31 Aug 2017

My Bike Got Stolen And Some Of The Bikes In My Life

Bike bought in 1995 to go touring with
A thief sneaked into my patio one night a few weeks ago and made off with my Giant ATX 870 mountain bike, which I used to go touring with.

I had lots of happy days with this bike, touring the south west, and also commuting to work with from time of purchase in 1995 till my retirement in 2002.
Camping for the night
I also made a trailer for this bike, to take my dog Fleming out with.
Trailer made out of pvc pipes and discarded wheels
The above photo shows the excellent Blackburn rack (expensive) at the back of the bike, which I am also angry at losing.  Thank goodness I had removed the expensive leather Brooks saddle on it to put on another bike.  That saddle alone cost me about $250.


The Giant is the second oldest of my four bikes (the oldest is in my shed, not currently roadworthy).

The thief had a choice of 2 bikes, the other one being newer with much better components but an unknown brand.  Thankfully he chose the older one.

I was about to renew the drive train of the Giant as it was quite worn, but luckily I procrastinated.  Otherwise the thief would have got a new transmission as well.

My automatic gate closer
When Fleming first joined the family, I needed an automatic gate closer to prevent the gate being left open, allowing the puppy to run out.

Being too cheap to buy a real automatic gate closer, I fashioned one with a screw ring and an old bicycle inner tube (which I have plenty of).

The thief actually untied my inner tube so that the gate won't close and make a noise.  That lowlife seems to be quite an exeprienced thief.

I've had parts of my bike stolen before, when I was living in Neptune Court.
I don't have an actual photo of that bike, just this ad from the web.  Mine came with Shimano 600 instead of Campagnolo.
That thief reached in through a locked metal gate and managed to remove my front brake caliper and one of the pedals.

That Raleigh I got in 1975 in Singapore for S$750 and in the mid 80's I traded it in in Oz for a Japanese aluminium bike, the Sakae Ringyo Prism or also known as the Litage Prism.


I got A$400 for the Raleigh.
Again, this is a pic of the Litage taken off the web as I don't have a photo of mine.
The Litage was another bike that gave me many happy hours touring in the south west and the wheat belt with a cycling club in the 80s.

It was a beautiful bike to ride and was quite unique in that the aluminium frame  was put together with aeroplane glue.

In the end it developed a crack in the frame and I threw it out.



12 comments:

  1. Hi Arthur, a long but interesting to read about your continuing love story with bikes! Sorry about the loss of your favourite touring mountain bike which seem to be like a work-horse, able to carry quite a load, however, did you report the loss to the police or placed advertisments, or would it not make any difference in a large country like Australia?

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    1. Hi sweetee. No I did not report to the police. Also not worth claiming on insurance. I looked at the local advertisements (gumtree.com.au) to see if the thief's trying to sell it, but no luck.

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  2. Oh dear! So sorry to hear that. I thought things like that only happen in Third World countries like here in Malaysia. They would steal even branded shoes left outside the house...or branded jeans on the clothesline!

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    1. You'd be surprised how much crime there is over here too, suituapui. Sometimes it's because of drugs; they steal to sell for cash to buy drugs.

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  3. Arthur, the loss of a bike can be quite painful, but at least no personal harm is involved. As an old Chinese saying goes, "Lose wealth to ward off evil." Is it common practice to set up some kind of electronic alarm system to detect uwanted intrusion into the premises of your house?

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    1. Absolutely correct. A bicyle can be replaced but not life or limb. We do have an electronic system, but when Fleming came into our lives 16 years ago, we stopped using it. I don't know if it's still working!

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  4. Oh, no. So sorry about the theft of your bike. I hope you can rig something out of the cycle horn and make it ring if someone opens your gate again.

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    1. Thank you for visiting and commenting, Love Affair With Food. I'm quite a heavy sleeper, and the noise would not have awakened me anyway!

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  5. I am sorry to hear about loss my friend!
    old vehicle becomes like an old friend .

    My husband has a motorcycle since long ( almost 11 years) and the way he cares about it i envy lol.


    Bike stealing and snatching is common here in my country specially in big cities ,thank God we live in small town like city though.
    Automatic doorlock is wonderful idea though thief sounds to have quite an experience in his job

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    1. Hi baili. I can understand your husband's love for his motorcycle. Men love machines, and no matter how old we get, we must have our toys!

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  6. Greetings from the UK. Sorry for your troubles.

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

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    1. Hi WordsPoeticallyWorth. Glad to hear from you and the UK. Do visit again.

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