[Closed] Think I've just been cased.

Be ready for them when they come...

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I'd be tempted to phone your local cop shop (non emergency number). They may already be aware of a gang casing joints in the fashion you mention.

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Is perhaps overkill but it sounds like you've taken appropriate action. Lots of locks, lots of lights and lots of alarms are also good moves...as is a particularly large and savage dog.

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Small notice on door saying "I've now moved all my bikes and while you were reading this you were photographed"

bad luck 🙁 hope the don't bother

edit: likin z11's style but this isn't colorado

Let them come, just booby-trap the garage to trap them til the plod come.

slightly less lethal

[url= http://www.airgunspares.com/store/product/5251/Alarm-Mine-12G-Blank-Firer/ ]Alarm mine[/url]

a couple of these high up enough that they can't be knocked off, a new alarm box and PIR security light should help - you could get the whole lot for £100.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/imitation-dome-camera-pnp-25-d-589168?c=maplin&utm_source=endeca&utm_medium=endeca_search&utm_campaign=N44KG&utm_content=Dummy+Cameras+%26+Warning+Signs

Shame the dogs deaf now.

Shame the dogs deaf now.

Macaulay Culkin published an instructional video on how to deter intruders at christmas time, using a variety of improvised homemade traps, hot irons, marbles and ball-kicking machines.

🙂

I'd be getting myself a cheap wireless garage alarm.....

Similar thing happened to me during the summer. Garage door was open. I was about to go out for a ride & was in the back of the garage with no light on fart-arsing about. Looked up to see two scrotes walking up the drive. I reckon they'd seen the door open, but not me ferreting away in the back so thought they'd have a quick look see. I walked as quick as I could out of the garage to put some space between me & the bikes, to hopefully keep them in the dark.

The two scrotes on seeing someone walking out of the garage looked initially shocked, but to their credit they quickly recovered & said they were knocking on doors asking if anyone wanted any odd-jobs doing. I told them I didn't, and they wandered off.
I then went for a ride fully expecting my garage door to be wrenched open upon returning, but it wasn't.

One reason I never wash my bikes on the front or open the garage door....well,in truth I can't open the garage door as my junk(the wife's name for my bikes n'stuff is behind it)..............

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but whip your phone out and take a picture of anyone you find on your property.

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I then went for a ride fully expecting my garage door to be wrenched open upon returning, but it wasn't.

Maybe they were knocking on doors asking if anyone wanted any odd jobs doing ? 😉

Whern we had a workshop,two scumbies asked could they use the rear door to get into next doors garden to retrieve their football, strangely we didnt have a rear door and no entry into the neighbours garden.

But sure enough we got an attempted break in that night, tried pulling the whole window out,but didnt get in thankfully.

Be affraid ,very afraid .

Camp out in the garage tonight with a baseball bat.

We now have rights to attack burglars.

Install in your shed;
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Sleep sound.

Do they need feeding?

Camp out in the garage tonight with a [s]baseball bat.[/s] large wrench that you would reasonably have to hand as a makeshift weapon.
We now have rights to attack burglars.

If you have a baby monitor and power ion the shed, plug it in and listen.

You could also have a large log fixed to to chains like a kids swing, but held up to the ceiling with thin string, as they open the door the string snaps and the large logs swings down like a fred flintstone effect.

Having a swing in your shed is not illegal.

(Unless of course, you actually play baseball...)

No but what's that game again, the one you play with a massive axe?

You could also have a large log fixed to to chains like a kids swing, but held up to the ceiling with thin string, as they open the door the string snaps and the large logs swings down like a fred flintstone effect.

Having a swing in your shed is not illegal.

Reminds me of an incident at a friends shed where he kept his little playboat kayak - bit like this one:

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suspended from the roof with a rope and pulley system. That caught a burglar one night when the guy broke into the shed and caught one end of the rope, the boat swung down and smacked him on the head. Mate heard a massive bang in the shed and found a very groggy burglar half underneath a canoe. 🙂

We were stood in the drive at my parents which has a bend in it so anyone coming up the first part can't see round the corner. A lad walked up the drive and stopped when he saw us. He casually asked if it was private or a through road. My dad told him private and as he left he said he seemed like a polite young man.

I knew he was a local scaghead and could clearly see that although one hand was in his jacket pocket, the other was holding the bottom of his coat to hide his tools. Non of this would have been so bad if my dad wasn't a copper 🙂

Good luck.

Do they need feeding?

If they're cooking, I'll be in the queue!

Had the same thing a few years ago, but the Shiite got my bike just as I came to the garage door
He rode off down drive with me chasing on foot, he fell,off and carried on running
I looked at my bike on the floor, and suddenly realised that I could now catch him.
Mounted my bike and gave chase shouting, when I catch you in going to twaat you.
Before I got to him he got into a mini metro, locked the door, as I approached he laughed and gave me the v sign
The car was stolen and he started to hot wire it.i was more than furious and punched the window, which to my amazement and his shattered.i started to drag him through the window and he threatened to stab me with the screwdriver.i subdued him so he couldn't stab me , his last words were "ok mate you've got your bike back and twaat end me, let me go now, don't call the police"
I am the police mate"
He was arrested and sent to prison for the rest of his suspended sentence
That was a good day 😀

No but what's that game again, the one you play with a massive axe?

