Cycleworks Leatherhead Ram-Raided
On popping into Leatherhead to pick up a part from Cycleworks I was drawn to the large expanse of shuttering ply that was covering their newer shop front. Yep, the low life of society has been at it again.
I found a rather tired and dejected Dave in the shop. Tired because he’d been there since just after 2am when a van backed into the shop window. The low life took 5 bikes, a frame and a pair of forks. All the bikes were Specialized demo bikes which as some of you will know are special colour schemes and have “Demo” under the laquer.
This means the value of the theft is secondary to the damage caused to the shop front and the rest of the stock that got knocked over in the theft. Not to mention the mess and the fact they’ll be finding glass for months if not years to come.
The bikes and items stolen were:
| Model | Size |
|---|---|
| Specialized Stumpjumper expert 2010 test bike | Medium |
| Specialized Enduro expert 2010 test bike | Medium |
| Specialized Stumpjumper elite 2010 | Medium |
| Specialized Epic comp 2010 | Large |
| Specialized Roubaix Expert 2010 | 56cm |
| Orange Five FRAME 2010 in Mandarin orange | 18″ |
| Rockshox Revelation Team black U-Turn maxle-lite 2010 model | n/a |
Here’s a PDF with images of the bikes stolen.
As Mr Shaw Taylor used to say, “Keep ’em peeled”
Cycleworks in Leatherhead can be contacted on 01372 363665.
About the author
Dave's been riding seriously since about 1997 and is one of the founding Molefathers — along with Matt and Mark — that came up with the idea of a MTB website for Mole Valley riders.
He's had several different bikes but it's now mainly 29ers in Dave's stable, apart from an Orange 5.
Current Bikes: Orange 5, Salsa Spearfish and Kona Big Unit
There are 5 comments on ‘Cycleworks Leatherhead Ram-Raided’
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Andy C says:
It’s acts like this that turn me into a “Hanging’s too good fer ’em”, Daily Express reading, Mr Angry.
It’s not just the theft, but all the hassle in repairs, lock changing, insurance forms, and (making my blood boil further) the haggling with the insurance company when they tell you that you are not insured for what you thought you were !!!
Good news (for me, sorry Cycleworks) is that my insurance company have agreed to pay out what I paid for the original Whyte PRST4. It’s not what the E5 was worth, but it’s probably 75%. Time to start spending again.
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Posted on October 1, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Dave says:
Hi Andy,
Well that is good news. Should make your demo rides go with a bit of extra zing…..or maybe even kaaaa-ching!
I might slip on my Camel Hair coat and Trilby and open a book on which bike ends up in your shed…..I mean maximum security storage facility…….after Sunday.
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Posted on October 1, 2009 at 6:41 pm
tony says:
these “people” at just above the primordial scum on the evolutionary scale. I mean for a start they nicked probably the easiest bikes to trace in the whole shop. Idiots/scum on all scales.
It reminds me of the day I was in my friends bike shop in Sutton. He was fairly depressed since his tricked out Cannondale had been nicked from his Mum’s house. In the middle of this tale of woe he stopped in mid sentence “Don’t look around now but someone has just walked into the shop with my bike”. He went to see what the crim wanted, while we called the police. Result one nicked idiot. Of course the really funny part was the reason why the crim had brought the bike into the shop was that the brakes weren’t working. Typical bike shop owners bike!
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Posted on October 1, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Matt says:
I have to agree there’s a high level of scrot-age involved in this one. I haven’t time for them, basic primordial thuggery, mmmm nice – I think not!
The sad fact is, Andy’s bike has never re-appeared. Neither will these in all liklihood which means some peeps, somewhere will end up riding them, probably after having purchased them in good faith from the monkeys who nicked them (yer, well, I fort I’d ride it off-road like but it was too much effort mate! Nah! only a couple of rides?!!)
Hope these guys get caught big time…
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Posted on October 1, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Easynow Nick says:
Hi All.
I really must catch up with you soon.
Richard told me about this when we were out riding on Sunday and we dropped past the shop on the way home to see what the damage was.
Unfortunately Matt is most likey right. These biks wont surface again, but I have a slightly different theory as to why.
My own personal thoughts is that there is a similar theme with motorbikes, but in that scene this is fairly widely acknowledged by the police.
Its all about spares.
The fact is the price of spares has gone through the roof. If you were to get a component spec sheet of a stumpjumper elite and build it from component parts at retail prices it would cost more than double the cost of a complete bike.
There are a lot of people who, whole publicly denouncing bike theft, will happily buy cheap components.
These bikes will be stripped and sold off as cheap parts, and the tracable frames scrapped.
Apart from maybe the orange frame which will fade into the scrum of orange bikes once its built into a bike.
Either way, whichever one of us is right its the same end result.
It makes me very sad.
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Posted on October 5, 2009 at 10:58 pm