Cape Town danger areas

[RobbyB]

Has someone created a Map of all the incidents in CT area that are reported by various groups? Would be important to share this map in riding groups to make all aware of where incidents have happened. 

[Hairy]

9 hours ago, RobbyB said:

Has someone created a Map of all the incidents in CT area that are reported by various groups? Would be important to share this map in riding groups to make all aware of where incidents have happened. 

The PPA have
https://pedalpower.org.za/crime-hotspots/

[splat]

 

[cadenceblur]

Bloody sickening.

I heard someone was also bike jacked in Wynberg on Saturday at around 12h00 as well. Not sure of exact details.

[Stephan]

No man! I hate reading this. Sorry to everyone involved. I was mugged two years ago (also pushed off my bike) and know the feeling.  

[DJR]

Fokkit, this is making me even more the moerin. Both are in my backyard and some of the very last places I felt safe.

[Chrisjanopsyfiets]

Where are these bikes going and if stripped and sold for parts where is the market for those items? There seems to be a lucrative market for these stolen items and/or bikes. Sadly, as long as it can be sold it will be taken. Curious to know where it all ends up….. anyone with more insight perhaps?

[splat]

7 minutes ago, BaGearA said:

From what ive heard it seems most bikes end up complete in upper africa 

 

or parts sold and frames scrapped 

 

but i troll marketplace often and feel like i would've come across one of these buggers at least once but nothing yet. Mostly the resellers that are also on here 

These last two were ebikes, which would be pretty useless deep in Dark Afrika (apart from the components). Same with Etap/AXS and Di2 stuff, unless the chargers make their way to the villages too.

[Meezo]

My opinion is that in most cases...

The bike passes many hands along these hands the frames get transhed/destroyed and or repainted and the components eventually reaches the classifieds.

The components as such extremely difficult to say whether stolen or not, get sold by sometimes reputable dealers... 

I had my bike nicked a few months ago, and in building up a new one i bought a shifter and rear mech (xx1 11spd) the same as i had on my stolen bike, the thought crossed how do i know that I'm not buying my "own" stolen parts back.

[cadenceblur]

Let's not forget that some people love "great deals" and this is part of the problem, my stolen bike was recovered and the individual who bought it on the street paid R5000, the same individual was apparently a cyclist and saw nothing amiss about being offered a well specced bicycle by strangers on the pavement!

[MORNE]

1 hour ago, Meezo said:

My opinion is that in most cases...

The bike passes many hands along these hands the frames get transhed/destroyed and or repainted and the components eventually reaches the classifieds.

The components as such extremely difficult to say whether stolen or not, get sold by sometimes reputable dealers... 

I had my bike nicked a few months ago, and in building up a new one i bought a shifter and rear mech (xx1 11spd) the same as i had on my stolen bike, the thought crossed how do i know that I'm not buying my "own" stolen parts back.

I'm pretty ure there are skollies in the know who sell components too.

so with my whole backjacking experience and going the 'batman way' to find it...I got told the following by the people who helped me, including one Popo officer. And these were guys who knew the skollies, their gangs, their M.O's etc.

In CT atleast...most of the time gang/syndicate related in the sense that the guys doing the muggings are the worker bees and get rewarded for bikes or whatever else (bikes have just become easy..hi yield targets) in whatever form of payment they want. These bikes then get sold on or moved as mentioned.

With bikes ending up in other countries - unfortunately a lot of these foreigners who live here in the townships also buy them and head back home yearly when they take money back home, and take them with them to sell there. You can imagine the demand for bicycles in a chitbox country where it's not as easy or cheap to even buy a crappy makro special...and only the elite can afford sonething like a car or scooter.

 They literally just load it on a bus when they head back home. Ive sold a large format plotter/printer on gumtree to a guy once that caught a bus from Zim, took weeks to get here...loaded it on that bus again  and took it back to zim...all because it's impossible to buy something like that in Zim (and not pay R1mil) They dont get checked at the borders apparently They just bribe the officials. It's apparently not even a bribe...it just works like that. 

