they've had it away

[honey ryder]

can you believe it, just as im singing the praises of my nifty old fixed bike with its bontrager invincible tyres than someone, some thieving scummy bugger has nicked it off the roof of my boat late at night while iwas in bed.

 

 

its quite distinctive, or it was..

so if anyone happens to be around the GU Cowley area and sees an old thin metal racing bike frame ( made by jeff bird in the 1960's), possibly still painted dark blue at the back blended to metallic turqoise at the front, with old fashioned sweeping forks, cow horn handle bars with one shimano brake on the front, fixed wheel at the back on a campag large flange hub, mavic rims ( from the 80's), shimano spd pedals, a grey racing saddle, a twin under saddle bottle holder and an orange bell with flowers on it.

please let me know and I will be around there will my rolling pin to batter said scummy buggers knees in.

 

actually, id just like it back so if anyone knows of a bike fitting this description propped up in a hedge or ina skip...

im not fussed where its found, its kind sentimental.

 

we even tried searchng the canal bed in case the perpetrator threw it in the water after discovering how hard it is to ride.

[StoneHenge]

The buggers, why can't they just leave well alone. I hate that, it's disgusting. I hope you get it back!

[carlt]

Sorry to hear that HR. On the positive side it is so distinctive, and like you say, difficult to ride in the wrong hands, it will almost certainly get dumped. If you've got a sea searcher magnet I'd go for a fair walk, trawling as you go, to see if it's been drowned and pester the police 'found property' dept.

 

When I lost my bike in coventry in the 80's the police got so sick of the sight of me that the sergeant took me into their bike shed and asked me to tell him which one was mine. I had a good look and came back and said none of them. He then sent me back in the room and told me not to come out until I'd found 'my bike'. The one I picked out was loads better than my old one and we amended the description accordingly.

 

Two days later it was padlocked to my girlfriends wrought iron fence in her front garden and some gits stole it by unbolting the fence and taking the lot. I've been riding tip bikes ever since.

[Tullz]

Sorry to hear that HR. On the positive side it is so distinctive, and like you say, difficult to ride in the wrong hands, it will almost certainly get dumped. If you've got a sea searcher magnet I'd go for a fair walk, trawling as you go, to see if it's been drowned and pester the police 'found property' dept.

 

When I lost my bike in coventry in the 80's the police got so sick of the sight of me that the sergeant took me into their bike shed and asked me to tell him which one was mine. I had a good look and came back and said none of them. He then sent me back in the room and told me not to come out until I'd found 'my bike'. The one I picked out was loads better than my old one and we amended the description accordingly.

 

Two days later it was padlocked to my girlfriends wrought iron fence in her front garden and some gits stole it by unbolting the fence and taking the lot. I've been riding tip bikes ever since.

 

I shouldn't really laff at Honey's misfortune, which I'm not, but Carl your comments have brought tears to my eyes,

 

Maybe the bike wasn't their main objective - maybe it was the wrought iron fence!

 

Now I really must get back on and do the list of stuff that needs doin - I hate housework!

[Chris-B]

can you believe it, just as im singing the praises of my nifty old fixed bike with its bontrager invincible tyres than someone, some thieving scummy bugger has nicked it off the roof of my boat late at night while iwas in bed.

its quite distinctive, or it was..

so if anyone happens to be around the GU Cowley area and sees an old thin metal racing bike frame ( made by jeff bird in the 1960's), possibly still painted dark blue at the back blended to metallic turqoise at the front, with old fashioned sweeping forks, cow horn handle bars with one shimano brake on the front, fixed wheel at the back on a campag large flange hub, mavic rims ( from the 80's), shimano spd pedals, a grey racing saddle, a twin under saddle bottle holder and an orange bell with flowers on it.

please let me know and I will be around there will my rolling pin to batter said scummy buggers knees in.

 

actually, id just like it back so if anyone knows of a bike fitting this description propped up in a hedge or ina skip...

im not fussed where its found, its kind sentimental.

 

we even tried searchng the canal bed in case the perpetrator threw it in the water after discovering how hard it is to ride.

Hiya HR I will have a good look on my way home later.. ( Swan and Bottle to Denham Deep)

Baldock

[honey ryder]

Hiya HR I will have a good look on my way home later.. ( Swan and Bottle to Denham Deep)

Baldock

 

im moored up at denham deep at the moment, at the bottom on the grassy side.

