STOLEN: Marin Rift Zone 02

I had my beloved Marin Rift Zone stolen from Centre Parcs at Elveden Forest
(Thetford, near Cambridge) on Sunday night about 22:45 by some professional
*******s with bolt cutters.

Centre Parcs obviously have a problem with targetted thieving like this (mine
was the only bike taken that night, the night before a Gary Fisher went, the
week before a 5k bike went...) but they're not exactly admitting this and
certainly aren't advising their guests as such. So my advice to anyone else
visiting is to bring expensive bikes inside the villa (as my husband had
sensibly done with his VPFree).

My bike was heavily customised, so if anyone gets offered a second hand 02
frame Rift Zone please have a look on this webpage:
http://www.fysh.org/~perdita/marin-notice.html and check if it could be
mine. I'm offering a 250 quid reward for recovery or prosecution, although I
realise they've probably stripped it and sold the components if they've any
sense. And to spot a valuable bike like that down a dark path at 30 yards
from one of several thousand bikes outside 1000 villas suggests they're
either pretty smart about bikes or the 'prebooking' list of bikes at each
villa isn't as secure as CP believe it is...


Ta

Claire
--
Still prettiest by far.

in message , Claire
') wrote:

[I feel I know that email address from a previous life somewhere. You're
not Hoverspeed, by any chance? If so, greetings.]

I had my beloved Marin Rift Zone stolen from Centre Parcs at Elveden
Forest (Thetford, near Cambridge) on Sunday night about 22:45 by some
professional *******s with bolt cutters.

Ah, ****! I can only offer commiserations. It feels so bad when a bike
you've spent time with and made personal for you gets stolen.

I do wonder how many of the 'second hand' parts on eBay start life like
this, and whether it's safe or wise for those of us who appreciate
bikes to buy second hand parts from people we don't know (as I confess
I have in the past).

And to spot a valuable bike like that down a dark path at 30
yards from one of several thousand bikes outside 1000 villas suggests
they're either pretty smart about bikes or the 'prebooking' list of
bikes at each villa isn't as secure as CP believe it is...

I do think Centre Parcs had some degree of duty of care to warn you. As
you say they've clearly got a bike thief operating on their property,
and they clearly know this. Not that that will get you your bike back,
of course, but it might help pay for its replacement.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

The trouble with Simon is that he only opens his mouth to change feet.
;; of me, by a 'friend'

Claire wrote:

I had my beloved Marin Rift Zone stolen from Centre Parcs at Elveden Forest
(Thetford, near Cambridge) on Sunday night about 22:45 by some professional
*******s with bolt cutters.

condolences. Bit late now but Ive found a quick rearranging of the
cupboard inside the villa door makes enough room for one or two bikes
without them being in the way.


And to spot a valuable bike like that down a dark path at 30 yards
from one of several thousand bikes outside 1000 villas suggests they're
either pretty smart about bikes or the 'prebooking' list of bikes at each
villa isn't as secure as CP believe it is...

possibly, though a Rift Zone has an eminently nickable look about it
even before you find out its a quality tool.

exactly what use is that prebooking list I wonder?

Phil

Simon Brooke writes:
in message , Claire
') wrote:

[I feel I know that email address from a previous life somewhere. You're
not Hoverspeed, by any chance? If so, greetings.]

I'm not Hoverspeed, but we have argued on uk.net.news.config in the dim and
distant past I seem to recall... *&)

I had my beloved Marin Rift Zone stolen from Centre Parcs at Elveden
Forest (Thetford, near Cambridge) on Sunday night about 22:45 by some
professional *******s with bolt cutters.

Ah, ****! I can only offer commiserations. It feels so bad when a bike
you've spent time with and made personal for you gets stolen.

I hadn't realised how much I cared about it until it was gone either.

I do wonder how many of the 'second hand' parts on eBay start life like
this, and whether it's safe or wise for those of us who appreciate
bikes to buy second hand parts from people we don't know (as I confess
I have in the past).

Ebay is a tricky one - there really isn't an easy way to distinguish genuine
parts sales from the results of thefts. But for the real sales it is such a
useful tool.

And to spot a valuable bike like that down a dark path at 30
yards from one of several thousand bikes outside 1000 villas suggests
they're either pretty smart about bikes or the 'prebooking' list of
bikes at each villa isn't as secure as CP believe it is...

I do think Centre Parcs had some degree of duty of care to warn you. As
you say they've clearly got a bike thief operating on their property,
and they clearly know this. Not that that will get you your bike back,
of course, but it might help pay for its replacement.

I will certainly be writing to them. It isn't like I expected them to get
all their staff combing the grounds or anything, I just wanted the manager to
take my concerns seriously and to have a look into any potential
vulnerabilities (like the prebooking). And all I got was some junior upstart
claiming that he could 'personally vouch for every member of staff on site'.
A ridiculous claim at best!


Claire

--
Still prettiest by far.

