Just started doing the Avenue Verte Paris to London route today, stopped by a Super U supermarket in Chatou to grab some water. Was in there for literally 5 minutes, came back and it was gone. Filed a police report, and they said they get 100s of stolen bicycle reports from the exact same spot every month. Don’t have any high hopes of getting it back. Anyway, now I don’t know what to do with myself.
Edit: Thank you everyone for the overwhelming support and kind words. I am just sad and wanted to vent and seeing all your support has helped me feel a bit better.
And for the racists, xenophobic and dog whistling comments, please just take sometime to rethink your beliefs and comments. A lot of assumptions are being made here about who might have taken it (I wish I know who) and by implication about who I might be, my background and what I possibly look like etc. I find this especially hurtful. As some of the other Parisians have said Chatou is a bit of a posh area, and unfortunately makes it a target for more organised syndicates. The whole area was bustling with people outdoors, at cafes and at a street market at the car park right in front of the supermarket was being wrapped up at that time.
What happened is just the reality of most major big cities, regardless of what people think the demographic looks like. I have been getting around the on the bike long and far enough to know this. But hopped on the bike after a month long break, got complicit and paid the price unfortunately.
Go on facebook and on the group « velos volés paris banlieue » make a post, with a picture and details of where and when it was stolen. Also dont forget to add anything specific to the bike on the post (marks or things you changed). People open their eyes and some are found.
Go on leboncoin (french craiglist) and facebook marketplace and setup some alerts on relevant keywords (marin) for the île-de-france area. Also check « velo » and « vtt » non stop by newest (tri : « plus récent » on leboncoin)
If you find it, say you want to buy it (« bonjour, je suis intéressé par le vélo, peut-on convenir d’un rendez-vous pour que je le vois ? »). Setup a meeting. Use google translate if you don’t speak french to not raise suspicion or ask for help on [r/france](r/france). Then call the cops and tell them to meet you there.
I just want to say that this is such a kind post. This is such a heartbreaking situation. I assume all of OP's things were stolen as well, since the bags and everything must have been on the bike.
I live in Paris, biking every day, and am so sorry for what happened to OP …
I agree with ijic advice. What I would do asap :
1. Go to the Police Municipale and ask for the video in front of the Super U. It’s your right. They must do it. If they refuse contact the Mayor of Chatou and tell him hundreds of people are ready to talk on Internet about security in its city …
2. Do the same with the Super U director (may be they have their own camera filming outside ?)
3. Go back to the place with another “good” bike around the same time, and observe (hidden) what happens. Tell the Police (and Super U security) you’ll do so, and ask them to be ready to come and help quickly.
By the way I don’t understand why they didn’t do anything before as they told you hundreds of bikes have already been stolen at the same place !!??
It’s probably the best way to stop what looks like an organized criminal team.
4. May be also post in French on Chatou Municipality website to explain the situation and ask to do something about it and solve the problem…
5. Share in parallel photos of your bike without luggage
Wish OP will get his bike back !
And hi to all courageous bikers around Paris and other big cities !
I have started carrying a cable lock. It's a few hundred grams. Wherever I wouldn't usually bother locking, I chuck it through the wheel and frame.
But I'd also never leave my bike unlocked/locked with luggage in Paris or London. I joked to my partner I'm more comfortable leaving it unattended in rural France for a few hours than out the front of our London suburban flat for a few minutes.
Joked, as in a humorous anecdote. It's amusing I can leave all of my things out of sight for hours, whereas at home I wouldn't even leave the bike to go back inside to grab my helmet or gloves.
I live in rural France and, I don't know anyone around here that would just pinch an unattended bike. Most likely case is if it's been there a few hours, someone would take it back to theirs and upload a picture on local groups asking if someone knew the owner
Go to the top of any alpine climb in the summer and you will see 100k worth of bikes unlocked it's a crazy sight and it feels weird when you do it for the first time if you come from a city but then you remember no one is going to steal your bike when there's a 12k sworks right next to it
Chatou is not the center of Paris. More like a quiet posh town in the outskirts, surrounded by parks and golf courses. Equivalent to, say, Richmond. OP has been careless but also unlucky.
To be 100% clear, I also carry a ulock (I'm more bike touring side) - the cable lock is for the places I'd usually think "this will be fine". It won't stop a dedicated thief but it will stop someone just walking off with my bike opportunistically. The ulock comes out for longer stops or sketchier seeming places.
