Weirdest theft ever.

bobtjustice

Hey strangest thing happened me today.

I'm moving house, so today I decided to move my bikes. I've got my Wall anchor set up in the new place and in a secure shed out the back.
I brought both bikes back to the house chained them up and locked up the shed and then headed to my old place to get another load of stuff.

When I came back the shed had been busted into, "oh god no" came to mind. To my relief the bikes had not been stolen.
However, !!! My pedals had been ! :eek:
There was no damage to the bikes as I thought the these clowns might have broken the pedals off. So they must have known what they were doing.

I'm thankful my bikes haven't been nicked as they would have been very expensive to replace.

Now I'm left without a bike to ride till i get some pedals, any of you guys recommend me some good pedals for my hybrid, clip less please? Was thinking of a set of crank bros, seem a bit expensive though any thoughts?
I was thinking of throwing a set of clipless on my xc bike too, so would spd be the best bet for both bikes so do have to go get another set of shoes for my MTB?

I wouldn't even mind but the pedals on my bikes were the ones that came with them when I bought them so hardly worth the effort of being caught.! :rolleyes::o

Cheers
Bob

cunnins4

That's mental.:eek:

Heard of exhausts being stolen off motorbikes, but fcuking pedals off a bike! Scum have reached a new low.

bobtjustice

cunnins4 wrote: »

That's mental.:eek:

Heard of exhausts being stolen off motorbikes, but fcuking pedals off a bike! Scum have reached a new low.

I know man...just bizarre s**t. I'd be raging or crying if they took the bikes.. Im just thinking they seen the amount of security on the bike and in the shed (not on the door obviously) and went "screw it lets take the pedals":mad:

SYSTEM_ERROR

Hi I'm sorry to hear ur pedals were stolen...

but hey My bike was stolen from our garage this afternoon.

in 2 and half hours...the bike was gone.

mine was Giant OCR-4 Red colored bike. I wanna blow up his/her eyes :mad:

the garage is security code protected and only permitted to ppl who have remote control (car). actually i didn't know that my bike was stolen... i came home and picked up my helmet and went down into the garage and i said "oh holy ****":(

just 6 apartments there so someone from near my house stole the bike... I'll kick his/her ass if i find him/her

bobtjustice

Bummer sorry to hear that.!

Well with that type of security, and the amount of people in the vicinity, I'd hope that you'd get your bike back. Fingers crossed for you mate.!

SteveSleeve

Bummer also, I hope u catch him, and like in Pulp fiction "man it would be worth him doing it just so i could catch him"

Kinetic^

Whoever did that is just fùcking with your head :pac: Good to hear they didn't go walkabout.

jim_bob

maybe they took the pedals off so you can't move the bikes and then they can come back later to remove the locks

Hungrycol

jim_bob wrote: »

maybe they took the pedals off so you can't move the bikes and then they can come back later to remove the locks

ditto

bobtjustice

jim_bob wrote: »

maybe they took the pedals off so you can't move the bikes and then they can come back later to remove the locks

Yeah thats what I thought too, so I put the bikes in the ultility room of the house, didn't get a wink of sleep last night was jumping up every hour or so, to see if some f**k was out the back try to jimmy the shed open again.
Not to worry anyway I have my brother making a steel door, to replace the wood one that got wrecked and will buy a big ass lock for it too.

I'll get some new pedals and be back on the road/trail in no time.:D

blorg

I would get SPDs. If you need to get shoes at the same time and know your size, I would recommend Specialized shoes from www.bikeplus.co.uk - they have a very good pedal deal where you can get Power Play Force pedals for £20 with the shoes (these are nice light SPD pedals with a RRP of £40.) Free shipping to Ireland with orders over £50.

I have the Specialized Sonoma shoes which are a "normal" looking type of shoe that you could wear off the bike and also the BG Expert MTB Shoes which have a much stiffer sole for excellent power transfer. Better for cycling but not suitable for all-day wear off the bike. Also have a pair of Shimano SPD sandals which are great for summer/touring; only shoe I need to bring.