 

i was moored close to "little britain" cowley lock area, near the bridge with highline yachting...

thats where my bike went from.

just that morning, before getting up and realising id been robbed, we were chatting about how the area seems ok and that we hadnt seen any dodgy characters around.

 

I know its only an old bike and its just "stuff" but sometimes when youve spent hours, make that days and weeks, restoring something you get kind of attached to it.

 

I remember feeling the boat move on saturday night and thought my boyfriend must have got up to answer the call of nature, but then in my half awake sleep sleep state i realised he was still in bed.

I thought it must have been my imagination and fell back asleep

but when i saw the big bike shaped empy space on the roof in the morning, along with the trainer mark and trouesr leg mark on the side of the boat in the dust, i realised the rocking was in fact the bike being half inched.

 

I feel so stupid for forgetting to lock the bike, i waas knackered from a ride and walk around southall ( shopping for new curtain material) and when i got back i just put the bike on the roof thinking, its my home, who would dare to climb on my home to take an old dodgy looking courier type bike. went to bed, forgetting to put the cable lock back on the centre line circle. so we do live and learn. I hate to be so cynical and why should I have to chain everything and lock everything, why cant we trust fellow humans to respect each other and their stuff.

 

im glad i took the folding bike back to the boat at the weekend, at denham its a fair old trek to the train station.

[Djuwenda]

I had my mountain bike nicked at Foxton last Thursday night...

 

it was padlocked to a tree on the towpath. the tree has a big scar now where somebody took an axe to the lock...

 

I think I might go for a folding cycle since any bike thats remotely valuable cannot be left outside the boat.

[Carrie]

Aw - sod's bloody law innit.

I've recently bought an alarm cord for my solar panels after hearing about panels getting nicked on this forum. Supposed to give out 120 decibels if someone tries to cut it or fiddle with the lock and, as I accidentally set it off when setting it up - that's pretty loud.

I usually only buy safety stuff once something's been nicked or broken into!

 

Hope your bike turns up Honey.

[Bones]

Aw - sod's bloody law innit.

I've recently bought an alarm cord for my solar panels after hearing about panels getting nicked on this forum. Supposed to give out 120 decibels if someone tries to cut it or fiddle with the lock and, as I accidentally set it off when setting it up - that's pretty loud.

I usually only buy safety stuff once something's been nicked or broken into!

 

Hope your bike turns up Honey.

 

where from carrie?

[Chris J W]

Could this be the new Holly thread?

 

There's a nice family down from me, but I'm sure their kids oldest bike is a cut-n-shunt ... and I've seen him painting it ....

[Carrie]

where from carrie?

 

Force 4 chandlery. I was going through Bristol so could get it direct from the shop rather than ordering it from their catalogue. It was quite pricy - about £25. My panels only had small holes on the edges, too small to thread through any decent-sized chain, so security was a couple of padlocks with a chain through them instead. I was hoping this cord would thread through the holes, but the head is just a bit too wide still! I will get around to driling em a bit wider at some point. Meanwhile, I've passed the cord (about 1 metre 1/2 long?) through the padlocks and through my welded on pigeon box (cos you need a permanent fixture).

Think this is the page:

http://www.force4.co.uk/ProductsList/mcs/C...19-6b84ea0b7362

[andywatson]

Well, with a fixed gear (as apposed to freewheel) the odds are that the scrote who nicked it will sooner or later forget that they can't stop pedalling and it will flick them off.

Also the odds are that anyone who's nicked it won't have SPD plates on their shoes so they'll have a pretty difficult time riding it. I wouldn't like to ride a bike with SPD's in ordinary shoes even with a freewheel.

 

At least you can enjoy the thought that whoever has nicked it will probably have got injured one way or another.

Lets hope whilst going fast they slipped off the pedals, crushed their nuts on the top tube, the chainwheel ate thier trouser bottoms and they got dumped in a mixture of gravel, blood, dogsh8t and their own blood.

[Supermalc]

Last year, on one of our Boston trips, Roy was just leaving on his old folding bike, and met a man at the gate with a new posh looking suspension model. After a brief exchange about bikes, the other chap said he was thinking of getting rid of it, as the evening before, around 6ish he was just riding it over the Sluice when too young 'gangsters' pre teens had pushed him off, and tried to make off with it. It was only because a passing motorist intervened that he got it back.

