Feel for you, especially the sentimental bike, I had a rented garage broke into and my first car set on fire along with some other garages back in the 90’s, I’ve never forgot it..
Where in the country are you?
I rent a garage locally and today went over there to drop off some stuff to find that my bikes and an air conditioner had been stolen. The bikes are a green Cannondale Silk Road with carbon forks and full Ultegra 6700/6800 groupset and a black Cannondale F600. I'm particularly upset about the F600 as it was a gift from my late dad.
The garage was actually still locked when I came to it today, so I guess the lock was picked or a previous tenant still has a key. I've got a crime number and a follow up email to say they will not be investigating the incident further.
Anyway, please keep an eye out for the bikes. I imagine they're long gone, but one can always hope.
Feel for you, especially the sentimental bike, I had a rented garage broke into and my first car set on fire along with some other garages back in the 90’s, I’ve never forgot it..
Where in the country are you?
Do you have the frame numbers? If so go to Bike Register to report a stolen bike.
Bit obvious but keep an eye out on eBay, gumtree etc. I had to win a couple of tools back on an eBay auction once so the police could go and collect. Good luck.
Save a search on eBay for notifications about adverts for those items.
Can’t get my head round them relocking it though. Just bizarre
The Police offer free frame etching quite often. I go a step further and datatag mine so that components are marked with etching, their version of smart water and a hidden transponder chip. On my Thorn and my e-bike I have also fitted Hexlox. They aren't cheap, but those two bikes add up to what is to me a not inconsiderable sum. There is little chance of the bike being stolen where I live as crime is so low, but when I am away bike touring I always lock the bikes with a Kryptonite New York U-lock, through the back wheel and frame, and a wire lock as well to a fixed object if needed. If it all sounds a bit overkill, the bike is still in my possession. No offence meant to the OP by that comment.
I will be contacting the council tomorrow about changing the lock or allowing me to add more security. If neither is possible, I'll be giving back the garage.
Diagonal rods, so four points.
Crime is pretty minuscule around here as well, though perhaps marginally higher in the village from which the bikes were stolen. I am very careful when leaving the bikes parked somewhere, usually a gold+ level lock through the rear wheel and frame and a chain through the front wheel. This was from inside a locked garage though. I have a Kryptonite wall mount to attach, but hadn't gotten around to it. Regretting that now!
Have done, thanks! You can't remove the key without re-locking the door, which I think explains it.
Keeping my eyes out, thanks!
As above, thanks!
I probably have the F600's frame number, will have a look.
An additional response to why the garage was still locked is perhaps they intend to return. Better locked with items still available for them to steal than unlocked and cleaned out by other people!
Last edited by Dave+63; 6th September 2020 at 22:03.
I think a word with your landlord might be in order.
You may have a case of negligence against him.
Surely it’s his responsibility to ensure that you can safely lock the garage and expect it to be secure (unless physically broken into).
He should certainly be changing the locks for you.
We do have a member who’s business is renting garages, perhaps he could comment on the situation from a landlords perspective?
I rent it from the council, I'm sure I'll have signed something stating they are not responsible for the security of the contents of the garage.
The F600 (no longer has the red thing on the seat post). Note the semi shiny forks, which is as a result of the seal failing and oil getting onto the matt paint finish:
The Silk Road, which looked exactly like this when taken from the garage:
In normal circumstances I would agree but it’s worth talking to them. They should at least be changing the locks as you are renting a secure “lock up” garage. As it’s not secure, they’re possibly in breach of contract.
I don’t think that the fact you’ve signed a disclaimer applies when they can be considered negligent.
It’s perhaps worth taking some legal advice.
I sent them an email yesterday asking they change the locks or allow me to install additional security. I know absolutely nothing about breaking into garages, so I've no idea how easy or otherwise to get into a garage and then leave it locked with no apparent damage to anything. If the answer is not very (or too time consuming to make it worthwhile), then that becomes more interesting. I imagine there is some trick either with lock-picking or the mechanism that makes it very easy though, as opposed to a former tenant with a key.
I’d have thought that, if someone picked the lock, they’d have left it unlocked rather than taking the time (and risk of being seen) to lock it again.
I’m far more inclined to suspect a former tenant with a spare key.
I'm fairly sure you can't extract the key without locking the lock again as it were. I guess the same applies to picking the lock? I imagine you'd probably not want to leave your picks in the lock, though not sure if that is how such things work. Will check the lock after work today to see if one can remove the key without locking again.
The other thought is I still have stuff in there that might be worth pinching, but perhaps their vehicle was full.
The council have said they change the locks whenever tenancy is transferred, so I guess lock picking (or some other mechanism for getting into a garage door of which I'm not aware) is the answer. The council have also said I can fit additional security, does anyone have any recommendations?
If its an up and over you can usually stick a big screwdriver in the top and pop the catch if its an old door
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Another way to get into a garage is through the roof but I guess you would have noticed that unless a panel or something was slid back in place?
Last edited by murkeywaters; 7th September 2020 at 23:44.
Most up-and-over garage door locks are very simple pin tumblers that can be picked and relocked in seconds, and as mentioned the securing mechanism is usually fairly easy to override.
This kind of thing is a fairly effective secondary countermeasure. If you have alternative access then internal padlocks securing the door to the frame do the job but you'll have to make some holes and put up with the additional faff when unlocking.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Thanks for the replies, that perhaps explains it. I think the door is relatively new, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the council hadn't exactly gone to town on the mechanism. I've bought some Enfield bolts for the bottom of the doors, as I don't fancy drilling concrete with a portable drill.
