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.