You never truly own a Brompton bike...

[whataboutbob]

You just hold it in custody until the next bike thief/ junkie with a pair of bolt cutters or an electric saw comes along. This is my 3rd one stolen. I was in the shop about 4 minutes, came out, no bike. They cost roughly half a month’s wages. I don’t have a car, it’s my vehicle. So fed up. No chance of ever getting it back and I don’t feel the police take bike theft seriously. I’m so fed up.

[Respectabitch]

Do you have insurance?

Can you start taking it inside with you instead? I am the proud owner of a Brom and I never leave it outside, I don't dare.

[ExplodingCarrots]

I'm so sorry OP Was looking into one for myself so know the prices of them . There are some awful people out there.

[PurpleDandelions]

I don't think I've ever left mine locked up. Take it everywhere with me. Or at least I did when I was able to go to work!

But I've lost many cheap non folding bikes over the years.

[LightDrizzle]

That’s so shit!
I had a much less expensive bike stolen but it was still a new bike and pretty; pale blue with a wicker basket. Like you, it was my main transport to work at the time.
It’s heartbreaking and you know it’ll get sold on for peanuts by the twat that stole it.
I’m going to put a Tile on my bike I think. They don’t have a huge range but they are better than nothing and you can set them so you get an alert if the move out if a certain radius I think.
I rang round all bike and second hand shops in the area and made a police report. Heard fuck all which wasn’t a huge surprise.
I hate theft; you work and save and buy something and some twat just takes it. It was chained to my railing and engraved by the police and everything. We should be encouraging cycling but it’s hard to keep the enthusiasm with the awful roads, weather and when your bike keeps getting nicked!

[LightDrizzle]

I also looked on eBay etc for a few weeks. Nothing.

[MrsAvocet]

Oh that's rotten. Will your house insurance cover it? Mine covers bikes to a total of £15k with a maximum of £5k per bike so I haven't bothered getting specific bike insurance as yet. I know it doesn't get rid of the upset and the inconvenience but you might at least be able to get some of your money back.
It's an awful problem as even the better locks aren't really much deterrent to serious thieves, though they will probably put off the opportunist. We live in a low crime area but I wouldn't dare leave my good bikes unattended anywhere and we keep all our bikes in the house as theft from sheds and garages is fairly common even here. It really does limit the usefulness of bikes for quick trips to the shop or whatever - such a shame.

[whataboutbob]

Thanks everyone. I do have insurance but I have already claimed for a stolen Brompton this year, in February. I am going to ring them tomorrow, I can’t face it now. I’m really questioning whether to get another one even if I get an insurance payout. We live in a flat and DH is a bike fanatic, sometimes I have trouble getting through the front door due to bike gridlock, so a folding bike is handy. But I’ll have to rethink the way I use a Brompton, if I get another one.

[AtlasPine]

Yup, same here. Didn’t really like the bike much anyway mind you so I don’t miss it.

[LizziesTwin]

Put a normal padlock in the chain & no one will be able to cycle off on it.

[whataboutbob]

Thanks @MrsAvocet. I did put the bikes on the house insurance so fingers crossed. Interesting that so many others don’t even leave locked bikes unattended.
As for eBay and gumtree I stalked them fairly obsessively for weeks last time. I’m not going to bother now, it just draws out the 5 stages of grief. I’m fast forwarding to acceptance now.

[olympicsrock]

I wouldn’t leave mine unattended.... asking to be stolen.....

[Stationfork]

Oh no OP that's such bad luck where are you locking them up. I thought the beauty of a Brompton is that you can just fold them or half fold them and just wheel them in with you to the shops etc? Cos they are so small. My DH has had one for years luckily never been nicked. When pubs existed we'd just take it in fully folded

[Burnthurst187]

Why not buy a cheap bike if you keep having expensive bikes stolen. The thieves obv know what they're after

[whataboutbob]

@Burnthurst I have a cheap(er) bike which I’ll be using now. Won’t be able to take it on the tube/ train/ fold up at bottom of the stairs but that’s life.

[Respectabitch]

I use a cheap hybrid for knocking around town. I expect to lose it some time but it's banged up and prominently BikeRegister marked and so far I've been lucky.

I used to train + bike commute so I needed a Brom and I adore it, but I've always taken advantage of the folding capacity to never leave it outside ever. I wheel it into a shop in shopping cart mode or fold it and put it under a table/desk, and I only use it for mixed-transport trips.

Bike theft is shit. It puts me right off getting a better bike. At least Cycle to Work makes it so cost efficient to get a good bike.

[Nacreous]

I run a reasonably nice 80s Raleigh tourer, which keep it carefully somewhat bashed up and unfashionable looking. It's a major upgrade from my 50s bike I was running before that, but the key to both of them (and them not getting nicked) is I think that they both look very very mediocre. (I also usually aim to leave it near a nicer bike than mine!). I lived in Cambridge for years and never got it nicked.

I think the way I think about it is that you're never gonna stop bike crime, you just need to make your bike harder to steal and less desirable than somebody else's.

[whataboutbob]

Really good advice @Nacreous and @Respectabitch. I need to aim at only leaving very unattractive and mediocre looking bikes parked outside. This is going to be a matter of pride from now on.

[Dyrne]

Sorry OP I read somewhere that bike theft has shot through the roof during COVID - we’re certainly seeing it in our local area.

There are some half-decent non-Brompton folding bikes out there nowadays - might be worth having a look at some of those at some point?

Or, as a PO suggests, could you get another Brompton but give it a shit paint job?

[stodgystollen]

What grade lock do you have? I normally have two: a Dutch style back wheel lock and a motorbike chain to tie the frame and front wheel to something solid. A bad spray job does wonders too, as does removing the seat post when you leave it.

I have a cheapish decathlon folding bike for a weekly commute. It's fine for the train Monday & Friday and then normal cycling in the week, it looks a bit shit so had never been stolen, and it's certainly better and cheaper than a Dahon, but it's nowhere near as good as a Brompton for daily mixed mode.

[whataboutbob]

@Dyrne I wondered about bike theft going up. It might get worse too when redundancies really hit. @stodgystollen I had an Abus D lock. It went too. I’m going to get a mediocre looking women’s runaround bike from a charity so I don’t have to be paranoid about locking it outside Lidl’s etc. I’ll see what the insurance say. I might replace the Brompton and never leave it locked outside.

[broccolibush]

Sympathies whataboutbob

We had 2 bikes stolen in September from home and it’s such a horrendous sinking feeling. We had them properly locked up, inside a locker, and the fuckers came with power tools to help themselves. We replaced them with cheap runarounds and they had a go at them too (our neighbour’s bike was stolen and ours had clearly been fucked with). Bike thieves are absolute wankers. Insurance paid out but it doesn’t make it better that someone took something that was mine

I also don’t agree about the making your bike harder to steal point. I used to, but my bikes were the hardest to steal where I live (in gated flats where everyone else’s are on loops, mine were inside lockers that were locked themselves). The thieves walked past everyone else’s bikes and took mine.

[BananaPie]

Another vote for never leaving a Brompton locked up outside. I don’t even have a lock for mine. Always just bring it into the shop with me folded up. Hope you can claim on your insurance OP

[whataboutbob]

Thanks for your words of support @broccolibush. It really is a sinking feeling when you turn up to the place the bike was locked and there’s simply nothing there. You start to doubt your own recall- did I really leave it there? Bike thieves are scum. I doubt they’re living a good life. @BananaPie I think no lock is the way forward.