£100k reward offered after £1/4 million in bikes and gear stolen after London Bike Show

For a little more than the cost of the Travelodge they could have hired a driver to take them back to their base straight after loading.

It would appear that a theft of £1/4 million isn’t enough for the mainstream media to pick up on either.

re: Losing the vans.

I think that means that they located a signal from a tracking device but then lost the signal before they could find the van.

The fact that they didn't pick up the other tracking device at all probably indicates that the thieves were pros and knew the tracking devices were installed and possibly where. The £100k reward versus the £250k value indicates that the thinking is that this is possibly an inside job and is aimed at shutting future incidents down.

Getting and then losing a signal in Newham might not even mean the van was in Newham only that the tracking device from one of the vans was. It may be a lead (if the van was there) it may otherwise be a false trail (if the device was just taken to Newham and then destroyed).

When professional and well organised gangs nick stuff they usually have a pretty good idea what they are nicking. They almost certainly have already arranged ways to dispose of the goods for clean cash. I doubt any of those bikes will appear as bikes but rather as a succession of bargain second hand components. A bit like melting down identifiable jewellery into unidentifiable scrap gold or silver. Anything obviously identifiable may well just get dumped as too much of a liability to sell.

£100k reward and they opted for a Travelodge? Hmmm.

It's a real shame, but I wouldn't leave my bike in a car outside a Travel Lodge let alone £250K's worth. Having done plenty of shows with a lot of stock, I was always concerned that overnight items would be removed from the stand. However, a security guard/s was a worthwhile investment. Hope the plod manage to get some of this back - it's the kind of thing that can ruin a company at the moment.

at least the police are being consistent in their incompetence.

So for want of a single security guard at £10 or £20/hr or whatever for 8hrs, ***£250k*** worth of kit goes walkies.

Sorry, but just how dumb do people in this industry have to be?

These bikes are easily-shifted across borders in hours. Stripped down they are worth many thousands for the un-traceable gruppo/wheels alone. The frames are probably landfill by now. Thieves are smarter than you, bike industry.

I'd say if the cost of employing a guard is equal to or less than 5% of the kit they are protecting, especially in a strange place with a focus on high-end bling kit, it's a total no-brainer.

Until facts are known, please can we all just keep our eyes open for the missing items on the classifieds, ebay, gumtree etc. and stop bleating on about the useless boys in blue, give them a chance to do their job.
Really feel for the Tri Uk chaps, ( I am no tri athelete - I follow Rule #42)
They had a great stand, gone to real effort for the show ( which I appreciated on the Sunday when I was there) then this happens. Gutted for them.
Hope they have insurance and it delivers.
Good luck getting it all back fellas.

It sounds like it was reasonably well planned, tracking devices fitted to both but they still can't be found. Knowing which vans to take. I can't believe that the police managed to find and then lose one of the vans again. Unless on foot, or maybe its because they had bikes in the back and so they weren't interested...as per usual with 'bike' theft

If they're offering £100k reward for £250k (RRP I assume) worth of bikes does anyone think maybe they weren't insured....?

So many thefts in the industry at he moment, nobody is safe. I hope they are found.

Really sad news. Hope it doesn't put these guys off from attending these shows in future, even if covered by insurance. Good chance to see these expensive bikes.

Agree about how you can find then loose one van!

Maybe they stopped for donuts like in the movies?

“Police managed to locate the vehicle but have since lost it…”

Eh, WTF? Van gets stolen. Police find it. Police lose it again? Unless the PC who found it was on foot or bicycle, that doesn't sound too good!