The final straw

[KenG]

Hi
less than half an hour ago i went into my garage to discover one of my Kona's had gone,its my 1995 Hahanna that I bought new from sunset bikes in Cardiff,I know its not an expensive model and probably not on anyones list of desirables but it was my old faithful, that bike had taken me thousands of miles in the last 19 years and served without fault in all weathers,good and bad.The bike was locked to a anchor mounted on the garage wall but they opened my tool box and used a pry bar to rip the anchor off the wall so the lock is still attached to the top tube,the thieve's couldnt take my 91 Explosif as its hung from the garage roof and secured with an Oxford motorcycle padlock and chain through a ground anchor attached to the wooden beams with 10mm bolts,but im afraid it's only time before they return and have a crack at that as well,as you see it was only in July last year that they broke in for the first time and took my 2008 On One that my Dad bought for me before he passed away,the 91 Explosif was bought from a member on here to replace the On One.
It makes me feel sick inside to think some one is probaly stripping my Hahanna down as I write this to sell on for peanuts and I really hope its a case of what goes around comes around for the theiving scumbag that has her.
I think its the final straw for me and cycling,I had only just regained my enthusiasm from the last break in so i'm probably going to put the Explosif up for sale on here and call it a day. A sad day indeed :cry:

The ones I,ve lost, the Bronze Hahanna and White On One and the one I'm afraid may be next the green Explosif.

 

[jonnyboy666]

sorry to hear that, even sorrier that it puts you in the frame of mind to give up on bikes. is there not somewhere else you can keep them?

 

[KenG]

Thanks for that johnnyboy666
Unfortunately I don't have anywhere else to keep the Explosif, after the first theft I replaced the side garage door and windows with double glazed units, having the door reinforced, the main garage door has stainless steel bolts through the bottom edge that go down 6 inches into the concrete base and an alarm attached to the top of the door so opening it more than a couple of inches sets it off.
Apart from sleeping in the garage I haven't got a clue what else to do, the thieving b******s even had the cheek to pinch two cans of cherry coke from a multipack that we bought on Friday.
I fear for the Explosif.

 

[girlonbike]

That is so sad. I'm very sorry for the loss of your bike but even more sorry for your loss of trust. I don't blame you but hope you reconsider...although it sounds like you're doing your best. There's a loud alarm that could be used as a deterrent. I hope you don't drop cycling. Let me know if you don't and I'll try to round up some parts for you without costs to replace what you have or send over some cash if that helps?

 

[KenG]

Thanks girlonbike
I really do appreciate the sentiment, it's very comforting.
The people who do this kind of thing, and I know it happens thousands of times all over the world every day, just don't realise how much greif they cause by their selfish desire to make a few pounds, they don't understand what my bikes meant to me, not just steel, plastic and rubber but something that has given me immense pleasure over the years, carried me in all weathers, kept me fit and made me feel good everytime I rode them, something I could rely on.
I may feel differently tomorrow but right now I can't see past the fact I expect them to come back for the Explosif.

 

[girlonbike]

Something like this? Blare their ears off. http://www.amazon.com/Motion-Detector-R ... B001ZYBTYQ

 

[KenG]

Girlonbike that's almost identical to the one I have fitted to the main door, unfortunately it looks like they climbed my 6ft perimeter fence and entered through the side door, which was locked, I'll have to buy another one to cover that door. The scary thing is the fact they went through my tool chest, found a pry bar, broke the anchor then had time to help themselves to two cherry cokes!

 

[girlonbike]

Yeah. Where I live it's the same problem with bike thieves. I have iron bars on my window. Ugly but it is what it is....

 

[incorrigible]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but there's help available.

There are all kinds of hidden surveillance cameras available online, both full color and infrared (for night-time use), and they're getting better and less expensive all the time. Go for something that's motion-activated and that has fairly high resolution. I recommend a few practice runs to test the system so that you have it dialed-in by the time the thief tries to strike again.

Here's a few links that I found while googling "covert security cameras":

• http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/category/hidden+cameras/home+hidden+cameras.do
  
  http://www.supercircuits.com/hidden-cam ... rt-cameras
  
  http://thespystore.com/video-surveillan ... fgodGyYACg
  
  http://www.securityandselfdefensestore. ... fgodYR0ACw

Even if the thief finds the cameras, just make sure he can't get to the video storage (hard drive, flash drive, video tape, etc.). You can even go with wireless cameras (vice CCTV cabled) so there's no telling where the video storage is. Further still, instead of having local video storage, you could upload streaming video to "the cloud" (online server storage) so that it's available to anyone that has the URL of the storage space.

Just hope that the thief isn't wearing something to hide his identity (ski mask, stocking, gorilla suit, etc.), and that he doesn't know about this site.

I hope to soon see the video on YouTube, either of the thief in plain view during the act, or of you catching him and beating his ass, or both.

I also hope that you don't give up, but that you fight back so that this thief doesn't win and is held accountable. Best of luck to you.

 

[KenG]

Incorrigible, it did cross my mind to fit CCTV the last time it happened, but I thought I'd done enough, famous last words I suppose.
I really would like to get my hands on them, not recommended I know in today's sue mad world but it would make me feel so much better.