fullsus
EE
pg22
FR
The latest results & your July Calendar
June 2013
MOUNTAIN BIKE MONTHLY
Responsibility
pg15
Nutrition
p17
Moab MTB Mecca
pg6
Cederburg
pg10
Gear
pg21
Second hand bikemares - avoid getting burnt
A
vron Sirin, of Cycle Traders specialises in 2nd hand bikes and he’s got his finger on the pulse of what’s selling in Cape Town, says that he routinely gets phone calls asking him to keep an eye out for a particular stolen bike. In fact when I popped into Cycle Traders to talk second hand bikes, Avron received a phone call from a customer letting him know that about a bike that had been stolen over the weekend. So bike theft is clearly a big deal. But where are the stolen bikes going? Are they being recovered or are they being resold to unsuspecting honest folks? Full Sus has heard about a particular second hand shop in Plumstead, that offered a stolen Specialized for 4K. The bike’s previous owner, who’d had it nicked out of his garage, managed to track the bike down – on the advice of his insurance broker – and asked to take it to his local bike shop for a once over. With his bike now safely back in his possession he double checked the frame number and phoned the cops. The shop owner seems to have been innocent of any wrong doing except for failing to ask questions of the seller. But the fact remains he parted with cash for a hi-spec bike which was being offered at a ridiculously reduced rate.
So maybe losing out will teach him to ask questions in future, but will his refusal to buy a stolen bike stop bike theft? It’s not likely. We can all spot a dodgy deal when someone offers you a Cannondale Trigger Carbon for a couple of thousand South African Rand, but what if the seller is more clued up on bikes? If you’re buying a bike off Gumtree what guarantee do you have that you won’t turn up at your next race only to have a gang of angry riders descend on you and reclaim their mate’s bike? Okay, so that’s an extreme example, but it’s still a scary thought. You might riding a stolen bike. So what can you do to mitigate the risk? Well we’d suggest buying from a reputable second hand bike trader like Cycle Traders. Even non specialist shops like Cash Converters or Cash Crusaders should in theory be more secure as they have a “time-lag of seven days before anything they purchase goes on sale” which should give the police the time to track it down should it be stolen. Despite the risk, often, it’s just cheaper to buy from an individual. So you might well find yourself going the Gumtree or The Hub route. If you do it
turn to page 4
WWW.OAKPICS.COM
So you’re looking for an upgrade at a reasonable price, and after weeks of browsing the net you settled on a bike off Gumtree. But as you’re pulling up to the oke’s address the cops are leading him and your would-be bike away. To help you avoid this and other pit-falls Seamus Allardice went digging.