Phil Clarke writes:
Claire wrote:

I had my beloved Marin Rift Zone stolen from Centre Parcs at Elveden Forest
(Thetford, near Cambridge) on Sunday night about 22:45 by some professional
*******s with bolt cutters.

condolences. Bit late now but Ive found a quick rearranging of the
cupboard inside the villa door makes enough room for one or two bikes
without them being in the way.

What is really annoying is that we did this on the first night. On the
second night my husband put his back in there and I decided to leave mine
outside with its 'level 8' security cable through the frame and wheels
because that was what I'd bought the cable for - so I could use my bike to
get to places - so now was as good a time as any to start using it!

And I even heard the boltcutters 'snap' and got someone to check the bikes
were ok. Which they were then, but mine was gone moments later. The Saracen
'Raw' DH which hadn't been locked up at all was still there, mind...

And to spot a valuable bike like that down a dark path at 30 yards
from one of several thousand bikes outside 1000 villas suggests they're
either pretty smart about bikes or the 'prebooking' list of bikes at each
villa isn't as secure as CP believe it is...

possibly, though a Rift Zone has an eminently nickable look about it
even before you find out its a quality tool.

exactly what use is that prebooking list I wonder?

Indeed. I won't be completing it again. If I lost my bike I can tell them
then what I've lost. I can prove that it is mine if I were to lose a
valuable bike and they were to find it and I hadn't predeclared it. So I can
only really see it as a security risk for valuable bikes, rather than any
protection or use.



Claire


--
Still prettiest by far.

Claire wrote:

Indeed. I won't be completing it again. If I lost my bike I can tell them
then what I've lost. I can prove that it is mine if I were to lose a
valuable bike and they were to find it and I hadn't predeclared it. So I can
only really see it as a security risk for valuable bikes, rather than any
protection or use.


Many years ago in different times, it used to be the done thing to
inform the local police if you were going away so they could keep an eye
on your house for you. Someone did some research and showed that those
people that informed the police were far more likely to be burgled than
those that didn't. As someone pointed out at the time you were
informing a group of people that were in very close contact with the
criminal community and not all of them were trustworthy.

--
Tony

"A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought" Lord
Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers)

On Wed, 04 May 2005 10:34:29 +0100, Tony Raven wrote:

Claire wrote:

Indeed. I won't be completing it again. If I lost my bike I can tell them
then what I've lost. I can prove that it is mine if I were to lose a
valuable bike and they were to find it and I hadn't predeclared it. So I can
only really see it as a security risk for valuable bikes, rather than any
protection or use.


Many years ago in different times, it used to be the done thing to
inform the local police if you were going away so they could keep an eye
on your house for you. Someone did some research and showed that those
people that informed the police were far more likely to be burgled than
those that didn't. As someone pointed out at the time you were
informing a group of people that were in very close contact with the
criminal community and not all of them were trustworthy.

Or, the ne'er do well just realised that if he watched to see which houses the
local plod went and had a shuffti at for no noticable reason, he could get a
pretty good idea of which houses would be unoccupied that night.

Rather in the same way that, apparantly, pickpockets just *love* those notices
on the Underground warning people to beware of pickpockets.

The PP's just stand near them, and watch as people check to make sure their
wallet/purse is still there. Then they know where everyone is keeping their
valuables. Saves them *hours*, apparantly.

"Paul D" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 04 May 2005 10:34:29 +0100, Tony Raven
wrote:


Or, the ne'er do well just realised that if he watched to see which houses
the
local plod went and had a shuffti at for no noticable reason, he could get
a
pretty good idea of which houses would be unoccupied that night.

That sounds stupid, are you suggesting burglars chase police cars to see
which house they're going to out of the hundreds of thousands in any city or
that there are hundreds of thoudands of burglars standing outside every
house 24/7 waiting for the police to come round and do a once over round the
house???

On Wed, 04 May 2005 10:36:55 GMT, "dennis smythe"
wrote:


"Paul D" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 04 May 2005 10:34:29 +0100, Tony Raven
wrote:


Or, the ne'er do well just realised that if he watched to see which houses
the
local plod went and had a shuffti at for no noticable reason, he could get
a
pretty good idea of which houses would be unoccupied that night.

That sounds stupid, are you suggesting burglars chase police cars to see
which house they're going to out of the hundreds of thousands in any city or
that there are hundreds of thoudands of burglars standing outside every
house 24/7 waiting for the police to come round and do a once over round the
house???

No, this was a service the police offered some time ago (not sure when it
stopped), when the policemen used to walk beats. A potential burglar who was out
and about during the day (or his dodgey associates) could just notice a PC
giving a house the once over.

It was one of several techniques used, such as noticing if the milk built up on
the doorstep, or (and they never warned you about this), noticing when the
milkman/paperboy suddenly started skipping a house.

Paul D wrote:

Rather in the same way that, apparantly, pickpockets just *love*
those notices on the Underground warning people to beware of
pickpockets.

You'd think they'd be better off hanging around the ticket machines or
counters to get a definite fix on wallets, etc.