![the icycle thief the icycle thief](https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/fb-images/bicycle-thieves-1948-005-man-putting-up-poster-00n-9iu-1000x750.jpg)
![the icycle thief the icycle thief](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e6/f8/fe/e6f8fe40fe6ec9544b50c22f3f212120.jpg)
At the peak of it we had links all over London - north, south, west and east, Southend-on-Sea, Colchester, Hull and Leicester. Main place at first was Gumtree But the longer you sell, the more people and contacts you would make. How and who did you sell the stolen bikes to? We would do this up to five times a night, every weekend.
#The icycle thief driver
'Boltys' back in the bag, the driver would take the bag and drive off whilst the pillion, who is now on the push bike, would cycle off. When we found a bike the pillion would jump off, snip the chain in seconds. With the bolt cutters we would go out on high performance motorbikes, two men on a bike. It’s small and discreet, no noise and it looks like you are just unlocking your bike. Also D-bars with tubular locks, never use them, they’re the most easy to pick with a little tool. These were 42-inch high toughened, foldable bolt cutters, which would fit into a rucksack and would cut through any D-bar, or any chain.ĭon’t be fooled by Kryptonite locks, they’re not as tough as made out to be. As time went on the tools upgraded to a pair of bolt cutters a friend bought in America for us on his holidays. How did you steal the bikes? What tools and techniques did you use?Īt first it was with basic wire cutters and the average bolt cutters you could buy in somewhere like Homebase. For example, if it wouldn’t sell for more than £200, it wouldn’t be taken. Grab the bike and go kind of thing, but as time moved on and we worked out there was money to be made, we stepped up our approach. > Prolific thief banned from going within 13ft of a bike ever againĪt first it was a hit and miss game. People are like sheep, they feel safe and pay less attention when they’re together. Borough of Islington, Hackney, West End and the central mile were our hunting grounds. Going out of London, locks would get better and locations fewer, so the time and effort put in would not be worth it. The more central you got the worse the locks, where people let their guard down more. These were the popular quick sale bikes that were called golds (because of the payback to time value of them).īike locations, there is a thing what we would call London rings or hotspots, where bike security seemed to be less of a problem. High-value bikes were the main targets like Carrera racers, no-logo fixie bikes, Boardman racers and Ridgeback bikes. There were two of us who stole pedal bikes and high-performance motorbikes.ĭid you target specific types of bicycles and locations in London? What was the thought process? Motivation was money, bikes are quick and easy money. I started stealing push-bikes when I was 16.