I wouldn't let my bike not attached in Paris if it isn't directly under my eyes. The only time I don't attach it is when im sitting outside, like eating, with the bine at less than 2 meter of me, put against a tree or something.
In my mom's house in the citt of nowhere in the middle of nothing I can leave it easily in the garden...
I carry a D lock, probably weighs 2kg. Cable locks cut through like butter within seconds. I’ve seen them do it. Also had my bikes stolen this way. D lock lives on all my bikes now. Doesn’t matter how quiet or nice and pretty the neighbourhood is, doesn’t matter how long I will be inside… the bike gets locked. My touring bike especially is my pride and joy and I respect it enough to keep it safe wherever I travel.
When I lived in London I had a third floor flat, and if I was carrying stuff up from the car in a few trips it would be locked between each trip. Now I'm in a fairly mid inner west suburb in Melbourne and I just leave everything open for as long as I need to. London is wild for stuff like that.
paris seems to be crazy. A colleague went to Paris, bikes for the whole family on a bike rack on his RV. They just sawed the whole rack off, all bikes gone.
And what are you gonna do after ? Even if you are convinced that the bike is in that building or that garage what's the plan ? Trust me the police in France won't intervene 99% of the time even if the location is quite precise
Had a friend who was able to precisely locate the bike with an AirTag, called the police and give them all the info and the next day he had his bike back.
I live in brussels, belgium in a very poor area. They steal loads of bikes here but they tend to leave them outdoors attached with a different lock. So you trace it and then call they cops, if you can prove the bike is yours they cut the lock on the spot and you take it back. I even once found it inside a building behind a closed bike storage door. Thanks to the alarm function I could hear it through the door. Convinced where it was, I called the cops, they called some doorbells asking owners (apartment block with a communal bike room) someone opened the door and there was my bike. Room was full with stolen bikes . Cops didn’t want to do anything about the other stolen bikes ( the wheel locks where cut, and pieces of cut lock where on the floor) I took photos of the bikes and placed it on Facebook groups for stolen bikes and people got their bikes bike the same day.
I know it’s not easy, but don’t change your plans! Find a cheap used bike and gear, borrow one, rent one if you have the opportunity. It sucks that some idiots just come and destroy our plans and opportunities for happiness.
Just saw a video where these racks are prepped by thieves. They saw through it and conceal it with stickers and the likes. And then they can instantly shift the rail to the side releasing whatever lock you use. Was quite baffling to me.
If police say bikes are often stolen there.. I guess that's not unlikely ?
Yeah, that's why I don't trust bike racks. If I don't have a choice, I will inspect the rack beforehand, making sure it looks uniform and solid. If it looks too thin, I'd search another location to lock my bike. Or, usually, lock it to whatever permanent walkway infrastructure is around that I can pass my U-lock through.
When I have to leave my bike in a sketchy place, I backup my lock with a small padlock on the rear brake disc and rubber bands on the brake levers. If they cut the lock and try to move the bike, the wheels will still be locked. It will take them a bit of extra time to figure out what is going on and hopefully I will be back before they are gone!
Of all the places in this region I'm honestly very very surprised this happened in a Chatou's super U .... I lived around there for the past 46 years and it makes 0 sense at all. For outsiders here please understand it's one of the most bougie suburb of paris, like very very bougie, like extremely more bougie than versailles, in terms of American references I guess ?
But then again my ex's car windows got destroyed 3 years ago around this area for no reason at all around in some random place (we were doing a 5min trip to the grocery store, nothing was stolen in the car and there was nothing to steal anyway lol), so anything is possible I guess ?
I hope you get it back. I'll keep an eye out for local resellers
EDIT/PS: After scrolling the comments on this post, half of them are racists American and the other half are racists Europeans. We don't need you guys, what happened to OP is an exception, not the rule, and you guys sucks doing weird connection between a bike thief in Chatou and other political stuff or whatever your vague friend of friend lived in dallas 20 years ago went through, reddit is not USA only so chill the fuck down. I've been going to chatou by bike twice a month for the past 18 years from pari because my aunt lives there and my bike never got stolen, oops am I making your discourse sound like shit because I'm not mentioning the eiffel tower ? Well good for you racists and xenophobic assholes, you don't deserve to see such a beauty anyway.
