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STOLEN BIKES beware!!!!!


dcal

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HI to all cyclists

 

There is a **** load of theft going on here in the Cape.

Some stories i heard through the grapevine are:

 

Bike dealer (stolen bikes) in Kraaifontein.

 

Giant anthem (worth R25000) sold for a pittence of R25 in Stellenbosch, WHAT THE!!!!!!!!

 

Lock your bikes up somewhere really safe!

 

Inform anybody else of stories you heard of.

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Unlike JHB where they head off to Moz, it seems like the thieves down here have a good relationship with a few used bike dealers in the Cape who strip them down, rebuild them with different parts (or get rid of the frame if it's easily identifiable) and sell them from their shops or on gumtree. My bike was stolen and within 2 hours had (apparently) been sold twice and was already being stripped by the second purchaser when a hubber saw it (I know it was being stripped because they never tightened my brake calipers and cable-tied my cables to the frame before returning it!).

 

I know of 1 person/dealer who was caught with 4 stolen bikes last year alone (those were the ones traced to him by the police alone, I'm sure many others disappeared through the pages of gumtree!) and the police wouldn't prosecute him because they say he co-operated with them (even though he wasn't paying tax/VAT, was operating a business from residential property and was dealing in stolen goods!)

 

I have also recently seen another hubbers stolen bike for sale on gumtree (tried to help him and the police recover it, but didn't seem to fit into their schedules!)... We have very simple thieves down here, not as sophisticated as you up-country folk.

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Unlike JHB where they head off to Moz, it seems like the thieves down here have a good relationship with a few used bike dealers in the Cape who strip them down, rebuild them with different parts (or get rid of the frame if it's easily identifiable) and sell them from their shops or on gumtree. My bike was stolen and within 2 hours had (apparently) been sold twice and was already being stripped by the second purchaser when a hubber saw it (I know it was being stripped because they never tightened my brake calipers and cable-tied my cables to the frame before returning it!).

 

I know of 1 person/dealer who was caught with 4 stolen bikes last year alone (those were the ones traced to him by the police alone, I'm sure many others disappeared through the pages of gumtree!) and the police wouldn't prosecute him because they say he co-operated with them (even though he wasn't paying tax/VAT, was operating a business from residential property and was dealing in stolen goods!)

 

I have also recently seen another hubbers stolen bike for sale on gumtree (tried to help him and the police recover it, but didn't seem to fit into their schedules!)... We have very simple thieves down here, not as sophisticated as you up-country folk.

 

Is this person still in operation?

Are you able to name this individual?

Just so that I know not to do business there (or to look there if a bike is stolen...)

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It never ends...Where there is someone buying these bikes from the theives, then there will be people stealing them! :angry:

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Is this person still in operation?

Are you able to name this individual?

Just so that I know not to do business there (or to look there if a bike is stolen...)

 

Very much in operation still... unfortunately don't want to name him as the police chose not to pursue any charges against him, but if you find people selling used bikes commercially and don't see any adverts that they buy them too, then they are very likely dodgy. Especially when they sell cheaper used bikes with completely different spec. to new it is also a good indication that a bit of a chop shop may be operating - with at least 2 of the stolen bikes found, he had unfortunately only bought the frames, the rest of the more unrecognisable parts were all misteriously gone before the person brought the frame to him! And the person who stole my bike had coincidentally also stolen my pedals, loosened all the bolts for my brake calipers and cable tied my brakes hoses to the frame (???) (all in under 2 hours from when it was stolen till he bought it - he knew nothing about this obviously!). Seemed to me more like it was busy being stripped and then the hubber spotted the bike which was hastily reassembled before the police went to collect it (he also told me I couldn't fetch it that evening 'coz he was going out, but when I drove past his house at 8pm i could see people working on bikes in his garage!)...

 

Oh well, if the police won't do anything then who can!

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Oh... he also thought that R3k was a fair price to pay for my bike (a year later and going to be advertising it soon for about R10k!)

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