element of surprise and initiative to their advantage. In a crisis get the advantage and initiative back by doing things that they not expect: scream, make a noise, even if no one hears you, it might encourage you and frighten them!

 

Select safer routes. I personally find MTB in that respect more dangerous than road biking. On the road there is a chance for help but in remote areas in a mountain, there is not.

 

Ride as a group. They always go for the easy target, but when they are on drugs they become irrationally brave. That is when you have to hit hard. Your bike is a weapon if used properly.

 

Even with all the risks mentioned here I love the sport. These dangerous, malicious elements we have to share life and space with is what I have come to accept and have adjusted accordingly.

DONT CYCLE ALONE.  3RD TIME MIGHT NOT BE SO LUCKY. GLAD YOU ARE OKAY.

[Oufy MTB (Roadie)]

WimpievdM, I think you did well to prevent yourself being worse off. Take Care man

[arabsandals]

Glad you are ok bud! I hate that intersection, I try and ride through stellies an pop out higher up on that road, but I come from SWest side when I am down there.

 

On your question, I keep asking it too.

 

Where do thes bikes gets traded? We keep a pretty good eye on classifieds, OLX, Gumtree etc... Yet we dont see nerely enough biles going through there to say thats where they get sold. Pawn shops? Im not so sure.... I would love to know where all our high end bikes end up.

Cycling is big business here (http://www.moneyweb.co.za/archive/cycling-is-the-new-golf/) therefore lots of bikes, and lots of nice bikes. Perhaps there is some truth in the story that containers full of bikes are being shipped out. If there's a good supply, fairly ineffective law enforcement and relatively porous borders it would be a decent money spinner. If that is the case it won't be fully assembled bikes it'll be frames and parts, easier to ship and harder to track. You could crate out some high spec bikes to the UK or Europe and make an absolute killing.

[Brickleberry]

 

Thieves probably use the bikes themselves or sell them in the townships for R500

 

I used to agree, but then we would see a lot more randoms on high end bikes which isn't really the case. Someone who knows the value of these things is paying these tik addicts a small price on the bikes and then doing something with them. Just dont know what.