Bike Stolen in York Today
Discussion
Hi Guys,
I spotted that ad a few days ago, but didn't do anything, because it was clearly not my bike. The one in the pic has the silver built up fork system, where my PRST-4 has a black tubular fork, and the stolen PRST-1 had a slightly different look to it.
I would know my bike when I see it however, same goes for the one that belongs (ed? Grr!) to my wife.
Interesting though... I sort of recognised the pic, are you a poster on Retrobike?
Did I buy a pair of shocks from you about 18 months ago?
I spotted that ad a few days ago, but didn't do anything, because it was clearly not my bike. The one in the pic has the silver built up fork system, where my PRST-4 has a black tubular fork, and the stolen PRST-1 had a slightly different look to it.
I would know my bike when I see it however, same goes for the one that belongs (ed? Grr!) to my wife.
Interesting though... I sort of recognised the pic, are you a poster on Retrobike?
Did I buy a pair of shocks from you about 18 months ago?
Chewykneeslider said:
Hi Guys,
I spotted that ad a few days ago, but didn't do anything, because it was clearly not my bike. The one in the pic has the silver built up fork system, where my PRST-4 has a black tubular fork, and the stolen PRST-1 had a slightly different look to it.
I would know my bike when I see it however, same goes for the one that belongs (ed? Grr!) to my wife.
Interesting though... I sort of recognised the pic, are you a poster on Retrobike?
Did I buy a pair of shocks from you about 18 months ago?
I'd investigate further. These things are so rare now that this ad has to be bogus, and given the proximity, I'd say he's selling your bikes...I spotted that ad a few days ago, but didn't do anything, because it was clearly not my bike. The one in the pic has the silver built up fork system, where my PRST-4 has a black tubular fork, and the stolen PRST-1 had a slightly different look to it.
I would know my bike when I see it however, same goes for the one that belongs (ed? Grr!) to my wife.
Interesting though... I sort of recognised the pic, are you a poster on Retrobike?
Did I buy a pair of shocks from you about 18 months ago?
I am on retrobike quite often, and yes, it was probably me you bought them from... ;-) The PRST world is a small one!
Doesn't that advert say original bill of sale and instructions though? Do we think they've forged a receipt and bought an instruction booklet somewhere?
I'd still arrange a viewing and hop in the car and drive up though. Got to be worth a punt. Or actually, just get the seller to text some photos of the actual bike through.
That's if the bike is as rare as is being made out on here. I haven't a clue what I'm looking at.
Looks like a trick bit of kit though.
I'd still arrange a viewing and hop in the car and drive up though. Got to be worth a punt. Or actually, just get the seller to text some photos of the actual bike through.
That's if the bike is as rare as is being made out on here. I haven't a clue what I'm looking at.
Looks like a trick bit of kit though. Def worth a visit.
Home insurance and bikes don't really mix. They often give insufficient cover at a silyl price as they just don't want the hassle.
I have a 'cheap' bike to use if I go into York. Bike theft is rife and I simply wouldn't leave either of my good ones anywhere in the city regardless of lock.
Home insurance and bikes don't really mix. They often give insufficient cover at a silyl price as they just don't want the hassle.
I have a 'cheap' bike to use if I go into York. Bike theft is rife and I simply wouldn't leave either of my good ones anywhere in the city regardless of lock.
marky911 said:
Doesn't that advert say original bill of sale and instructions though? Do we think they've forged a receipt and bought an instruction booklet somewhere?
I'd still arrange a viewing and hop in the car and drive up though. Got to be worth a punt. Or actually, just get the seller to text some photos of the actual bike through.
That's if the bike is as rare as is being made out on here. I haven't a clue what I'm looking at. Looks like a trick bit of kit though.
An "Original" bill of sale can be forged in minutes and lends credibility, but while it sounds very legitimate, its unlikely to be followed up. Even if you did phone the bike shop it apparently came from, how many of them have access to sales records dating back 10 or 15 years? The instructions for these bikes are on the Whyte website, so again, its good for credibility, but offers no assurance whatsoever. I'd still arrange a viewing and hop in the car and drive up though. Got to be worth a punt. Or actually, just get the seller to text some photos of the actual bike through.
That's if the bike is as rare as is being made out on here. I haven't a clue what I'm looking at.
Looks like a trick bit of kit though. The bikes are fairly rare. Something like 1000 were made, and they've become a bit of a collectors item due to that outrageous front end designed by Jon Whyte, one-time designer of Michael Schumacher's F1 springy bits...
Of the one thousand made, the OP had two of them & I've got a pair in London... 996 left then, which are spread around the globe as far as Italy, Croatia, Australia, Japan and the USA, making them a rare sight. Given the difficulties in maintaining them (The PRST-4 with optional Whyte shock bearings has 18 aircraft specific KP6A ball bearings in the suspension, so its a royal pain to strip down and service, and a three figure bill to replace them all) many have become broken worn out wrecks fit only for spares. If the number of broken frames and random bits that pop up on pinkbike, ebay and gumtree from time to time is any kind of guide, Id say that the number of complete bikes surviving is greatly diminished by now.
Statistically speaking, there's a very high chance this seller is advertising the stolen bikes...
marky911 said:
Right, thanks for the info NV. That dodgy advert does seem like an awfully large coincidence then.
Let's hope the OP has cottoned onto the picture being of yours but the bikes maybe being his. He hadn't earlier.
He did, he just wasn't very clear about it. What he was saying was he had seen the advert before and thought it was not his bike so dismissed it.Let's hope the OP has cottoned onto the picture being of yours but the bikes maybe being his. He hadn't earlier.
I hope the bike has been found.
Gumtree bike relisted, with new saddle and not looking like the previous bike:
http://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/whyte-prst-1-4-m...
http://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/whyte-prst-1-4-m...
- *Update***
A wonderful thing has happened.
I have been perusing Ebay for over a year, with alerts set up so that whenever a Whyte is listed, I get a nudge. The weekend before last, I was alerted to this listing:-
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121980406313?_trksid=p20...
It was my bike! The PRST-4 that was lost in April last year to thieves, and documented on this very thread. Aparently un-molested, it even had the stickers on it that I put there, and the frame number hadn't been tampered with.
It had also appeared on Gumtree at the same time. It was located in Middlesborough, where the cops who interviewed me at the time thought that it had gone. They were investigating the thefts of a large number of bicycles from York in the same period, and the British Transport Police had evidence to suggest that the thieves were using the trains to travel between the North East and York.
I contacted the guy from the BTP who had interviewed me a year ago, and they got right on to the 'seller' the next day, went round to the house, and got my bike back for me. I am hugely grateful to the guys who did that for me, and proves that cynicism can be unfounded at times like this.
Apparently, the sellers had bought my bike in August last year from a car boot sale in Middlesborough for £40... The other bike which was my wife's PRST-1 is still at large somewhere, but the sellers of my bike told the police that the guy they bought it from at the car boot sale had one that matched the PRST-1 description in their van.
Things are especially sweet, because my insurance wouldn't pay up over the thefts, so getting one bike back was unbelievable after so long, when I had given up hope.
In the meantime, I had bought a second hand Whyte JW-4, and had been running around on that, but it just wasn't the same as my 'proper' bike.
So, lessons learned are that you should always personalize something, so that if it gets stolen, then there are always ways to prove that it was yours, and put a very good lock on it when you leave it anywhere. Those cable jobs just aren't up to it.
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