A Cardiff man tracked his stolen bike using GPS, revealing a citywide theft network.
Cardiff ranks third worst for bike theft in England and Wales. Police warned Butetown residents about rising thefts. Dylan Bilyard lives there. Dylan found his bike gone one morning. Only a wheel remained outside. He decided to track stolen bikes. His friends had bikes stolen five times recently.
Eva Cahill, 24, also had her bike stolen. It disappeared outside her university in daylight. She owned the bike since she was 15. It had sentimental value, not high value. She reported it. Police couldn’t help without a serial number.
Now, she uses multiple locks on her mother’s bike. She parks in view of CCTV. Dylan and Eva still wonder about their bikes. Dylan bought a GPS tracker and put it on a used bike.
He locked the bike with a cable at 4 pm. The tracker hid under the seat, like Eva’s bike. He got a notification the next day at 3 pm that the bike had moved. The map showed it going around the city.
He saw thieves carrying bikes with broken locks before the notification. They followed the same path as his tracker. They gave wheels to someone in exchange for a small item. The thieves then went to a car park and used drugs.
Dave Hanns runs Motorlegs Cycle Workshop. He said bikes get traded for drugs often. Thieves usually need a fix, and stolen bikes often fund drug use. Dave doesn’t judge the thieves. Dave recognized stolen bikes instantly. Sellers use oddly sized bikes or damaged ones.
He saw thieves use angle grinders publicly. Sometimes they posed as council workers. Michael Winter owns another bike shop. Stolen bikes were sold to him before, which he realized when police came looking.
Stolen bikes are often sold online or in second-hand shops. Thieves trade bikes to professionals, who then resell them. Michael sends police serial numbers now to protect himself from stolen bikes. He said police find it easier to check his stock that way.
Most cases close without finding the bike. Dylan’s tracked bike went to Fairwater quickly. It crossed Sanatorium Park within an hour. The tracker stayed at an address there. Dylan checked it out after a few days.
He heard music and saw a tattooed hand holding a cigarette at the door. A dog barked inside. He sent a letter with his number and asked for an anonymous talk. He never got a reply. The tracker is now offline; someone likely disabled it. The fate of Cardiff’s stolen bikes remains unknown.