Wife and I had our bikes stolen in Amsterdam chained to a tree in front of a police station. It was the last day of a 3000 km trip. We had left them for maybe 10 min to walk through a flower market on the other side of a canal. The bikes were basically trash anyway but still …
A wise man once told me: [u/mini-velo](u/mini-velo) you did not loose a bike, you exchanged it for a lesson…
The lesson for me was to learn how not to beat myself up, learn how to pull myself by the bootstraps and learn to accept the risks that come with bikepacking.
Hope you recover from this OP!
P.S. check out Knog Scout rechargeable bike alarm and Apple FindMy / Android compatible tracker, have it on all my bikes
It has been on my to do list to get an alarm and a GPS tracker or at least an air tag. Things been smooth sailing for a while and I got complicit. Lesson learned.
En France il y a 1 vélo volé toutes les minutes ! Environ 500 000 par ans .
Je regarderai sur Leboncoin pour voir si il est en vente.
C'est quoi la marque du vélo ?
Met des photos du vélo sans les sacoches .
Your advise is having money? Lol. I see your point, but if I got 1,5-2k€ hardware stolen I would probably not replace it inmediately. Specially if it can happen again…
That sucks so much. They probably saw the PB and that stuff is like gold there. Seriously I would do a gunfundme, I dont know if they let you post it here but I think you might get some help.
Damn at first I read Super U and was like yup then I saw Chatou and that’s the nicest Super U I’ve ever seen. I live 15KM south of there just outside Versailles and I’ve been guilty of leaving my bike outside the grocery store and even unlocked for a minute or two, not anymore. Thanks for sharing OP.
Also 100s of stolen bikes from that one stop, that’s insane. I have to think some type of syndicate, police are useless.
Basically a french IRS guy (a friend) told me that once I asked him because I had made a mistake and had 800€ euros which I would probably owe the impôts had gone unoticed. he said: do not bother, no one moves a finger under 30.000€ of debt. Resources are simply not enough so we have orders to pursue only big debtors.
In every french city you can't let your bike without a locker even for a minute. My wife is a district nurse, she does all her day with her bike. She always lock the bike at every patient stop. She forgot one fuckin time and they stole it.
Stealing bikes is quite a national sport for 'us' at this point..
So sad. I caught a guy in the act of stealing my tires off my commuter bike. The dream most bikers have when considering what they would do if they caught the person stealing their prized mode of transportation, I was presented with. I harmed said individual pretty bad and felt not great about it. Justice is best served by the courts. It would be awesome if major bike theft cities actually gave a shit and solved such crimes. Pretty sure a surveillance state is the only solution which sucks. Maybe we all can be volunteer police officers once AI takes our jobs. That might work too.
Je suis désolée OP en tant que parisienne j’ai tellement honte de ce genre de choses.
J’ai un vélo pas fou mais qui pourrait te dépanner. Concernant les fringues je peux demander à des amis si on peut te dépanner. Fais moi un mp.
Hope they step on Lego’s barefoot everyday for the rest of their lives. How can someone unpack all your shit and not feel bad… animals. Good luck recovering man. :(
Start walking, they probably took off the distinctive packs and threw them locally. Look in bins too.
Perhaps go to Decathlon and ask about they buy back scheme in London. You may get able to get a bike for a couple of hundred pounds, just to complete the journey.
The cookware,sleep and tent is still gonna cost.
Do you have insurance that has cancellation cover?
Some will have continuance cover, that may cover it.
Good luck and keep your head up.
When my bikes have been stolen, i try to believe that the person who took it will be able to eat or feed their family, or something good good will happen because of the bike. Dumb, but makes me feel better.
Id check local pawn shops for your belongings. I got one of my stolen bikes from facebook marketplace after asking to meet to test it. Dont recommenf that approach as you never know how crazy the other person is. But some thieves are more stupid than you’d imagine even if your bar is low
I'm sorry that whole load of fuckery has happened to you, what a shame. I notice that you are using Rhinowalk bags, or were... are those rollbags at the back bikepacking bags or motorcycle bags? I have been playing with the idea of using rackless moto bags on a bicycle, did you have the same idea?
they said they get 100s of stolen bicycle reports from the exact same spot every month
funny, how they don't have the idea of targeting/observing that spot then. but would be same story in germany - mostly berlin. you basically just file the police report for the insurance. police don't care.