Eggbeaters are meant to be good also but have non-adjustable tension and are meant to be less reliable than SPDs.

Alternatively Shimano's own SPD pedals are a bit heavier than the Power Play ones I mentioned but are highly highly reliable. You can get them from CRC or Wiggle.

kramxw

Before you buy new pedals, have a quick scout around the neighbourhood, they may have been dumped nearby e.g. in a trash bin or over a hedge....sounds like they just took the pedals to p**s you off as they couldn't get the bikes.

bobtjustice

blorg wrote: »

I would get SPDs. If you need to get shoes at the same time and know your size, I would recommend Specialized shoes from www.bikeplus.co.uk - they have a very good pedal deal where you can get Power Play Force pedals for £20 with the shoes (these are nice light SPD pedals with a RRP of £40.) Free shipping to Ireland with orders over £50.

I have the Specialized Sonoma shoes which are a "normal" looking type of shoe that you could wear off the bike and also the BG Expert MTB Shoes which have a much stiffer sole for excellent power transfer. Better for cycling but not suitable for all-day wear off the bike. Also have a pair of Shimano SPD sandals which are great for summer/touring; only shoe I need to bring.

Eggbeaters are meant to be good also but have non-adjustable tension and are meant to be less reliable than SPDs.

Alternatively Shimano's own SPD pedals are a bit heavier than the Power Play ones I mentioned but are highly highly reliable. You can get them from CRC or Wiggle.

Nice one blorg, yeah SPD's i think is the way im gonna go. Those Bg Expert shoes look pretty good, I bring my regular shoes/trainers with me to work anyway. I have a pair of Spd compatible Nike shoes but I recently split the side of them , they were pretty old and battered, so i had taped them together to stop them ripping more, stop gap measure that lasted longer than planned .
Thanks for the advice man.

Kramxw, yeah I had a good look round for them, no sign unfortunately. Im nearly sure these dudes knew what they were doing, I would have fully expected the hubs to be kicked in and saddles ( which would have been a damn site easier) to have been swiped.My initial thought was they've broke the pedals off outta spite, but it looks like it was done with a pedal wrench no metal shaving or anything on the ground which i would have suspected if they were idiots with no idea how to take a pedal off. None of the paint was scratched or the frame dinted in or anything.

So either they were looking for a set of pedals, or like you said, saw the bikes were secure and couldn't get them outta there unless they had more time. I see a couple of apartments around me have some nice road bikes on their balcony's so I might see if I can get a word with them and see if they seen anyone lurking about.!

tripswitch

bobtjustice wrote: »

My initial thought was they've broke the pedals off outta spite, but it looks like it was done with a pedal wrench no metal shaving or anything on the ground which i would have suspected if they were idiots with no idea how to take a pedal off. None of the paint was scratched or the frame dinted in or anything.

If you catch them will you send them around to my gaff, I'm having a hell of a time trying to get my current pedals off!

Just put them on the bike 500km ago (oiled the threads before putting them on) but they're stuck solid now. Need a pipe or something to slip over my spanner to get some real leverage.

trinewbie

Bummer Man.....Although not the weirdest theft, have a look at this

http://www.epicmtb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5000

Some nice guys out there.....

oobydooby

tripswitch wrote: »

If you catch them will you send them around to my gaff, I'm having a hell of a time trying to get my current pedals off!

Just put them on the bike 500km ago (oiled the threads before putting them on) but they're stuck solid now. Need a pipe or something to slip over my spanner to get some real leverage.

Sorry if you already know this - but the pedals are threaded the opposite way to usual! (SO as they don't unscrew when you're pedalling). Mistake I've often made - so just in case you didn't know this before you get tighten 'em with a pole vault or something...

bobtjustice

trinewbie wrote: »

Bummer Man.....Although not the weirdest theft, have a look at this

http://www.epicmtb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5000

Some nice guys out there.....

