Police advise cyclists to take bike parts with them - to avoid falling victim to theft

reads like a Bicycle Movement Alert would be useful for such scenarios (!),

it's simple I paid £60 for a brand new Tesco value vertigo Picadilly and can go to the shops leave it unlocked only to find sympathy notes and contributions on the saddle when I return. Horses for courses decent bike for proper rides but cheap and nasty for security, it's still passed many posers on the way!

Apparently the police are too busy warning 4 year olds for riding on a path to do a man's work and actually arrest lawbreakers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/11460844/P...

Just glad I live in a country that allows me to carry a weapon so I can shoot the scum that dares pilfer my bike.

I don't see anything much wrong with the police advice, although it might have been nice to have seem some hint in their statement that they are being a bit more proactive.

The issue of bike stripping really gets to me. OK, QR parts are somewhat impractical for security reasons but even bolts only require a small spanner or allen key. I don't think it takes any longer for me to remove my front wheel with a spanner than with QR. I always use a D lock and secure my wheels with a cable regardless of the QR status of the bike I'm using (cable goes through the bars on the BMXs too) but I still worry about returning to a bike with no seatpost or pedals. Removing lights is a PITA too.

In the car I just stop, get out, hit a button on my key fob and walk away. Is it any wonder utility cycling is so unpopular?

Get it Datataged then when the police find them (I know what you're thinking they wont) at least they will be able to idenify the owners of the bits - arrest them and return parts!!

The problem here is the design and placement of cycle parking, so often at a mall or town centre you can't see the cameras covering the bike racks because there aren't any.

Mean while in other news cops threaten a 4 year old girl with confiscating her bike for riding it on the pavement with stabilisers and make her cry. This is the reality of how cops see cyclists - soft target and a menace.

The issue here, the same with most things, is that YOUR security and that of your property is YOUR responsibility not someone else's.
The current trend for crying "VICTIM BLAMING" is crap.
There are very few real victims.
Nearly every victim, if they analyse what has happened to them, honestly, will actually find that the incident could have been avoided or its effect lessened.
Some times, rarely, fate intervenes and there may have been nothing you could have done. Being hit by a motorist on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend, for instance!
There will always be idiots who will cause you problems but how you deal with them so as not to make the situation worse is down to you!
We know there are criminals out there, junkies looking for their next score. If you walk down the street with your £400 phone in your hand eventually A. Junkie is going to ride by and grab it and sell it to his dealer for a tenner!
Same thing goes for your bike. If you don't put your security settings on Strava or Endomondo then Billy Burglar will visit your shed or garage! Leave said bike outside ASDA/TESCO/Sainsbury et al with anything less than a D Lock and a quality Chain or cable lock, it will be gone. Leave it somewhere where it is not visible and parts or the whole bike will go fairly quickly.

If you have taken "REASONABLE" steps to avoid your bike being stolen or to avoid getting knocked off your bike, then you are a victim, if you haven't then you are an idiot!
Harsh? Not really, I've analysed my own incidents and come down on the idiot side more than once!

The Police are stretched beyond belief dealing with "Partner Agency" issues. Hell they even get calls from the fire brigade to check to see if there is a fire that has been called in or they won't turn out. Ambulance crews wont turn out to calls where there has been violence previously without Police presence.
Social Care have a list of jobs for Police to do that they haven't got to before Friday at 4.30pm and then you have all the other safeguarding jobs that need doing!
Not to mention sitting in hospital with people arrested under mental health act waiting for crisis team to turn out (4-8 hours). Add in domestic violence.. Far to prevalent and needs dealing with properly, robustly and carefully (resource intensive), missing persons, police don't have a lot of time left to deal with crime!
A lot of officers ride bikes, many go out of their way to hunt down bike thieves and return bikes to their owners. I've even done it from holiday in France after setting up a bike thief selling a known stolen bike on facebook!.
PS.. rant over.. very tired after a weekend set of nights dealing with IDIOTS (who I do actually appreciate, because they keep me in a job)

Cambridgeshire police continues its war on cycling...

How about:

"Cyclists are advising police to do some policing"?

Unfortunately, you just can't leave a good bike on the streets. Save the best bikes for the weekend unless you've got secure parking at work and home.

The bike I use as a local runaround was built for the task, with both cheap(ish) components and security additions. How much are your handlebars and shifters worth? Remove two or three bolts and cut the cables, and they're gone, you can do it in a minute. I've seen them listed like that on the usual sites (after upgrading of course).

You can buy pinhead locks for wheels, seatpost and headset and there are cheaper options. The cheapest is to superglue ball bearings into the bolt heads, when you do need to take it apart use acetate (nail varnish remover) to release them.

Peterborough is a city! that's the bit that shocked me

Now I have the perfect excuse to get a trailer for these.

''This saves cyclists from the added burden of having to remove vital bike bits such as the saddle or handlebars every time they leave their wheels for a long period of time.''

If they take the police advice, they'll be taking their wheels with them too.

I had my bike part stripped once, not ridden to the shops since. And I am actually a bit miffed that it affected me this way.
(Same bike was then proper nicked about 2 months later, from behind a locked door.)

Every time I pick up a loaf of bread at the local Sainsbury's, I never forget to take inside with me the bottom bracket, headset, and tires just in case.

So......the police know about this but instead of doing something to stop it like mounting an operation to arrest the offenders they blame the victims of crime because they have nice shiny bikes.