Handball ?

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I won't even ride up my drive if there's anyone I don't know on our road. I'll just ride straight past our house and do a loop. Come back when they've gone.

Not wishing to tempt fate here, but I'm very very glad I live in a low crime area.

I am the police mate

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Sorted 😈

It would be terrible if the cable that powers your light were to come loose and rest on the garage door causing it to become live.

Does the garage have a door into the house? If not check your bike insurance cover. If it does, check your total house contents cover. We've upset our insurance company on account of the significant proportion of the total contents in our garage.

Produce your ipad with a pic of rambo whilst stating you'll take them out, always works on stw as every thread like this gets random but same old pics of marzocchi forks.

Have you got a spare set of bombers to hand?

put it this way, if you knew your bike was going to break at some point in the near future, would you wait for it to break or would you find the problem, get out your tools, and smash it's face in?
you know what to do.

Make sure you tidy away those antique bear traps you've been restoring, you wouldn't want someone to do themselves a mischief on them if you carelessly left them lying around inside your locked garage.

Easygirl - awesome! 😆

My madcap idea would be to fix an airhorn to the inside of the door just below the handle so that the handle presses down on it if anyone tries to open the door.

It would freak me out if it happened to me and you'd have to be thick as mince to continue the break-in!

Only problem is the initial noise of going into your own garage first thing!

Easygirl, that [i]is[/i] awesome, but I'm now guessing your username is a bit misleading. Unless you're a big, strong lass?!

Invest heavily in livestock for your new hobby, breeding large poisonous snakes.

Or Rottweilers (probably easier)

Most of these plans will end badly.....
I hope you called the police and checked your insurance. I'd rather let them have the bikes knowing I was covered than get into trouble (either them attacking you or the process of having to clean burglar off the garage floor.

A few years back there were a spate of thefts from farms and villages near my parents. One nigh the flood lights came on and my dad jumped out of bed to see 2 scrotes running from the farm gate as they had been disturbed. My uncle saw the same so the both went after them after calling the police. My dad arrived at the same time as the copper where they had gone through the fence on the motorbike. The scrote was being uncooperative. (My dad is 6ft and farmer looking and had a stout wooden "walking stick" with him) The copper simply suggested that he could get there in 5 mins time. All of a sudden cooperation was achieved.

Most of these plans [s]will end badly[/s] aren't entirely serious.....

FTFY

One of those cheap personal attack alarm thingies makes a hell of a lot of noise and shouldn't be too difficult to rig so that opening the garage door pulls the pin out.

All quiet on the Western front.
There were six 17/18 year old adrenalin filled lads staying the night. I've coached them since they were four, so they were feeling a bit protective yesterday.

That's good news. can't you get a few of them to say each night for the next couple of weeks?

might be worth looking into a smoke cloak for the garage though.

Give them some credit... They're hardly gonna come on the same night they've cased the joint.
They'll just wait till they think you've forgotten about it.
Then hit you.
Oh, and then wait another 6 months as they know yer insurance has paid out.
Then hit you again.

Bar. Stewards.

I've always thought those shotty cartridge alarm mine things are an excellent idea on the basis a) they make a helluva bang enough to alert you and frighten the intruder and b) nothing gets the police round like gunfire.

Also if you fit one either side of a small window on a single trip so they both go off at the same time it makes double the bang and blows the glass out of the window in to the face of the intruder. Which is always a bonus.

New locks Monday. And a trip to my alarm supplier for a sound bomb. The garage is under the house so I can be out there like a shot.

Ive had a simlar incident as the OP. I foolishly decided to jet wash my motocross bike on my driveway and it soon caught the attention of some teenager. He walked over and started asking me pointless questions 'how much did it cost you, how fast does it go, how many gears has it got?'. I noticed he started looking at my garage and then he just walked off.

low and behold 2 days later he returned, broke into my garage to find it empty bar a camera recording him and a rape alarm screaming that id rigged to the door. From the CCTV footage he was identified and arrested. Never had any issues since. I'd view it as a positive that you are aware of the possibility. I guess forewarned is forearmed.

New locks Monday. And a trip to my alarm supplier for a sound bomb. The garage is under the house so I can be out there like a shot.

You can buy flashgun style lights which go off when an alarm is tripped. Just like a camera flash. If it's dark and you suddenly get a massive flash of light, it'll effectively disable/disorientate an intruder for a good few seconds, the flash leaves a temporary retina burn.

Also works well if they're being photographed! Nice bright flash with a couple of blank rounds going off - they'll only try and break in once!

