Sheriff’s Office warns of spike in bike thefts across Summit County

Bicycle thefts are increasing countywide, prompting a warning from legislation enforcement.

Pics of lost bikes have been popping up on local messaging boards. Bicycles have been taken from bicycle racks, porches, outside the house of organizations and even garages, police say.

The Summit County Sheriff’s Business office has noticed a latest improve in significant-finish bicycle thefts countywide, specifically in the unincorporated spots and the cities of Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge. Given that June 2022, a full of eight bikes have been claimed stolen, six of which ended up stolen in July, the place of work noted.

“I rode it pretty much just about every working day,” Lindsay Galbraith reported of her gravel bike that was not long ago stolen.

Galbraith resides in the vicinity of the west stop of Key Road in Frisco. In the last two yrs, two of her bikes, worth a total of about $2,500, were being stolen.

“They must know about our developing,” she mentioned.

The 1st time close to, intruders slash her Kryptonite lock and obtained away with an $800 excess fat bike in January 2021. The 2nd time, July 20, intruders snagged her roughly $1,700 gravel bike, and all that remained of it was the remnants of the second Kryptonite bike lock she bought immediately after shedding her initially bike. Each had been saved in her condo’s shared garage.

Thanks to engineering, a neighbor with a Ring digicam may well have caught the robbers driving off with her gravel bike. She explained a pickup truck pulled into the garage all over 5 a.m. on July 20. About four minutes afterwards, it left with some thing metallic in the bed, she explained.

She described the possible procedure as “business-like.” They have been in and out. “They understood just what they ended up heading for,” she said.

She described her bicycle stolen, but Frisco police had no leads, she claimed. She’s also posted the bike’s serial number on Bicycle Index, a internet site wherever proprietors can place their bicycle on file and report it stolen. Local community associates can then determine a bike and get hold of its operator. 

Galbraith hasn’t completely shed hope, but provided her initially bike had been shed for far more than a 12 months and a 50 percent, she presently moved on and bought a new one particular to maintain pedaling via the summer. As of Monday, the two bikes ended up however lacking, so she carries on to examine Craigslist and Pinkbike, just in situation, she claimed.

Max Laney, of Wildernest, documented a similar incident. On July 24, he returned from a 1-night time camping and kayaking trip along the Arkansas River to locate that the two locks wrapped close to his bicycle had been reduce.

His bike experienced been “tucked away” in his unit’s carport along with a handful of his roommates’ bikes. The bikes, about 6 in total, ended up locked to a bike rack with a tangle of three locks. All three have been lower, he stated, together with the two hooked up to his. 

In complete, at least $10,000 worth of bikes have been strapped to the bicycle rack, however Laney’s $4,000 customized YT Carpa was the only just one missing. If the thief understood what they were being undertaking, he reported, they however produced the greatest decision. His roommates marginally less high priced downhill bike was also permit loose from its lock, but it was remaining alone.

Laney mentioned he described the theft to the Summit County Sheriff’s Business office, and all his roommates moved their bikes to their unit’s balcony.

Laney doesn’t have considerably hope of reuniting with his bicycle, and — in particular following totalling his motor vehicle the week prior right after hitting a deer – he does not have the income to switch it.

“I know about the bike predicament. I know they vanish pretty quickly,” he claimed. “I actually really don’t assume it’s in the county any additional.”

“Unfortunately, Summit County is not immune to these varieties of thefts that usually depart the sufferer experience violated,” Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons mentioned. “All of the bicycles that have been stolen in this current rash of thefts had been all locked or chained outside which exhibits the determination of criminals.

Intruders will occasionally function by yourself and other occasions as part of prison companies he stated.

“They can be pretty intricate investigations,” FitzSimons stated.

Bikes, like autos, can generally be really worth much more in parts than in whole, and thieves will from time to time crack a bicycle down to its individual components, creating recovery approximately difficult, he reported.

To assist prevent bike theft, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office suggests the adhering to pieces of advice:

• Know and document the bike’s make, design and 12 months. Just take lots of photos of the bike and report its serial number. Serial numbers and a photograph can assist return a bicycle to its operator, the Sheriff’s Business office claimed.
• Very good locks go a extensive way. U-locks are heavier, bulkier and tougher to lower than cable locks, the Sheriff’s Place of work reported. Bike entrepreneurs really should minimize the area between the lock and the bicycle and ought to lock the most high priced parts of the bike — typically the body and rear wheel. Bikers need to also make certain the detail they are securing their bike to is immovable and the lock are not able to be slipped off.
• Lock the bike in a nicely-lit place, preferably under surveillance. Even though a garage can be a safe area, the Sheriff’s Workplace said house owners really should make confident their bikes are not noticeable from the avenue. Thieves have been regarded to stroll into garages, so entrepreneurs need to also make positive their garage doorways are shut and secured.

The Sheriff’s Business also encourages house owners buy bike coverage and a GPS tracker.