I’d also suggest some internal security. For example installing a ground anchor and locking any future bikes to it with sturdy locks.
Yep, I actually have one ready to go. Our house was on the market and I was clearing out space in the garage here to take make room for all the stuff we didn't want on show, hence the bikes ending up in the other garage. An action I regret quite a bit now! I just didn't get around to installing the anchor in the rental garage before the bikes were pinched, a lack of action I also bitterly regret. Oh well....
Sorry to hear. Repeat theft is not uncommon from a same site. With bikes the common ploy is for the thief to follow the rider back to specifically note where and how the bikes are stored and then at a later time steal. Hope things work out and as previous comments keep an eye on eBay Gumtree etc .
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For those interested, I found an ad for the F600 on Facebook. The same individual also had something else of mine listed for sale, so aside from the bike clearly being mine, that he also had another item of mine made it fairly evident this person was in some way linked to the theft. With this information, the police were able to go to the person's address, but were told my a resident that he had moved and were unable to locate anything of mine when searching the premises. Since then, the person has removed the ads from Facebook, so I assume has been tipped off. The police said they would try to locate his new address, but I've not had any updates since.
In summary, idiot advertised things stolen from me on Facebook, but was smart enough to at least not be at an address linked to his name and is probably going to get away with it.
Last edited by SuperVM; 15th September 2020 at 16:26.
Never mind , sounds like someone who does it as a going concern , if they pop up again (likely) just say you want it , offer enough to secure it and then tell the police before you then turn up and remove the bikes . Take a few mates with you. The guilty party will give you some excuse about selling it for someone else and relinquish the items rather than attract unwanted attention.
Indeed, I nearly did just this, but the police asked I allowed them to investigate first. They actually initially suggested I go and buy the bike back and record everything, but then phoned back to tell me not to do that and to allow them to investigate. I imagine something came to light as they were entering the suspect's details.
Last edited by SuperVM; 15th September 2020 at 17:06.
I’m sorry to say but the council are lying. There is no way they would change the locks every time a tenant moved out. Unfortunately, when a tenant hands keys back, the landlord will just give you the keys and if the previous tenant has had a copy made, they now have access to your garage. The solution around this is for landlords to use a combination lock which is changed every time a tenant changes, therefore a new tenant gets a new code and the previous tenant has no way of gaining entry via the same lock. Having said that the locks are quite easy to break into.
The best locks for me are Enfield garage door bolts on either side and a garage defender which sits in front of the middle of the door. You don’t want to go to mad with locks as it’s fairly easy with a portable angle grinder and a drill to gain entry to any garage door. The kore locks you have on the door the more a thief will want to see what your trying to protect. If your a thief and you turn up to a block of 10 garages, I’d probably target the one with the most locks as I would think it would hold the biggest “prize”. Good secure, discrete locks should deter most “opportunist” thief’s. Sadly, if a thief has targeted you specifically, they will find a way in given enough time and correct tools.
Only today I had a brand new hormann door fitted to a garage which on the surface has internal 4 point locking via a euro cylinder lock. I can drill the lock in about 30 seconds and gain entry as I know what I’m doing. (Garage landlord). I always put some form of secondary lock on the door to make an attempted break in a two stage operation...
To recap, Enfield garage door bolts and garage defender or Enfield garage door bolts and hasp and staple bolted into the concrete floor and door secured with a big padlock...
I had a mate who had his motorbike stolen in Soho . He then spotted it in Walthamstow and phoned the police. They told him he could retrieve the bike.
When he went to it he discovered the ignition was busted up so he pushed the bike away under the gaze of a bunch of guys hanging around at a nearby cafe . Nobody did anything or said anything.
Generally they are smart enough to know that nicking something is one thing but trying to hang onto it when they’ve been found out is something they’ll just cut their losses and run from. Too much complexity for your average low level scrote to get into.
That's a shame especially as the F600 had sentimental value, I would have tried to secure that bike first by taking it for a test ride and not coming back and then letting the police do their thing, just hope it pops up again but I guess the seller will go to ground now the old bill are sniffing around..
Its getting to the point now where you have to strip a bike down and hide bits of it all over the place.
Little scumbags can quickly google how to pick locks, especially common locks.
They probably open several and focus on the most valuable items and leave the rest.
Really sorry to hear this. My own rather cheapskate method of adding security to my garage door is to drive my car right up to it, but I don't bother with that when I'm out on a bike. Nice to see a few possibly better ideas in this thread.
I actually had two mates ask him about two separate items of mine he had for sale, one was the F600, the other was a car part. He replied about the car part, but not the bike. Once my mate asked if he could collect, we never heard anything again and now that he has been tipped off, he has removed the ads. His Facebook account is still going though, so tempted to send him a message and tell him I am prepared to buy the F600 back. I very much doubt he'll cooperate though.
He won’t engage with you if you give him the option. It would just incriminate him further and if he’s a pro he’ll want to keep his interactions simple.
You would have to impersonate an unaware buyer and then take it off him in person : telling him the police were aware of what you were doing. Obviously if you turn up and he has a gang of heavies with him walk away from it .
Don’t give him money , he’s apt to walk away with it . He’s mot someone you could trust , better to cut your losses . Karma will get him eventually , always does , he’ll eventually try it on with someone with less scruples than you have .
This is the account from which my stolen items were advertised for sale. Obviously, I can't know if the account was hacked....
I'm at the garage right now, what a mess they made!