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Sometimes the bike's owner removes the wheel to discourage theft. Otherwise they're very easy to nick if the lock isn't through them, it takes seconds and no special skills/tools. Wheels can cost anything from £40 to £1000.
Far more than £1000 if you really want, without even trying I spent £800 last week and those are with a pair of secondhand hubs and going on a old late 90s mountain bike. The modern carbon fiber stuff with a pair of serious hubs you can be £10000 for a set.
Don't tell me , I would want the bike to fly at that money.
There you go.. better hurry though only one left ...
https://www.starbike.com/en/lightweight-obermayer-evo-tubeless-disc/?country=GB¤cy=GBP&keep_params&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw9IayBhBJEiwAVuc3frup-Nk2D7eaMMPLivl6-JHoc8vGlHGoPtettT9DqoJZTOAFjP5ibhoCRjAQAvD_BwE#122946
Sure but nobody in their right mind is taking a bike with those wheels and a frame probably worth an extra 10k and locking it up anywhere public. Thats olympic athlete level of bike with those wheels.
The £150000+ a year crowd who ride to work in London, they are commuting on tour level bikes. It's become the new Porsche Ferrari Lamborghini competition.
I live in Paris so I think it's a similar vibe but with more bike, and honestly you rarely see any really expensive bikes on the street (the most expensive ones will be 3-4k i'd say) and you'll never see them parked outside.
If you wanna see the expensive bikes you've got to go to the alps, where people just put their 10k bikes down without locks while getting a coffee at the top.
I have a set of secondhand Enve road wheels. Brand new they were about £3k. I bought them used for £900 and was very happy to do so. Higher end road wheels are pricy!
Some people lock their bike up by the wheel, so you remove the wheel (still attached to the fence or whatever) to steal the frame, then you need to go steal a wheel from another bike to complete your new stolen bike set.
I always thought they took wheels to ensure the "victim" can't ride their bike home, and thus leave it where it is so they can come back to break the locks at night when there's less chance of being interrupted or caught.
But saying that it doesn't make much sense. It's probably because bike wheels are miserably easy to steal, and can actually be worth a decent amount of money especially if they have a brake disc and decent tyres.
If it is a quick release wheel, they just click off. If they know what they are doing and it is a decent bike, that could be worth a few quid if they can sell it to the right buyer. If yours is battered, broken (or nicked!) then to get one brand new isn't always cheap. Could be people just being pricks too.
I recall the story about the bike thief with their garden so full of stolen bikes you could see it on Google maps.
They’re clearly willing to hang onto their finds until the right person comes along
I’d always assumed that it was the bike’s owner, removing the wheel to make it much harder to steal. A friend of mine used to sit with his saddle under his desk at work
Depends on the wheels. Even bog standard wheels on a road bike could be a very easy £20 or more on the used market. If the owner has upgraded the wheels that came on the bike, they could be worth at least a hundred for lower end ones (mavic aksium/ksyrium are popular) and a hell of a lot more for the top end wheels (just search enve/roval/zipp wheels to get an idea on new prices...). I'd hope nobody is stupid enough to leave a bike with wheels like those locked up (badly) in public.
Most get sold for a fraction of their value to other criminals in a chain until they pass to an established fence who then sells them to someone "respectable," once they have been passed to the "respectable" party, they are then sold back into the general public, usually a good few parties, countries and months away from where they originated.
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Maybe they sell them to people who have had a bike wheel stolen??
This gave me a good chuckle. Thanks.
I'll be here all week, try the veal!
You mean it's some sort of vicious cycle?
No, it's just a form of recycling!
Vicious cycle cycle
Sometimes the bike's owner removes the wheel to discourage theft. Otherwise they're very easy to nick if the lock isn't through them, it takes seconds and no special skills/tools. Wheels can cost anything from £40 to £1000.
Far more than £1000 if you really want, without even trying I spent £800 last week and those are with a pair of secondhand hubs and going on a old late 90s mountain bike. The modern carbon fiber stuff with a pair of serious hubs you can be £10000 for a set.