 

Mind you Roy says his bike, one he has had for years from his auctioneering days, has 'revolutionised' the shopping trip Apparently the first time he took it, he pedalled around Boston and left it against a seat, or wall. As there was someone sitting waiting, he asked them if they'd mind looking after his bike. He had refused the offer of my chain and lock, saying it was much too heavy (well I don't want it cut with a pair of pliers), so when he related the trip on his return I said he'd had half of Boston minding his bike while he went shopping

 

After meeting the other gent though, I notice he takes his bike lock, although it's back on his mooring I'm using to lock the drawbridge up.

 

Sorry to harp on about this, but IF ONLY we had used locks to lock people up, and not possessions when they were first invented, we'd not have to faff around, or worry about losing anything.........well not as much anyway.

[Bones]

Bother it! How dull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I hope you find it!!!! someone pinched my pals bike once, I found it a few weeks later locked up outside I pub. I picked the lock (ooopsie) and cycled it back to its rightful owner, I wish I could remember now whether he was grateful, I doubt it.

[honey ryder]

I would be the most grateful person on the grand union i think if someone actually brought my bike back to me. chances of that are slimmer than my dogs whiskers.

 

Im just hoping that if its not gone in the canal that I may see it around. its a fairly sturdy old thing

I recon whoever took it would have tried riding it, thought better of it and then chucked it in the water.

however, im not discounting that maybe this person rode it home drunk, left it propped up against his house and then in the morning thought, hmm not a bad haul i could flog that... or bits of it.

 

the only thing of any real value on the bike i guess was the rear hub, an old capagnolo large flange hub. it was given to me as a gift and it was a thing of beauty ( in my eyes) and if I have to make another fixed bike I will search high and low for another large flange campag hub and have it laced into an old rim.

I think i shall decorate the next bike with morris mens bells... or at least attach them when its parked up.

see if anyone can quietly slip away with it then!

[anhar]

I would be the most grateful person on the grand union i think if someone actually brought my bike back to me. chances of that are slimmer than my dogs whiskers.

 

Im just hoping that if its not gone in the canal that I may see it around. its a fairly sturdy old thing

I recon whoever took it would have tried riding it, thought better of it and then chucked it in the water.

however, im not discounting that maybe this person rode it home drunk, left it propped up against his house and then in the morning thought, hmm not a bad haul i could flog that... or bits of it.

 

the only thing of any real value on the bike i guess was the rear hub, an old capagnolo large flange hub. it was given to me as a gift and it was a thing of beauty ( in my eyes) and if I have to make another fixed bike I will search high and low for another large flange campag hub and have it laced into an old rim.

I think i shall decorate the next bike with morris mens bells... or at least attach them when its parked up.

see if anyone can quietly slip away with it then!

Scumbags

 

I'm not that far from you, my house is near Willowtree Marina on the GUPA, and will keep an eye out for your bike.

 

How are you getting on with the Strida, especially on towpaths?

 

regards

Steve

[honey ryder]

Scumbags

 

I'm not that far from you, my house is near Willowtree Marina on the GUPA, and will keep an eye out for your bike.

 

How are you getting on with the Strida, especially on towpaths?

 

regards

Steve

 

the strida is doing alright, its not the smoothest of rides on some of the towpaths, but you cant expect too much from small wheels and a rigid triangle frame.

the only couple of concerns for me at the moment is the bikes longevity, its plastic components already show signs of use in less than one week of moderate use. in particular the front belt drive wheel has a few scuffs on the edges from where it touches the floor sometimes when i fold or unfold the bike. its not much at the moment but i dont know how long it will last with daily usage. the other thing is the fact it is slow. its easy to start moving and easy to get to top speed, but i cant help but want to go faster to keep up with the flow of other cyclists on the road. its ok for the towpaths though, im not sure i would want to go much faster on those.

 

i think its a keeper though, its so easy to fold and unfold, it travels well on the tube, train etc.

its handy for nipping to the shops when im at work and the luggage rack is a good size for taking our rubbish from the boat to the bin.

so far ive ridden it on almost a complete spectrum of surfaces and up to 4 or 5 miles maximum each journey:

from work in south croydon to the train at east croydon, from victoria station in london to paddington via hyde park, from west drayton station to cowley

from denham lock, offroad to denham village, then from there to the train station, from denham train station down to harefield, along the towpath back to denham and then from there down to uxbridge on the towpath, then into uxbridge town to the "underground" station

last night i rode back from denham station through the golf course and back to the lock.

