Someone or someones got into my garage recently. My garage is a museum of miscellaneous sports equipment and inoperable machinery, and it’s a total mess. But they found my bicycle among the other stuff and made away with it.
They also found my son’s bicycle. My (adult) son no longer lives here, so the bike hadn’t been ridden in a while. They didn’t take the bike. Instead, they took the seat. They also took off both wheels (quick-release), took the tubes and tires, and left the wheels leaning against the garage door.
What is the purpose of doing this? Is there a black market in bicycle seats and used tubes and tires? Did the thief have a similar bike without seats, tubes, and tires? What am I missing? Ideas?
(I should specify that these are decent bikes, 20+ speed hybrids, but nothing special, and both several years old. they probably each cost about $300 when new.)
Stealing parts of bikes is fairly common though as accessories can be resold to anyone who needs new stuff. Especially if the victim of the theft had expensive accessories on their bike like a Brooks Saddle. A lot of people, at least in New York, chain their saddles to their seat post to prevent them from being stolen. Locking the wheels is also recommended when the bike is parked in case someone wants your fancy rims. Happened to a friend of mine! And some people steal for the sake of stealing I think. I had the rear light stolen off my bike when I left it on by accident, but they left the mount for it on the bike, so I don’t see how it could be used.
When I was in college someone stole the seat and rear wheel off my bike one night. I got a security cable for the new seat. I guess they didn’t need a front wheel.
Stealing the seat I can understand…it’s easy, and the seat can be a fairly expensive part.You can probably sell it on craigslist or something(…and the buyer will be somebody who had his seat stolen:) )
But removing the tires and tubes, then leaving behind the wheels? Huh?
Working with tire irons takes time and effort. And a used tire+tube isn’t worth much.
I don’t get it.
I’d guess it was probably a couple of kids - maybe dinkied in on one bike, and left with two bikes and a few spares. Wheels would be a hassle to carry while riding, but the tyres could just be slung over a shoulder, the tubes and the seat in a pocket.
Also, there’s the possibility that they might have swapped the seat with their original one if it was old. Have a poke around your garage - they could have tossed their old one in a corner. The police might be able to get some good ass DNA off it if you can find it.
Such thieves might have been victims of a stolen rear light themselves, a rear light that just happened to use the same type of mount that yours did. In which case, they already would have had a usable mount and wouldn’t need to waste time unscrewing yours from the frame.
If you find such a buyer, he or she obviously has stronger principles than the hypothetical thieves who took CatherineZeta’s rear light to replace a missing one of their own. It certainly would be easy enough for a saddle theft victim to “pay it forward” and lift a saddle off someone else’s unsecured bike.
Interesting that you specify “ass DNA” rather than DNA from another cell in the body. I was just reading the ending of Stephen Hunter’s novel I, Sniper, in which the hero humiliates one of the bad guys by forcing him to
ride butt naked on a motorbike to a meeting point of the sniper’s choosing, where a short-range confrontation is to play out under cover from the sniper’s buddy perched higher up. I’d expect some good “ass DNA” to have rubbed off onto the seat after that ride.
My bicycle has a Brooks B17 leather saddle. Leather saddles have a reputation for eventually molding to your posterior. Winder if I could pick mine out of a lineup.
Thanks for the suggestions, and the sympathy. I suppose we will never know. There’s just something about the remnants of the wheels stacked neatly against the garage door that intrigues and puzzles me. Oh well!
I’m with the Snerk, they had enough privacy to work on the wheels and seat, but only had the ability to ride away on one of the bikes, so they took what they could carry while riding.
The whole theft angle of cycling is just completely depressing. I had 2 bikes stolen/ruined by thieves the one and only time I tried a bicycle commute. I’d be happy to ride a cheap old bike, but I would have to spend 2x as much money on security for the dumb thing.
Sorry to hear about your loss, Ulf. In high school, decades ago, I once had the lock and chain stolen off of my bicycle. It was a cheap cylinder tumbler lock and I’m assuming they took it just to show how useless it was. Unless they didn’t notice that it was a girl’s bike until it was unlocked.
Sorry to hear that Ulf.
Hard to speculate why someone would make off with inner tubes and old tyres, not heard that one before. Maybe they were disturbed by something?
Tooled-up bike thieves will even cut through the frame of a locked bike nowadays - takes about 10 nanoseconds with a cheap cutting tool and is generally easier the more expensive the bike is. The parts of the bike will be worth more than the frame and be far harder to track with serial #s etc.
Have you secured your garage Ulf? Common for thieves or their associates to re-visit places.
