New warning as thieves target cyclists in countryside around London

this is a very poor article considering the incidents mentioned took place over summer and no new incidents are mentioned in the piece. So I don't know why road.cc are putting out this piece, or why Cycling UK are providing the media with quotes

I think this is unfair criticism of a perfectly reasonable article by road.cc and a recent Telegraph item citing comments by Cycling UK, all about a problem of interest to cyclists even if there have been no recent such crimes

martinheadon wrote:

However this is a very poor article considering the incidents mentioned took place over summer and no new incidents are mentioned in the piece. So I don't know why road.cc are putting out this piece, or why Cycling UK are providing the media with quotes.
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We don't necessarily believe the problem has completely gone away, and would urge our members and all cyclists to be vigilant and consider the risks if riding solo in that area - but articles like this do nothing other than put people off getting out and riding their bikes.

I think you have answered your own question really. Not everyone saw the initial stories, people also forget. I would rather Road CC reminded me occasionally than I lost my bike. It doesn't put me off riding my bike, far from it, it might just mean I route more carefully and avoid likely hotspots for this kind of incident when I ride alone.

I would say this is unfair on road.cc - road.cc are reporting on a new Telegraph article. It's unclear what prompted the Telegraph to publish that article recently, or why Cycling UK provided them with comments, but neither of those things are within road.cc's control. I think it is perfectly reasonable for road.cc to report on a new article relevant to cycling being published in the mainstream media.

Some clubs do use Strava to plan rides in various ways - either directly through the club's Strava Club page or by sharing links to rides planned on Strava (with varying degrees of security regarding who can access).

It's quite possible that that is not what the thieves are doing - probably more likely that they have simply worked out stretches of road that are popular with cyclists, which is simple enough even without the help of Strava. But if targetting an individual and their bike, that person's Strava history can often be used to work out where they are likely to be going riding if they use certain routes on a regular basis, even if they haven't "planned" the ride using Strava per se. 

there could be lots of reasons why the story appeared now, not least theres very little news to report over the Christmas period. But with the Strava thing theres been no evidence shared any of the riders attacked were being specifically targetted, had they been in anycase they'd almost certainly have been targetted in quieter areas where there was little chance of them attempting to get away.

So part of me thinks its just a deflection tactic by the authorities, rather than admit theres a criminal gang operating in the area that really they have minimal chance of catching, its easier to deflect and say well you cyclists share the blame for sharing your Strava rides and your expensive bikes which makes you an easier target.

Ignoring completely most cyclists are sharing way more information about their activities via other social media apps

peted76 wrote:

It is a very sobering thought that thieves might have worked out that a lot of skinny people in lycra are riding in quiet country lanes on three to ten thousand pound bikes every day of the week.. I guess is depends on how easy the bikes are to fence and the value they get for them... 

Bikes are difficult to fence. Those pesky frames have serial numbers and the expensive ones can have custom paintjobs.

Components, however... which is why you shouldn't buy used components online without seeing proof of purchase beforehand, even if it means foregoing a bargain.

So what are the cycle friendly news papers?

Marin92 wrote:

So what are the cycle friendly news papers?

Probably The Guadrian is the most cycle friendly. The Mirror is also considered left-leaning, but I have no idea how it approaches cycling.

hawkinspeter wrote:

The Mirror is also considered left-leaning, but I have no idea how it approaches cycling.

Why would a leftward political bent indicate sympathy towards bike riders?

Probably because most cyclists tend to be leftward..

Strangely enough the torygraph used to have decent coverage of professional cycle racing, if I remember rightly, but I haven't looked at it in a very long time so I don't know how it does on that front now. The paper went down the brexit rathole and being brexity inevitably brings with it the whole package deal of right wing views.

The Graun is sort-of cycle friendly.

I dont think the Telegraph has ever been that pro-brexity as an editorial stance, it just recognises the majority of its paying readers were of that view, so adapts articles to suit. Though they seem to have a particular bee in their bonnet about LTNs, and used to have this weird setup where they had a feedback sandwich approach to cycling articles, youd get a nice pro normalising attitudes to cycling article one week, followed by a couple of cyclists are just lycra louts the next.

but Ive never really liked their pro cycling coverage, as its covered by their reporter who does motorsport at the same time, so it always comes over as like he's watching an F1 race, and doesnt get the nuances of the riders or the  racing because he isnt spending the time following it.

You beat me to it, I very much doubt the bastards are poring over Strava and analyzing the average price of bike used (on a sidenote, why would anyone put the make of their bike on their profile if they've got a hugely expensive one, are they all Andrew Tates?) and the number of riders coming through, anyone who's in the neighbourhood of the Surrey Hills or around the Dulwich Paragon route knows where we go.

From the quote above it seems to show a misunderstanding about what Strava is too, suggesting that people post about what they're doing/going to do.

yes, though Strava does have "Clubs" with a forum setup and where you can share your ridess, so Dulwich Paragon have a Strava club for instance, and members could post meetups or routes they were going to do...though practically speaking no-one uses that feature and really I think its just opportunist attacks using a bit of local knowledge, rather than something more targetted.

I've never used Strava so can't speak for that.
But as far as bike theft goes I'd be surprised if there weren't a well established industry of bikes being disassembled and valuable parts resold online.