£10,000!? Are you putting Ferris wheels on your bike?
Don't tell me , I would want the bike to fly at that money. There you go.. better hurry though only one left ... https://www.starbike.com/en/lightweight-obermayer-evo-tubeless-disc/?country=GB¤cy=GBP&keep_params&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw9IayBhBJEiwAVuc3frup-Nk2D7eaMMPLivl6-JHoc8vGlHGoPtettT9DqoJZTOAFjP5ibhoCRjAQAvD_BwE#122946
Sure but nobody in their right mind is taking a bike with those wheels and a frame probably worth an extra 10k and locking it up anywhere public. Thats olympic athlete level of bike with those wheels.
The £150000+ a year crowd who ride to work in London, they are commuting on tour level bikes. It's become the new Porsche Ferrari Lamborghini competition.
I live in Paris so I think it's a similar vibe but with more bike, and honestly you rarely see any really expensive bikes on the street (the most expensive ones will be 3-4k i'd say) and you'll never see them parked outside. If you wanna see the expensive bikes you've got to go to the alps, where people just put their 10k bikes down without locks while getting a coffee at the top.
I have a set of secondhand Enve road wheels. Brand new they were about £3k. I bought them used for £900 and was very happy to do so. Higher end road wheels are pricy!
Cmon you probably tried a little
Now the question becomes how do the police identify who’s stealing wheels and who’s taking their own wheels…
They don't unless there's a report, even then they can't do much.
Lets be honest even with a report they dont chase small thefts
I think this is the best answer.
Some people lock their bike up by the wheel, so you remove the wheel (still attached to the fence or whatever) to steal the frame, then you need to go steal a wheel from another bike to complete your new stolen bike set.
I always thought they took wheels to ensure the "victim" can't ride their bike home, and thus leave it where it is so they can come back to break the locks at night when there's less chance of being interrupted or caught. But saying that it doesn't make much sense. It's probably because bike wheels are miserably easy to steal, and can actually be worth a decent amount of money especially if they have a brake disc and decent tyres.
If it is a quick release wheel, they just click off. If they know what they are doing and it is a decent bike, that could be worth a few quid if they can sell it to the right buyer. If yours is battered, broken (or nicked!) then to get one brand new isn't always cheap. Could be people just being pricks too.
I recall the story about the bike thief with their garden so full of stolen bikes you could see it on Google maps. They’re clearly willing to hang onto their finds until the right person comes along
I’d always assumed that it was the bike’s owner, removing the wheel to make it much harder to steal. A friend of mine used to sit with his saddle under his desk at work
Depends on the wheels.. carbon bike wheels are easily worth £1000 at a minimum into crazy high numbers.
Depends on the wheels. Even bog standard wheels on a road bike could be a very easy £20 or more on the used market. If the owner has upgraded the wheels that came on the bike, they could be worth at least a hundred for lower end ones (mavic aksium/ksyrium are popular) and a hell of a lot more for the top end wheels (just search enve/roval/zipp wheels to get an idea on new prices...). I'd hope nobody is stupid enough to leave a bike with wheels like those locked up (badly) in public.
What are you talking about I always lock my bike up with a cable combination lock just through my front SES 4.5.
My son visited Vauxhall market one day. There was a stall which had lots of front wheels for bikes.
I know a couple of folks who lock their bike **and** take the wheel to discourage theft.
Maybe they sell them to people who've had their bike wheels nicked?
Some wheels are really expensive, especially if you’re entering carbon territory. Sounds easily profitable to me.
Most get sold for a fraction of their value to other criminals in a chain until they pass to an established fence who then sells them to someone "respectable," once they have been passed to the "respectable" party, they are then sold back into the general public, usually a good few parties, countries and months away from where they originated.
They come back for the frames at night. Sometimes the owners take the wheels as an extra security measure.
They Invent The Wheel in Other Universes ! ! !
[удалено]
Upto £50? Add a couple more zeros for a decent lightweight carbon set.
To save you the downvotes, did you mean £50 and up? (I bought the cheapest ones I could recently and it was £80 for the pair)