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news
South London, Kent and Surrey bordersNew warning as thieves target cyclists in countryside around London
Cyclists riding in popular areas on the edge of Greater London where it meets Surrey and Kent are being warned to be vigilant following reports that bike thieves are heading out of the capital to target riders, with women riding alone often the victim.
Telegraph.co.uk reports that Cycling UK has raised concerns that cyclists in the countryside may fall victim to muggers looking to steal their bikes, attracted by the potential profits to be made balanced against the
According to the charity, which says that the is the Metropolitan Police Service, Kent Police and Surrey Police are all aware of the growing problem, criminals may be using Strava and other fitness tracking apps to identify their targets.
There have been a number of high-profile incidents in areas of London including Bermondsey and Richmond in which cyclists have been robbed of their bikes, with the thieves often threatening their victims with machetes and using mopeds to make good their escape.
However, recent months have also seen a rise in reported incidents in Surrey and Kent, hugely popular destinations for many cyclists in south London particularly at weekends, with local clubs regularly riding there on club runs – and several have warned their members not to ride alone where possible.
Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK, told the Telegraph that he believes the thieves are attracted towards stealing high-end bikes because the potential money to be made from selling them on far outweighs the chances of getting caught.
“It is possibly perceived as a low risk crime if the numbers of people being caught are so low,” he explained. “It may be seen as a high reward, low risk crime.”
He continued: “There have been increasing concerns about people cycling out of London to the Kent and Surrey hills who have been victims of muggings or robbery. There are a limited number of routes where people would cycle out of London.
“Somebody has posted on Strava what they are doing on their ride. The criminals will know it is someone on a £3,000 to £4,000 carbon fibre bike who has unwittingly signposted the fact that they are likely to be heading out to Kent or the Surrey Hills. It is on the police’s radar.”
In June this year, former Scottish road race champion Jennifer George said she believed that lone female cyclists are being targeted by thieves following two separate incidents in which she was approached by men, the first time involving a pair on a motorbike, the second involving two on mopeds.
> Lone female cyclists are “being targeted”, says former Scottish champion
In the first incident, which happened near Oxted, Surrey in April, the pair on the motorbike drove directly at George, who managed to escape and took refuge in a nearby café. The incident left the 39 year old shaken up, and she avoided riding alone for several weeks.
Then, in June, as she was cycling just across the border with Kent, close to Sevenoaks, she was intimidated by a pair of men on mopeds who slowed down as though checking out her bike, drove off, then returned shortly afterwards.
The pair rode off again after George rang the doorbell of a nearby house, but no-one was in and she hid in the garden for half an hour in case the men returned.
In April, two men on a scooter pinned a female cyclist to the ground in Warlingham, Surrey – a couple of miles north of Oxted – while they stole her bike.
The same month saw South London-based Dulwich Paragon Cycling Club warn its members that women riding on their own were being targeted after what it described as “ a number of incidents involving cyclists on the club run route being threatened or attacked by people on motorbikes or mopeds.”
In July, a road.cc reader who is a member of Penge Cycling Club spoke of how two men on motorbikes and wearing balaclavas threatened to stab him if he did not hand over his bike, a 2022 S-Works Tarmac SL7, as he was heading through West Wickham in the London Borough of Bromley, a popular route for cyclists heading out of the capital into the hills of Kent and Surrey.
He told us: “Two men on bikes went past me. One electric motocross-style and one superbike replica 125cc bike with a loud exhaust. They pulled into a side road, let me ride past them and then came after me.
“They swerved in front of the bike to box me in and stop me. I managed to turn around and sprint off. They came after me again, rode alongside and said, you have two options, you give us the bike or we stab you, then they boxed me in again. I did not see a knife so this may have just been a threat.
“At that point a car turned up that I shouted at to get them to stop and then a group of riders also turned up and the guys on motorbikes fled,” he added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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22 comments
They aren't thieves, they are robbers - that is a very significant difference.
I'm a committee member at Dulwich Paragon and sent out the email to our members quoted above, so this issue is of considerable concern to us.
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. Particularly when, as commenters have already pointed out, they don't appear to understand how Strava works. We do have a "club" on Strava but all our rides are organised and announced via email and on our members-only forum.
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.
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
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
Concerning - particularly in our post-police cuts and indebted environment. However this seems to come around every while - there's a long history of cyclists being attacked and feeling that the authorities weren't doing anything:
https://cyclehistory.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/guns-wheels-and-steel-cycl...
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Gun-Law/
https://road.cc/content/news/147087-concealed-carrie-womens-cycling-top-...
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.
Have there actually been new reports of attacks, or is this just belated commentary on the wave of attacks a few months ago?
"Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK, told the Telegraph..."
Strange choice of publication too, Telegraph basically being The Mail for people with longer arms, to highlight cycling woes. Can't imagine much sympathy amongst the readership.
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.
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.
whilst its a serious topic, I do wish CyclingUK would stop trying to link this to Strava use. You dont have to be a criminal mastermind and use an app to notice the Surrey Hills attracts a fair amount of cyclists on expensive bikes and some of them ride on their own & are vulnerable to moped gangs attacking them.
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.