CRIME

Scrambler Bike Theft

Scrambler bike theft seems to be a crime on the rise. There has been a number of high profile police raids around the UK which have uncovered rafts of stolen dirt bikes, scramblers and other off road bikes in garages and warehouses across the country.

The problem was highlighted by a story in the Liverpool Echo that saw almost one hundred off-road bikes, quad-bikes and superbikes recovered by Merseyside Police.

The raids also uncovered a clown mask and a cleaver-like weapon – and so far police have identified that at least eight of the bikes have been stolen. Further work to determine the origin of the remaining 86 bikes continues.

Scrambler bike theft has seen an increase due to the amount of vehicles currently available. These high value bikes – priced from around £2,000 and as much as tens of thousands of pounds – are seen as easy prey by many would-be thieves.

Often owners do not have secure premises in which to keep scramblers and other bikes. It takes 30 seconds to roll a bike onto a flatbed truck or van – and many vehicles don’t even need a key to start the engine

Thieves generally have a few ideas of where the bike is going to end up when they plan to steal. Some of the destinations for the stolen goods include:

• Reselling on the black market
• Joyriding and then dumping
• Track racing
• At a garage to be taken apart and resold
• Stunt ride practice

There are some things that can act as deterrents for thieves. While chains and disk locks can easily be foiled by experts, there are other items like GPS tracking which has proven invaluable to bike owners. Alarms – as much as they sound like an obvious bit of kit – are lacking on many vehicles, which makes them easy prey to thieves.

Remember, bike thieves work in daylight as well as night time – so it’s important to be vigilant about your bike’s safety at all times.