These bikes sometimes just end up in the townships they get taken to too, and used there to make a living or get around. As mentioned, hey get hacked and changed and painted so they are basically unrecognisable anyway. To most people in the townships...a bicycle is a bicycle and nobody bats an eye - a fact we quikly realised when informants were asked to look for a very specific bike and we got pictures of every single bike haha.

They get sold for 'next to nothing' to people there...who sometimes know better and then try and resell them at cash converters or market places or whatever.  My bike changed hands a few times in a period of three weeks. We tracked it from dunoon all the way back to CBD, back to Joe slovo and then to century city area...before we found it on a security guard who bought it for R3k (a R50k bike), lived in Dunoon and rode it to work everyday.

there's is an underground economy fuelled by these things that we know nothing about. I's like the dark web vs the internet you and I know haha.  

Edited April 20, 2022 by MORNE

[Eddy Gordo]

3 hours ago, DJR said:

Fokkit, this is making me even more the moerin. Both are in my backyard and some of the very last places I felt safe.

After my incident some years ago, I refuse the ride there. To police that area to make it safe is damn near impossible.

[stephenplumb]

4 hours ago, Eddy Gordo said:

After my incident some years ago, I refuse the ride there. To police that area to make it safe is damn near impossible.

I was recently at waterfall arms (a long way from the Western Cape) and they had a very nice tight fit vest that includes a holster that the glock  43X which I bought with the holster will fit into nicely. 

I was recently riding in the afternoon at the Big Red Barn up here and had the place pretty much to myself, but thought that I may be a bit exposed and have seen some down on their luck fellows pottering about. Hence the acquisition of the 43X and exercise friendly holster.

Just a thought.

[wolver]

6 hours ago, MORNE said:

found it on a security guard who bought it for R3k (a R50k bike), lived in Dunoon and rode it to work everyday.

But why would a security guard spend R3k on a bike (regardless of its true value) to commute??? 🤔

[MORNE]

3 hours ago, wolver said:

But why would a security guard spend R3k on a bike (regardless of its true value) to commute??? 🤔

F knows…but thats what he said. Do any of us know what bikes cost in the townships/black market lol. Funny part was he rode it with cleats and all. Must have thought it was a raw deal…paid 3k for a bike that didnt even have enough space for his feet. The qr seat clamp was used as a lever to tighten the seatpost like a tap haha. Everything that wasnt fastened to the bike by alan/torx bolts was removed ( frame bags, bottles, gps mounts, lights, tools tube, racetec chip…even the chain guard.) So alan keys are not a thing in townships😅

Edited April 20, 2022 by MORNE

[peter5500]

I was attacked today in the Somerset West area in broad daylight by a thug wielding a wooden pole about the length of a cricket bat. Assault occurred around 3pm on a typically busy Baden Powell Drive near the approach to the bridge over the R102. Luckily the blow struck my upper right arm and not my neck or head area. The impact caused me to crash and the assailant then attempted to steal my bike while swinging the wooden pole at me. Fortunately, two motorists came to my assistance and this excuse for a human being retreated hastily into the bushes below the motorway. So, there I was minding my own business doing a nice endurance ride over a course I've ridden without incident for the past 6 years only for it to turn out to be a very bad day through no fault of my own. One of the motorists who assisted me suggested I ride for a while to get the adrenalin out of my system. I wasn't going to continue with the workout (I live close by and it would have been easier just to go home) but then followed his advice and rode for another hour which helped to relieve the shock of the incident to an extent. I haven't looked at damage to the bike yet (will assess tomorrow) but cycling shirt and bib shorts ruined. I have a LOT to be thankful for though - the kind motorists who swiftly intervened to diffuse the situation and the relative lack of personal injury sustained. Tomorrow will definitely be a rest day.