MY RAVEN ENDURO STOLEN IN OXFORD

[PH]

I couldn't help but think who in their right mind leaves a bike like that locked up at a train station

Well me for one, so maybe I'm not in my right mind 
Bikes are for riding, that's it.

We shouldn't jump to any conclusions about this thread, it does seem a bit odd but I can think of a couple of plausible explanations and I'm sure there'll be others I haven't thought of.

[ridgeback63]

So you would leave a bike like that locked up with 1 D lock on the back wheel,all day at a train station,no wonder insurance is so high,yes bikes are for riding,but you cannot expect a top notch bike like that to be safe at a train station locked like that

[Andre Jute]

I don't commute and I live in such a low crime area that I apply only the n'lock (which makes the bike unsteerable) but don't even tie the bike to anything else. All the same,  I wouldn't leave my bike chained up at the bus station (we don't have trains) all day. I see in the nearest city (Cork) that clearly new and expensive chained-up bikes are grungily sprayed in many colors, aerosol can jobs that absolutely screech "amateur"*, presumably as a theft deterrent. All the same, across the street from the local theatre and one of the best hotels in town and in front of a couple of expensive restaurants and a pricey art gallery, I once saw a totally bare frame attached to a lamppost with two D-locks, both still there attaching the frame, but otherwise the thieves got all the components. It must have taken quite a bit of time, and all the right tools too, to strip a frame that tidily, so it was no spur of the moment theft. The bike's owner should have lugged the bike up the stairs to his apartment.

*In front of the art school I saw one bike sprayed by a student clearly conflicted between keeping his bike safe and his green politics: he sprayed it in water-soluble paint that on that rainy day was already running off...

[PH]

So you would leave a bike like that locked up with 1 D lock on the back wheel,all day at a train station,no wonder insurance is so high,yes bikes are for riding,but you cannot expect a top notch bike like that to be safe at a train station locked like that

At my local train station there's a compound you have to register and swipe into, once inside it has the same sort of two tier racking and there isn't a lot other than the wheel to lock.  Yes I leave my bike there.
I used to work for an architectural ironmonger, so I know the limitations of all locks, and the lock I'm prepared to carry is very limited even though it carries the Sold Secure Gold rating.
A couple of years ago locally there was a spate of bike thefts where the frame was being cut through, I assume the culprits were binning the frame and putting the components on a legitimate one, easily turning a £200 frame into an £800 sale and pretty much untraceable.
In 18 years of not owning a car I've used a bike as my primary means of transport, I've had one stolen.  I've never heard anyone say not to leave the car outside the train station, in town, at work, in the car park... I'm not going to have my transport choice compromised because there's the possibility of theft.
I don't think I'm stupid and I don't believe not of my right mind, my bikes are on my household insurance which costs around £35 extra a year, I will continue to use them as best suites my needs.

[jags]

Ph why not buy a cheap bike for your commute to the train station,these thievs know bikes will be parked there all day so plenty time to strip it bare,guys that work there could not give a rats arse if someone is stealing customers bikes.

[macspud]

So you would leave a bike like that locked up with 1 D lock on the back wheel,all day at a train station,no wonder insurance is so high,yes bikes are for riding,but you cannot expect a top notch bike like that to be safe at a train station locked like that

If you zoom in on the third photo, there does seem to also be a cable through the front wheel. The D lock should have gone through the frame too though.

As StuntPilot said, time for Richard Lofthouse, the original poster, to drop by and comment.

And as PH said, we shouldn't jump to any conclusions about this thread. There just seems to be some odd things that made me wonder, so I pointed them out. There certainly could be plausible explanations.

[ridgeback63]

My Raven cost over £3,000,my pub bike which I use for commuting and shopping as I don't own a car cost less than £50.00 from ebay,it's common sense really,I've had a bike stolen from where I work,it was a Dawes discovery,another cheap pub bike,not a big deal just a walk home,didn't even bother claiming on my house insurance as the excess is worth more than the bike,it's not about being having your choices compromised it's common sense.

[PH]

My Raven cost over £3,000,my pub bike which I use for commuting and shopping as I don't own a car cost less than £50.00 from ebay,it's common sense really,I've had a bike stolen from where I work,it was a Dawes discovery,another cheap pub bike,not a big deal just a walk home,didn't even bother claiming on my house insurance as the excess is worth more than the bike,it's not about being having your choices compromised it's common sense.

Will you please stop this idea that you have the monopoly on what is and isn't sense, who is and isn't in their right mind.  Risk isn't binary, people make their own choices along a sliding scale, if they didn't no one would leave their house.  You have your £50 bike stolen you have to go to the trouble of finding another one, I get my three grand bike stolen, I have to fill out an insurance form and order another from Thorn, I can't see that one is any more hassle than the other.  I like to get the maximum enjoyment from all my cycling, parking for some time in a location I would apparently be out of my mind to park may well be part of a much longer journey. Do you enjoy riding the £50 bike as much as the three grand one? If you do, what's the point of having them both?  If you don't, then you have by it's very definition made a compromise - That's for you to make, no criticism from me, but leave off insulting people who've come to different decisions.
There's also the bad taste of victim blaming, I refuse to accept that if someone steals from me it's my fault.  Apparently shoplifting is very easy, you don't blame the shops do you?
As an aside - The Rohloff hub is only worthwhile to me on a heavily used bike, if I kept a hack bike and a best bike the hack would have a cheap IGH and the best derailleurs.

[ridgeback63]

I'm not pretending I have the monopoly on sense,I do however claim to be sensible in my approach to risk,my house insurance has a £100.00 excess on thing's like bike,so I could get 2 bikes for that of ebay,without my insurance premium going up,that to me is common sense,of course I don't enjoy riding a £50.00 bike as much as I do my Raven,that bike means a lot to me in the short time I have had it,and I intend to keep it a long time,I tend to get attached to thing's that I have had to save long and hard for,like you say I could just fill a form out and get another one from Thorn,but that one wouldn't have the memories of this one would it?,and yes to an extent there is such a thing as making yourself a victim,would you for instance walk down certain area's of major cities at night using an expensive phone?,anyway this is wandering well off from the original topic so thisis the end of thing's as far as I am concerned you have your views and I have mine.

[Danneaux]

Gentlemen,

It is time to head back on-topic here. Unless something is not as it appears, someone chose to park their bike at a station and it was unfortunately stolen in their absence.

The choice to leave a bike in such a situation/setting -- or not -- is a personal one, so let's leave the decision at that. "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still". -- Unknown, but often attributed to Benj. Franklin

All the best,

Dan.
Thorn Cycling Forum Administrator

[macspud]

I see it was advertised here too: http://www.bikeshd.co.uk/posts/thorn-raven-enduro-vvgc-rohloff-reynolds-853-hardtail-bike-hope-mavic-819