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"Like they were tipped off that our address has expensive bikes": Olympic cyclist's home raided by burglars, with doorbell recording suggesting they "had very specific information"

Cannondale Synapse and Giant TT frame taken in burglary, a Ring doorbell capturing footage of the burglars looking for bikes in a way that suggests "it was premeditated"...

Irish cyclist Kelly Murphy — a four-time national time trial champion who has also represented her nation at the World Championships and Olympics — has lost bikes after burglars broke into her home in Birmingham in what she believes was a "premeditated" burglary with the criminals "tipped off that our address has expensive bikes".

Murphy was part of the Irish team pursuit squad that finished eighth at the Paris Olympics and lives in Birmingham. CCTV captured the men stealing a Giant TT frame — which is of extra sentimental value having been the bike Murphy rode to a national TT title and at the European Championships — as well as a Cannondale Synapse.

Kelly Murphy (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

She told Irish cycling news website Sticky Bottle that the footage also "has their voices" and the men sounded as if they are "distinctively local to the Birmingham area" and had been "tipped off" about the high-value bikes that were at the address.

"The Ring doorbell has their voices and they're distinctively local to the Birmingham area," she explained. "The (recording) of their voices gives away it was premeditated, like they were tipped off that our address has expensive bikes."

The high-value nature of bikes has made them a concerningly common target for criminals in recent years. We've reported on numerous incidents involving professional riders, club riders and businesses being targeted in increasingly organised break-ins, as well as frightening bikejacking incidents where riders have been robbed of their bikes during training rides.

In 2022, pro cyclist Jennifer George said she no longer rides alone after two bikejacking attempts as she rode out to Surrey from her home in south-east London. Likewise, former Alpecin-Fenix pro Alexandar Richardson was threatened with a machete and dragged for 100 metres by moped-riding muggers in Richmond Park, a teenager later sentenced to 12 months for the attack.

Other incidents involving club riders have been reported across London, notably near Regent's Park, and across the United Kingdom, high-value bikes seemingly now an attractive target for criminals, something Cycling UK has speculated may be because of the perceived low probability of being caught by the police.

> Police force admits bike thefts "unlikely to ever be solved"

The burglars targeting homes and bicycle retailers appear to be more professional too. Just yesterday we reported that a rare gold Aurum Magma was among multiple bikes stolen in the latest professional raid on a bike shop in Northamptonshire, the same shop suffering four "Mission Impossible-style" burglary attempts last year which left police questioning if they were an "inside job".

C6 Bikes hit by "brutal" burglary (Steve Heathcock)

> Are bike shop burglaries becoming more professional? Owner says shop was hit four times by "Mission Impossible-style" raids – and claims police asked if break-in was "inside job"

In September, the owner of C6 Bikes in Cambridgeshire told us that he'd believe us if we told him "the SAS did this", that after a targeted raid of his shop saw a 10m-high roof scaled, internet wires cut, access gained by a "super precise" cut to an exterior wall, complex alarms disabled, and £200,000 of stock stolen, all without the burglars leaving any CCTV footage.

In the same month, at the Shimano Experience Center in the Netherlands, some "irreplaceable" bikes of Peter Sagan, Mathieu van der Poel and Julian Alaphilippe were stolen.

Stolen bikes from Shimano Experience Centre

"The stolen bikes are beyond any monetary value, having played their part in cycling history, at the Tour de France, World Championships, Olympics, and at countless other vital events in the cycling world," Shimano said.

Pinarello too suffered a break in at its Treviso showroom in November 2023. Masked raiders took bikes worth €250,000, even returning twice in the same day to take 19 items after cutting through a fence and gaining access via a workshop's emergency exit. It was believed the burglary was highly organised and well-planned due to the men targeting high-value models and knowing exactly where in the showroom to access them.

In 2021, Romanian police recovered 21 of the 22 Italian track cycling team's bicycles that were stolen from a hotel car park during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships of that year.

Romanian police recover stolen Italy track team bikes (Image: Politia Romana)

Filippo Ganna's gold Pinarello was part of the haul, worth an estimated £500,000, which also included the fellow newly crowned team pursuit world champions Liam Bertazzo, Jonathan Milan and Simone Consonni's bikes, each worth £25,000 and featuring a titanium 3D-printed handlebar alone worth £8,500.

In December 2021, two teenagers were sentenced to 18 months in prison for their role in the crime.

A few months later, in February 2022, organised criminals were believed to have used sleeping gas to incapacitate the driver of an HGV transporting a large number of Shimano components across Germany, the heist seeing components for 10,000 bicycles stolen.

> Great Chain Robbery: Shimano components for 10,000 bikes stolen from HGV by criminals using sleeping gas

Following the incident the largest Czech-based bicycle producer BIKE FUN International (BFI) warned the bike industry that components could be a new target for organised crime.

Professional cycling teams have also been targeted, leading Women's WorldTour outfit SD Worx the victims of a "brutal burglary" at the end of the 2022 season which saw Specialized Tarmac, Roubaix and Shiv models stolen.

At last year's Tour of Britain, British squad Lifeplus Wahoo was hit by a bike theft and lost all 14 bikes stolen from a mechanic's van. The team has since announced it will not be continuing due to financial troubles, citing the theft as a contributing factor and an "absolute hammer blow to our over-achieving team on a stretched budget".

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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StevenCrook | 4 days ago
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Something is only illegal if you stand a good chance of being caught and punished. Bike theft has effectively been decriminalised by the lack of police response.

At some point manufacturers have to step in and start to make bikes that are harder to resell. Deterrence. Bike has frame with embedded RFID chips at multiple points and frame registry. Groupsets that can be locked so they won't change gear or let the brakes operate. Lockable bottom brackets.

I'd rather ride a slightly heavier bike and have reasonable confidence of still having it in a years time and with a lower insurance premium as well.

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chrisonabike replied to StevenCrook | 4 days ago
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I believe something like a Schwinn cruiser from back in the day be the ideal combination of weight and clunkiness together with "not old enough to be a collectible". Or a cheap 3 speed step-through from the 90s, or a mass-produced mountain bike from the early 2000s.  (If someone rides one away a quick dab on the brakes - producing very little speed reduction - should be enough to put them off).

I would suggest Dutch bikes (heavy, possibly no or few gears) but they may be collectible in the UK and more recent ones are getting fancy and pricey new...

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chrisonabike replied to StevenCrook | 4 days ago
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You may live in a place where 30s away from your locked bike is enough to see it gone or at least piranha'd.  If so, my sympathies... In Edinburgh bikes definitely will get stolen or vandalised (had both happen) but I can at least leave a "dog-eared but rides well enough" bike (securely locked) unattented (in some places) for a while.

I'd much, much rather avoid more tech on my bike.  I am not interested in having RFID, perhaps a phone embedded, locks on every component so that when something needs maintenance I can find I didn't bring that particular specialised tool with me... (have considered Hexlox or similar in the past). Particularly as none of those things stops people stealing them - although they may reduce the incentive by making profits lower / reselling more work.

I would rather pay the cost of having to keep anything really shiny supervised at all times and small odds of losing something less valuable.  (Ideally I'd just like not to worry - but I've already accepted locking my doors when I'm not in and not handing my property to strangers to "look after for me").

BUT of course that may not be an option the lack of policing leaves us with...

Surely tackling the reselling rather than making "unstealable bikes" (which tend not to be) makes more sense? (Again - assuming we can get the government to prod the police into action...)

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