Had a similar incident a few years ago, when some scrote took too much interest while I was putting my bums away. A couple of days later my wife came home from walking our dogs to find said scrote wheeling thout of the back garden. When he threatened her she let the dogs go and called the police. Apparently the cctv of 3 9st+ German shepherds dragging the little t**t around the garden in different directions at the same time is hilarious. Only wish the police wouldgive it back so I can post it on line. On the plus side the officer who responded ( a riding buddy ) did wait for a while for the dog unit to arrive before arresting the scrote.

[quote=oldgit said]New locks Monday. And a trip to my alarm supplier for a sound bomb. The garage is under the house so I can be out there like a shot.

Do you not have a rear garden to wash/clean bikes in ?

No access to the garage from the back, and no access to the back garden from the front. On a steep hill you see.

while I was putting my bums away.

Pardon?

he threatened to stab me with the screwdriver.i subdued him so he couldn't stab me ,

Police officer mate of mine wasn't quite so lucky when he confronted a scrote breaking into his car. Gave chase, caught him and was then stabbed a dozen times with a screwdriver.

He survived, just, but is known locally as "Collander Bob". 😐

Attempted Petty Theft quickly escalating to Attempted Murder!
Never underestimate how mental these idiots can be.

(I'm sure easygirl knows this all too well, but I worry about in Internet bravado of others on here sometimes!)

AS well as all the top tips here, especially the Gurkha idea, leave an old smartphone, cheapo ebay thing, nicely in view in the garage which is loaded up with one of those find my stolen phone type apps. May lead the local law enforcement right to their door!

How quickly could you lay your hands on some small GPS trackers?

This might be a good idea - Anti theft cycle gps tracker

Uk seller on ebay here:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bicycle-bike-cycle-Spy-GPS-tracking-tracker-wireless-activation-pc-mobile-/130783081089?pt=UK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL&hash=item1e73477281

Anyone tried one?

Old bikes
Bike theft
Insurance
New bikes

Remind me what I have missed

Old bikes
Bike theft
Insurance
New bikes

Remind me what I have missed

1. His (OPs) bikes, may have sentimental value.
2. Crime stats go up, guy wont be caught, thinks its a good idea to do it again, and again, and again...
3. Insurance goes up all round.
4. New bikes- i have no come back for, everyone loves a new bike. I'm gonna get my bike pinched now so i can have a new bike.

Only place my bikes are covered is in the garage - leave the door open for passers by all the time....

No way my insurance covers my bikes. That said I do need to sort that out. Household insurance doesn't cover bugger all.
The garage contains about 13k worth of bikes, that's a very modest valuation excluding my old bikes and any kit/tools

New locks Monday

I hope they are Almax. Almax makes Kryptonite, Abus & co look like jewelry.

Old bikes
Bike theft
Insurance
New bikes

Remind me what I have missed

Erm, a sense of right and wrong?

oldgit - Member

(Unless of course, you actually play baseball...)

No but what's that game again, the one you play with a massive axe?

Posted 1 day ago # Report-Post

Were you not a chainsaw juggler at one point? 😈

Household insurance doesn't cover bugger all.

I think that counts as a double negative. Are you therefore saying that it does cover lots?

I hope they are Almax. Almax makes Kryptonite, Abus & co look like jewelry.

according to their own marketing and youtube videos?

[i]Erm, a sense of right and wrong?[/i]

That's aimed at the bike thieves, yeah?

according to their own marketing and youtube videos?

No.

I used to have top of the line £200 Abus motorbike chains. I then got Almax ones to see what the fuss was about. It's not obvious in their pictures but the Almax chains are about 3 times the size. I had 2x2m chains delivered and I could barely carry them both up the stairs.

They are really a different category of chain. Home use only, not at all portable.

Here's a story about an ex-gf's brother chasing and catching some burglars a few years ago (just read last 4 paragraphs) 🙂 Mind you, he was a copper and a lunatic.

http://www.zoominfo.com/#!search/profile/person?personId=1250710466&targetid=profile (only cos it won't link)

If you're really worried, move your bikes to offsite storage eg Big Yellow Box places - secure, manned, alarmed, CCTV etc.

I use a 19mm 2 meter chain. Can hardly pick it up, but it ceratinly gives me comfort when I am away. The padlock also weighs a ton and is adapted to fit the chain. (there is no leverage or gap from chain to padlock). It cost circa £150, also added in several minor locks for inconvenience for potential robbers

With these super-thick chains do you not think that thieves will just cut through your beloved bike's frame instead? For me it would be worse to find an intact chain and a missing bike (or two), knowing that my bike was now dead and there would be no chance of ever getting it back to ride again. 🙁

Well. Ime bike thieves want to run in and out within a few seconds. It'd take a good few minutes of sitting in someone's garage with a possibly police monitored alarm going off sawing away to get one bike out.

Bolt croppers on a normal bike lock might be quick enough for a typical smash and grab burglary, but much longer than that and I would hope the scum would go looking for an easier target.

[b]molgrips[/b] - Member

I hope they are Almax.