Gardai have warned that expensive bikes are being stolen specifically to be stripped down and sold for parts online.
The
warning comes from the Garda’s crime prevention officers in Co Meath who have
said bikes being sold in parts are harder to spot as stolen.
Garda Crime Prevention Officer for
Meath, Sgt Dean Kerins, said cyclists needed to mark the various parts of their
bikes with their eircode.
If the code was engraved into the main
parts of bikes, and not just the frame, it would help in confirming they were stolen
and also aid in tracking down the owners in the event they were recovered in
parts.
Sgt Kerins said he and his colleagues
were regularly dealing with thefts involving bikes priced between about €2,000
and €6,000.
And he believed serious cyclists with
expensive bikes needed to be aware that their bikes may be stolen specifically
to be stripped down and sold in parts online.
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While
about 75 stolen bikes were recovered in Meath every year, many more were stolen
but were never found.
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"I have seen incidents where people
are out on Sunday cycles and leave the bike outside a shop to grab a coffee or
whatever and within minutes, the bike is gone,” he said.
"Those bikes, especially the higher
end of the market are stripped and the parts sold off on online auction
sites."
He
added engraving an eircode into a bike does not cause damage to frames or
components, even those made of carbon fibre.
Speaking
at the recent launch of a publicity campaign in Meath aimed at encouraging cyclists
to buy high quality locks, Meath
County Council’s Road Safety Officer, Michael Finnegan, echoed the advice of
Sgt Kerins.
He added
while cyclists who owned expensive bikes needed to be very vigilant, a high
quality lock was the best precaution against theft any cyclist could take.
“With the
increase in numbers of cyclists in Co Meath in recent years, potential bike
theft has become a more concerning issue for bicycle owners,” he said.
“The use of
higher quality locks by cyclists and a secure method of locking is likely to
result in the most significant positive impact on theft numbers in the short
term.”
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