Holy [EMAIL="cr@p"]cr@p[/EMAIL] ...!! Man that's gotta be a total pisser, you come back covered in muck, you're cold and tired and some clown ripped your car apart.
Im going to start hooking the bikes up to a set of jump leads and try and hook it into a car battery, shock the son bitches when the come back for me bikes, I'll come out to the shed to find a pair of smoking air max and nike sovereign ring. !

Sorry blatant attack on scangers there...you'd never know who'd be robbing your gear.!

blorg

tripswitch wrote:

Just put them on the bike 500km ago (oiled the threads before putting them on) but they're stuck solid now. Need a pipe or something to slip over my spanner to get some real leverage.

Unfortunately oil is no good for pedal threads, you need to use white lithium grease. The oil is too viscous, it will work its way out. I made this mistake myself sticking pedals on my commuter a while back and they are now permanently attached. I have greased subsequent pedals on other bikes and they come off fine.

Pedal wrench with a pipe on the end is indeed a good idea. I have broken a normal 15mm spanner in the past trying to get pedals off.

tripswitch

bobtjustice wrote: »

I'm thankful my bikes haven't been nicked as they would have been very expensive to replace.

Amen to that. It's an ar5e-puckering moment when you first see the initial signs of a break-in though!

trinewbie wrote: »

Bummer Man.....Although not the weirdest theft, have a look at this

http://www.epicmtb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5000

Some nice guys out there.....

Apparently that's occurring much more frequently now. The metals inside the cat converter are worth more now than they were in the past. Supply and demand in action on the street.

oobydooby wrote: »

Sorry if you already know this - but the pedals are threaded the opposite way to usual! (SO as they don't unscrew when you're pedalling). Mistake I've often made - so just in case you didn't know this before you get tighten 'em with a pole vault or something...

Cheers ooby, good advice there. I didn't know that a few months back before I changed my first set. (Another beginner educated by Sheldon Brown. R.I.P.)

The original pedals came off easily enough, but these are just locked in there. Guess I'll put the bike on its side and let some WD40 go to work. That or I'll borrow a pole-vault pole!

bobtjustice

tripswitch wrote: »

That or I'll borrow a pole-vault pole!

Sounds like you need a cro-bar and a 8 pound sledge!

cunnins4

blorg wrote: »

Unfortunately oil is no good for pedal threads, you need to use white lithium grease. The oil is too viscous, it will work its way out. I made this mistake myself sticking pedals on my commuter a while back and they are now permanently attached. I have greased subsequent pedals on other bikes and they come off fine.

Oh balls. :eek:

Off I go to check my pedals.....

cunnins4

blorg wrote: »

Unfortunately oil is no good for pedal threads, you need to use white lithium grease. The oil is too viscous, it will work its way out. I made this mistake myself sticking pedals on my commuter a while back and they are now permanently attached. I have greased subsequent pedals on other bikes and they come off fine.

Blorg speaks the truth. Just went down to the shed and the left pedal's well and truly welded to the bike.

SPD-SL forever I guess!:o

tripswitch

cunnins4 wrote: »

Blorg speaks the truth. Just went down to the shed and the left pedal's well and truly welded to the bike.

SPD-SL forever I guess!:o

If it's any help to you, I just got mine off. Lay the bike on its side and left some GT85 (PTFE spray - same as WD40 I think) soak into the threads for an hour. Then wrapped a towel around the spanner so I could get some real pressure on it. Did the job. (As someone said already, make sure you're turning it in the right direction. Pedals are threaded backwards.)

Will definitely be lithium greasing the new ones before I fit them!

blorg

Well done on that tripswitch.

Penetrating oil is a good idea all right. If they aren't budging immediately bashing the end of the pedal wrench with a mallet can also work well. You can also jump on the end of the pedal wrench if you are good at that sort of thing, although I think bashing with a mallet is more effective. Jumping on a normal 15mm spanner broke the spanner IIRC.

Note pedals aren't both threaded backwards, only one of them is! The simple rule is always turn the wrench towards the back of the bike to loosen.

Lithium grease makes it really easy to get them off again although you should reapply every so often in case it gets washed out and you are left back in this situation again.