Major Bike Robbery in Los Angeles

Triathlon Forum
1

Helen’s Cycles on Lincoln in the Venice/Marina del Rey area got robbed early Friday morning (1/29/09).

The following bikes were stolen. All the bikes are very high end and I’m told the the Colnago EPS – is one of only three in California. If you have an info or stumble on one of these I know they would appreciate it if you contacted the police. Pretty starteling nubmers here - well over 100k in retail two wheelers.

DESCRIPTION, MSRP, SERIAL #

COLNAGO 09 EPS SUPER RECORD AMRD 56, 11,999.99, X3A076

PINARELLO 09 PRINCE SUPER RECORD CHARISMA BLUE 55, 11,999.99, A90834

PINARELLO 09 PRINCE RECORD TEAM RED/WHITE/ BLK-57.5, 10,999.99, A82652

PINARELLO 08 PRINCE CARBON RECORD COBALTO-56, 9,999.99, A86120

COLNAGO 09 EXTREME POWER SRAM RED MAVIC SYS R WHT-59, 9,996.66, PWF287

COLNAGO 07 EXTREME POWER ROBOBANK D/A-56, 7,999.99, WA018

TREK 2009 MADONE 6.5 PROJECT ONE SILVER-56, 6,299.99, WTU224T008D

CANNONDALE 2009 SUPERSIX 1-C BLACK 60, 5,999.99, U000406

CERVELO 08 R3 SL D/A BLACK/WHITE-56, 5,999.99, SNR3S07F00857

CERVELO 09 R3 CARBON DURA-ACE 7900 BIKE 56CM WHITE, 5,699.99, SNR3C08J00059

CERVELO 09 S2 CARBON DURA-ACE 7900 BIKE 51CM BLACK/RED, 5,499.99, SNS2C08K00456

IBIS 09 MOJO CARBON XT FLTRLC-ORANGE-XL, 4,199.99, 08M1133

SANTA CRUZ 08 BLUR XC SPXXC ANO BLACK MEDIUM, 3,599.99 ZEK070489

SA08 BLUR XC RXC PC /FLTR100R BLK LG, 2,499.99 ZEK0627725

SANTA CRUZ 09 SUPERLIGHT RXC FLOAT-R PC WHITE LARGE, 2,299.99 A80101276

SANTA CRUZ 09 SUPERLIGHT RXC FLOAT-R PC BLACK XL, 2,299.99 A80301443

Ian

2

This is remarkable since that quantity of bikes would be very difficult to steal, transport and fence.

Thank you for the notice. It’s worth keeping an eye out.

3

Keep an eye on Ebay.

4

I would agree with Tom, that is a huge amount of bikes to take and they picked out the high end stuff. Likely, this was well planned ahead of time.

5

Sounds like an inside job. 2-bit punk thieves looking to score drug money probably wouldn’t know a Colnago from a Schwinn.

6

Sure they would. They’d take the Schwinn.

-Jot

7

These guys probably had an “order to fill” already.

8

Not that it makes a difference, but technically they were burglarized, not robbed. Burglary is when you break into a place (home, business, car, etc) and steal something. Robbery is when you take the item from a person by using force or fear against the person.

Still sucks.

9

Keep an eye on Ebay. Craig’s List too!

10

This is far from being random. The bikes are probably heading in europe or oversea.

11

this situation doesn’t add up
.

12

It actually makes sense as the post above is probably what happened with the product. In the LA area, we lose lots of stolen merchendise including high end cars that are shipped in containers out of the Port of LA to foreign countries. Many times the stuff is shipped very quickly after being stolen.

13

I’m sure the business already filed a burglary report. I will keep my eye out for the bikes.

14

Wow. That really sucks. I’ll keep an eye out for these bikes here in the LBC.

15

Not sure if this is one of the bikes, but this seems way too cheap.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/bik/1019563907.html

16

So just out of curiosity, I contacted the seller and here is what I got back. Tell me this doesn’t stink to high Heaven of SCAM!!!

Hi there,
2008 Pinarello Prince Carbon 58cm w/Cyclops Powertap for only $2500.
I am glad to see that you are interested in buying my bike. First of all I would like to say how lucky are you and how unlucky I am because I have to sell it.
I moved with my work in London,United Kingdom.I’ve the bike with me.I will send it through FedEx Overnight,Free shipping.
If you are interested in purchasing it, I will do this transaction only trough eBay in order to have a safe transaction for both of us. In order to start the transaction please reply with your eBay ID.
As soon as I have your ebay user name I will post a buy it now auction for you on eBay. I will also go and pay for shipping the bike to your address, it should get there in 24 hrs. max.
Once everything is ready ill send you the buy it now link in order to complete our deal.
I’ll be waiting for your reply soon with the requested details.
Thank you,

17

You should reply telling him that your brother lives in London and he’ll pick up the bike locally and deliver the cash to the buyer. I bet you will never hear back again.

18

You should reply telling him that your brother lives in London and he’ll pick up the bike locally and deliver the cash to the buyer. I bet you will never hear back again.

+1 with this idea. I saw a “too good to be true” deal for a P3C fully kitted out and “oh yeah I’ll throw in the Zipp wheels if you want” on eBay that the buyer said was in NYC (I’m in CT) but the bike was in San Diego. Well my coach is in SD and suggested the same trick.

Not a word since.

cheers
S.

19

hey my brother lives in London,

and yes i have done the trick too, about meeting them face to face, they suddenly vanish
.

20

So just out of curiosity, I contacted the seller and here is what I got back. Tell me this doesn’t stink to high Heaven of SCAM!!!

Hi there,
2008 Pinarello Prince Carbon 58cm w/Cyclops Powertap for only $2500.
I am glad to see that you are interested in buying my bike. First of all I would like to say how lucky are you and how unlucky I am because I have to sell it.
I moved with my work in London,United Kingdom.I’ve the bike with me.I will send it through FedEx Overnight,Free shipping.
If you are interested in purchasing it, I will do this transaction only trough eBay in order to have a safe transaction for both of us. In order to start the transaction please reply with your eBay ID.
As soon as I have your ebay user name I will post a buy it now auction for you on eBay. I will also go and pay for shipping the bike to your address, it should get there in 24 hrs. max.
Once everything is ready ill send you the buy it now link in order to complete our deal.
I’ll be waiting for your reply soon with the requested details.
Thank you,
When I was searching for Super Bowl tickets the past couple of weeks, I got sent the same exact e-mail with the word replacing bike instead of tickets. No…I did not send them the $$ though.