Claude Butler Chinook Stolen

IrishEmperor

My bike was stolen today between 2.30 and 5.30 from O'Connell St on the central island between Easons, Londis and the Luas tracks.

The model is quite uncommon: please let me know if you happen to come across it. Thanks.

Its been reported, but the Garda said they tend to avoid the cameras and it would be unlikely theyll be spotted.
I usually always lock the frame or the frame and one of the wheels to something, but this time I was rushing and accidentally just locked a wheel - a quick release one at that. All that was left was the front wheel and lock.

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no leaf clover

if uncommon will it be likel the wheel will be hard to get or is it universal.. just a thought that local bike shops might hear somehting...

kincsem

The thief will steal a front wheel. Probably a few minutes after he stole the bike.

Skellington

the Garda said they tend to avoid the cameras and it would be unlikely theyll be spotted.

The fact that the Gardai know of this and nothings been done about it speaks volumes about the state of the system in this country:rolleyes: .
It's a long shot but could you try and retrace a possible route the scumbag could have taken, by looking for areas with no camera coverage, and asking security staff from some of the bigger shops you pass if they can check video footage. You have the time narrowed to a possible 3 hour window, shouldn't be to hard to spot someone carrying a bike.

IrishEmperor

We should have one or several bike compounds/multistories in town which would require membership (bills, bank statements etc) to use and then a pay as you go/top-up system. Wouldnt have to be a private enterprise; the government should do this - it would save Garda resources from having to deal with this bull.

no leaf clover wrote:

if uncommon will it be likel the wheel will be hard to get or is it universal.. just a thought that local bike shops might hear somehting...

It's a racing style wheel - like kincsem said; I suppose they might steal or have already stolen one before and kept it as a spare.
The garda said theyd probably just brake it down for parts.
I suppose calling a few of the shops around the city centre couldnt hurt.

Skellington wrote:

avoiding cameras: The fact that the Gardai know of this and nothings been done about it speaks volumes about the state of the system in this country:rolleyes:

Yeah it sickened me to hear that they "dont have any cameras down there".
There are none in the centre, only either side, theyre very spaced out and only cover one area at a time.
When they decided it was necessary to install security cameras about 5 years ago after the increase in syringe attacks, they couldve splashed out and gotten a few more thrown up.
It's okay for video games to have sleeping guards and surveillance cameras with blind spots...but not the busiest street in the country!

Skellington wrote:

It's a long shot but could you try and retrace a possible route the scumbag could have taken, by looking for areas with no camera coverage, and asking security staff from some of the bigger shops you pass if they can check video footage. You have the time narrowed to a possible 3 hour window, shouldn't be to hard to spot someone carrying a bike.

Thanks, I thought of that, but it could be a lot of effort with no reward - theres probably next to no coverage past Parnell St and even if there was - this guy probably wearing the same tracksuit and air-max as the rest of his mates & with a hoody pulled up well over his head.


The garda wont check the tape till tommorrow at the earliest...
If I see a 14 year old scumbag riding my bike around town in the meantime: I'm going to be pushing him under a bus.

Bunnyhopper

Firstly, commiserations on the loss. It's a real kick in the teeth.

There's an indymedia article that might be worth a look. (I've linked to a cached version because indymedia.ie itself is offline until January 17th at least.)

It might be worth looking around the secondhand shops, and keeping an eye on Buy&Sell or adverts.ie.

Or you could try a wander down the North Circular (see the article) or Cumberland Street. I'm sure they're absolutely legit outlets but that doesn't meant that someone might not try to take advantage.

IrishEmperor

Bunnyhopper wrote:

There's an indymedia article that might be worth a look.

It might be worth looking around the secondhand shops, and keeping an eye on Buy&Sell or adverts.ie.Or you could try a wander down the North Circular

Thanks for the link.

I might do that, or I may just consign myself to never seeing it again...

However, this wasnt the first bike I had stolen - 5 years ago we had a very bad storm that lasted a week around Oct/Nov and I locked my bike inside the Brown Thomas carpark, checking on it every couple of days after work before getting the bus home through the pissing rain. At the end of the week, when I came to collect it and cycle it home as the weather had improved, it was gone, lock and all. The Garda took the camera footage from the only two access points and came back to me a couple of weeks later to say it mustve been taken out in the back of a car or van. It was a Merida with a very distinctive frame and an oval (not round) cog system (aparently designed for climbing hills): I was told by Hollingsworths that there were only two in the country (or maybe they just sold two of them) and the other was sold to some champion mountain biker who owned a dozen different models...

A little over a year later, I was waiting for a bus on Westmoreland Street to get out to an exam in DCU. Just as the bus was approaching, I notice the two scumbags standing behind me have a very distinctive bike with them - and except for a badly done paint job - one that looks exactly like mine!! I didnt quite know what to do - I needed to get to my exam asap - so I started calling the Garda as I got on the bus... after being rejected by 999 and directory enq giving me the number for the wrong garda station, i eventually get through to Pearse St and the guy I'm put through to tells me not to approach them and asks me which direction are they going in now... as I travel further north and onto Parnell Square... I don't even remember if I passed the exam