I think we might be moving the boat tonight up a bit towards harefield because the trains from uxbridge and denham are quite slow to get to croydon and theres no way i can park a motorbike ( my preferred mode of transport) near to where we are at the moment. took me over 5 hours yesterday to commute to croydon and back. ( its a bit much for me, i dont get paid enough for that kind of commuting)

[anhar]

the strida is doing alright, its not the smoothest of rides on some of the towpaths, but you cant expect too much from small wheels and a rigid triangle frame.

the only couple of concerns for me at the moment is the bikes longevity, its plastic components already show signs of use in less than one week of moderate use. in particular the front belt drive wheel has a few scuffs on the edges from where it touches the floor sometimes when i fold or unfold the bike. its not much at the moment but i dont know how long it will last with daily usage. the other thing is the fact it is slow. its easy to start moving and easy to get to top speed, but i cant help but want to go faster to keep up with the flow of other cyclists on the road. its ok for the towpaths though, im not sure i would want to go much faster on those.

 

i think its a keeper though, its so easy to fold and unfold, it travels well on the tube, train etc.

its handy for nipping to the shops when im at work and the luggage rack is a good size for taking our rubbish from the boat to the bin.

so far ive ridden it on almost a complete spectrum of surfaces and up to 4 or 5 miles maximum each journey:

from work in south croydon to the train at east croydon, from victoria station in london to paddington via hyde park, from west drayton station to cowley

from denham lock, offroad to denham village, then from there to the train station, from denham train station down to harefield, along the towpath back to denham and then from there down to uxbridge on the towpath, then into uxbridge town to the "underground" station

last night i rode back from denham station through the golf course and back to the lock.

I think we might be moving the boat tonight up a bit towards harefield because the trains from uxbridge and denham are quite slow to get to croydon and theres no way i can park a motorbike ( my preferred mode of transport) near to where we are at the moment. took me over 5 hours yesterday to commute to croydon and back. ( its a bit much for me, i dont get paid enough for that kind of commuting)

Thanks for the quick response. The Strida doesn't sound too robust especially for a lot of unpaved towpath use for which I'm considering getting some sort of folder for my boat. I don't want a full sized bike but a folder I can keep inside the boat. The Strida looks ideal in theory because of the very small folded size, much less than other folders. I don't really care about speed, just compactness and something which won't fall to bits after a short time.

 

regards

Steve

[honey ryder]

Thanks for the quick response. The Strida doesn't sound too robust especially for a lot of unpaved towpath use for which I'm considering getting some sort of folder for my boat. I don't want a full sized bike but a folder I can keep inside the boat. The Strida looks ideal in theory because of the very small folded size, much less than other folders. I don't really care about speed, just compactness and something which won't fall to bits after a short time.

 

regards

Steve

 

apart from the plastic bits, its actually very solidly built. the main frame part... its as solid as they come if not more so.

my only gripe is with the plastic bits in prone areas may get a bit of hammering and need replacing sometime in the future.

one good thing is that its aluminium and plastic with the kevlar belt drive.. i can just hose it down and forget about it.

i think more folding bikes should have a belt drive.

[anhar]

apart from the plastic bits, its actually very solidly built. the main frame part... its as solid as they come if not more so.

my only gripe is with the plastic bits in prone areas may get a bit of hammering and need replacing sometime in the future.

one good thing is that its aluminium and plastic with the kevlar belt drive.. i can just hose it down and forget about it.

i think more folding bikes should have a belt drive.

Agreed on the belt drive. My Harleys had belt drive and it's clean, rust and maintenance free, compared with the messy chains on most motorcycles that need regular cleaning and oiling. And the life of the belt is much longer than many people imagine. Tens of thousands of miles on those bikes. So I agree with you it must be a good idea for bicycles too.

 

regards

Steve

Edited April 24, 2007 by anhar

[drunkensailor]

I'm really sorry to hear about you losing your fixie. Good luck finding it.

Have you had a look at the car boot sales? The one at Denham springs to mind. I have a friend who goes there most weeks, will get her to keep a look out for you.

[Supermalc]

In an effort to combat this, I've been trying to find a bike to keep on the boat. Got one out of a skip yesterday, so something to 'play' with for a day or two.

 

Wether I'll be able to ride it or not is another thing (last time it damaged me too much) however now I'm moving about, AND they have the new cycle track which is flat, more or less, I need it for the odd 3 miles or so when boat moving.

 

So I've just got to get the wire brush and oil out........Oh and pump the tyres (I bet that'll be successful.....not ).