Theft Description

My Cannondale Di2 bicycle, frame number CM87806, frame color black with white lines was stolen from the Gym Group gym (formerly Easy Gym) in North End Road, London area of Fulham on Friday 18th January 2019 between 5 – 7 pm.   I arrived at approximately 5 pm and properly mounted the bike’s front wheel onto the wall mount bracket provided by the gym using the ABUS top of the range 9/10 point security   I finished my workout at around 7 pm and discovered that the bike was stolen by, evidently, unscrewing the bolts on the wall mount and bending the bracket so they could safely remove my bicycle.   I had informed the member of the Gym staff immediately and filled in the ‘theft form’ provided by the gym.   I had also called the Police and filed the report. The Police told me that they would need access to the Gym’s CCTV records in order to identify the thief.   I have spoken to the Gym management and they confirmed that they had the CCTV footage which captured the incident clearly showing the arrival of the thief who then carried away my bicycle with him. The manager of the gym had confirmed me that the CCTV camera captured the face of the thief. He was not wearing the hood or the cap. Thus, it is possible to see and potentially recognize the face of the offender.   I urge the Police to collect the CCTV footage from the Gym on the North End Road as soon as reasonably possible!   The fact that my bicycle was stolen had come as a surprise to me because, I, as a bike owner, had made all reasonable steps to ensure that my bike was properly secured onto the gym wall mount.   This Cannondale Di2 model has enhanced security features installed on it. One of them is MAVIC KSYRIUM ELITE UST DISC CENTERLOCK. It means that the wheels cannot be removed employing conventional methods. Only I, the owner, can remove the wheels using the key made solely for me by the Cannondale.   Furthermore, the bike was locked onto the wall mount using top of the range ABUS Granit X Plus 540 D-Lock Bike Lock. It can only be cut by using the electric cutter.   So, this bike was unstealable!!! It was, unfortunately, stolen by breaking the poor quality wall mount provided by the Gym. The thieves, evidently, were not able to cut through my D-Lock, nor were they able to remove the bike’s fitted front wheel in order to take the bicycle away. They had broken the wall rack and carried out the bike by hand because they were not able to ride it. The front wheel was blocked by my ABUS D-Lock.   It is also apparent that the thieves are local, they know this area and the Gym very well. It is obvious that they would walk into the Gym’s area on the ground floor where the bikes would be kept. They would have time and opportunity to select the bicycle potentially worth stealing. They knew precisely how to break the wall mount and to remove the attached bicycle undamaged. They must be a few people, well-organized gang. They did not simply cut the wire, they were brave and strong enough to break loose the Gym’s wall rack. This theft obviously had taken longer than 10 seconds, so they were certain that they had all this time in their hands. This means that they had at least one person on surveillance and another one doing the ‘dirty’ job.   Another point to make is that the robbery had taken place during the peak Gym hours. I have been a member of this gym for four years and I know that this area where the bikes are kept is of very high traffic during the peak hours. Many people come and go into the gym through this area every minute during the peak hours.   The area where the bikes are kept has the entrance to the gym and the staircase. There is no need to enter the pin number in order to get access to this area from the street until 10 pm every day. This means that anyone can come into this area without the need to enter the pin number and to freely steal our valuable possessions. This gym did not take reasonable steps to provide sufficient protection to our possessions.   There must have been at least one or a few gym members who saw the incident but failed to inform the gym staff about it immediately. I am surprised that the gym staff did not see, hear, noticed or even felt that this incident was taking place. There obviously must have been a loud bang or two.   Furthermore, I am confident that there have definitely been eyewitnesses in the street who saw possibly the few men carrying the bicycle from the Gym.   Moreover, the bike was fitted onto the furthest wall mount from the entrance, which means that the thieves had to push all other bikes hanging on the same wall out of the way in order to get the access to my bicycle.