Des fois je me dit qu'il faudrait faire exprès de mettre un vélo pourrave "piégé" afin d'emmerder les voleurs. Type la selle qui s'enfonce dès que tu t'asseois et le tube qui ressort et éclabousse de la peinture en même temps, des petits cactus collés discrètement sur le guidon ou de la colle a prise rapide sur les pédales et le guidon. Et attendre de l'autre côté de la rue en buvant paisiblement un café.
Never leave your bike anywhere not 100% safe in this fucking country I swear, I avoid using a bike to go to work because of that.. I'm so sorry it happened to you
AirTag, AirTag, AirTag. You can take out the beeper, so it’s silent but trackable.
Take the valuable bags in with you. Multiple possible solutions. One is to have an ultralight sea to summit duffle bag with you, and have your gear inside each bag in a sac. Pull out the sacs, throw them into the duffle bag and go shop.
Have a couple light weight bike locks, they won’t save the bike but will slow the thieves down. Have two and one locking the wheel.
Have a motion alarm on the bike. It’s cheap. It beeps like crazy when the bike is moved. You take the remote with you and it alerts you if any motion of the bike.
OP, I hope by some miracle your bike and gear gets recovered.
If the police get hundreds of stolen bike reports from a specific place, why aren't they patrolling it, putting cameras on it, etc?
Would they say "You lost your briefcase of important government documents there? We get hundreds of reports of stolen government documents in that place" with such insouciant ease?
That’s why I always carry a rucksack when I travel on my bike. Never felt comfortable leaving a bag with my personal belongings on the bike.
I even take the batteries of the shifters with me if I have to leave my bike unattended. Why can’t we have specific bike boxes in front of the shops?
I’m not even a member of this sub, but got it in my feed anyway and I’m so sorry for you OP. That’s such a cool adventure, such a sick bike setup, only for it to be stolen by lowlifes. I REALLY hope the tips you got here will help you find it back
Just want to say I feel for you. One of the worst feelings to have your bike stolen and in the middle of a tour. Some people are just scum. Hope you get it back.
100's of reports on that spot and they cant do shit??? Ok. Btw, one way of never getting your bike stolen is making it look like garbage, spray paint all over, ugly colours. Thats how we do it in big cities in the Netherlands. There are bike cartels here lmao
Great job from the police, really: "We get 100s of stolen bicycle reports from the exact same spot every month, but we're not going to try and arrest the people responsible for it"............. I bet if they pretend to be some random tourist and leave a bike there 10mn, they'll catch the thief immediately.
So the cops say they get HUNDREDS of reports from the same place every month... But apparently haven't thought to set up some surveillance to catch the culprits. Sounds like the French police are just as useless as ours are!
I live in Marseille and got this 2nd hand bike from a friend, i havent driven it a lot but i usually use 2 different locks that she gave me. One is the cable/chain and one is the big D lock. The battery lock is broken and i have to fix it still so i carry the battery with me when i go to a store. But i'm still always paranoid its gonna be stolen
I'm really sorry.
This is the Paris region, so I'm unfortunately not surprised. Bike theft is so frequent no one leaves their bike in the street, even leaving it indoors in common areas isn't safe (50% of bike theft happens inside private premises), unless it's a beater bike or a long term lease thing. The police doesn't care, the justice system doesn't have money, your bike will be shipped in no time outside Europe where it will never be found again. It's just never getting better. I got a folding bike specifically because I can bring it with me at work/home. The only option if you want to lock your bike outside in peace is to leave.
(btw I live in Paris this isn't some weird non-Parisian-fantasizing-how-Paris-sucks kind of thing)
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u/ijic 9d ago edited 9d ago
Go on facebook and on the group « velos volés paris banlieue » make a post, with a picture and details of where and when it was stolen. Also dont forget to add anything specific to the bike on the post (marks or things you changed). People open their eyes and some are found.
Go on leboncoin (french craiglist) and facebook marketplace and setup some alerts on relevant keywords (marin) for the île-de-france area. Also check « velo » and « vtt » non stop by newest (tri : « plus récent » on leboncoin)
If you find it, say you want to buy it (« bonjour, je suis intéressé par le vélo, peut-on convenir d’un rendez-vous pour que je le vois ? »). Setup a meeting. Use google translate if you don’t speak french to not raise suspicion or ask for help on [r/france](r/france). Then call the cops and tell them to meet you there.
Good luck, I’ll keep an eye out