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news
Layhams Road (Google Maps)"They said give us the bike or we stab you": Another cyclist targeted by motorbike-riding muggers on popular route out of London
A club rider from south London says he has lost "freedom and independence to go and ride my bike" after escaping an attempted bikejacking by motorbike-riding muggers in the latest of a series of incidents.
The victim, a road.cc reader, told us they were threatened by the offenders, who told him they would take his bike (a 2022 S-Works Tarmac SL7) or stab him, during the frightening attack on Thursday evening on Layhams Road, in West Wickham.
The road is a popular route for cyclists riding out of the capital into the Surrey and Kent countryside, and is part of the same area where riders were, in April, warned of a moped gang seemingly targeting lone female cyclists after a rider was held down and had their bike stolen during an attack.
Recalling the latest incident, the reader said: "Two men on bikes went past me. One electric motorcross style and one superbike replica 125cc bike with a loud exhaust. They pulled into a side road, let me ride past them and then came after me.
"They swerved in front of the bike to box me in and stop me. I managed to turn around and sprint off. They came after me again, rode alongside and said, you have two options, you give us the bike or we stab you, then they boxed me in again. I did not see a knife so this may have just been a threat.
"At that point a car turned up that I shouted at to get them to stop and then a group of riders also turned up and the guys on motorbikes fled."
The Penge Cycling Club member says he wishes he had taken the advice of a recent email from the club chairman advising members to only ride in groups as "the situation has got so bad".
"They were both wearing balaclavas so very difficult to ID them for the police but I knew as soon as they went past me that they were dodgy," he continued.
"The police are taking the situation seriously and are looking to try to connect any similar cases.
"The saddest thing for me apart from being very shaken is that it has now taken away my freedom and independence to go and ride my bike whenever I want as I am now in fear of a similar situation.
"They are obviously targeting this road and area surrounding it as they know it is a very popular thoroughfare for any cyclists heading out of London. My bike is a 2022 S-Works Tarmac SL7 which is worth a huge amount of money so they clearly know what kind of bikes they are looking for."
In April, a female cyclist was held down and had their bike stolen during an attack on Beddlestead Lane in nearby Warlingham by two men on a scooter.
> Female cyclist held down and bike stolen during frightening attack
Following the incident, another local club, Dulwich Paragon, warned riders to stay vigilant, ride different routes and ride with other people "until there are signs the police have got on top of the situation".
Meanwhile, in October, professional cyclist Alexandar Richardson was knocked off his bike and threatened by a gang with a machete in Richmond Park, in south west London.
At the time, the then-Alpecin Fenix rider, who finished third at last week's national championships, said the attacks were "becoming a common occurrence in parts of London", with the gang taking his team-issue Canyon Aeroad.
It was the second violent robbery in the park within a 24-hour window after the owner of a 2021 Cannondale System Six was pushed off his bike by two balaclava-clad men on an electric scooter.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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47 comments
Which police authority covers this area? Will road.cc post an update from the police about what they are doing?
Dan, in the interests of journalistic accuracy and to avoid the toxicity of mainstream media can you change 'motorbike-riding muggers' to 'muggers riding mopeds'?
I assure you that motorcyclists have no interest in mugging though accept that's a generalisation. Secondly 125cc is a learner vehicle with a low cost of use for the jobbing criminal so moped is closer. Of course there will be a range of people involved in any mode of transport from the charming to the criminal. So there's always going to be some wrong'uns. The key attribute is mugger not motorcyclist. The best motorcyclists at MotoGP, WSBK, and BSB are often keen cyclists so serious athletes in training. 'Bikers' riding American cruisers are a Hollywood myth, amusingly more likely to be a Dentist, Doctor or Actor in California. Moped riding chavs, something quite different again..
Lets not disrespect other vulnerable road users on account of a few chavs.
Strange take. The use of motorcycles is a key part of the crime, I don't think anybody would look at that headline and think "bloody motorcyclists at it again". I've never noticed much toxicity towards motorcyclists in the mainstream media (and I used to be one so I would've noticed). Mentioning that they are using motorcycles for their crime is denigrating motorcyclists about as much as mentioning that they use knives is denigrating chefs. I certainly would see no link between them and someone taking their R1 out for a Sunday spin. If you really want to do something about offensive stereotypes, you might consider not using the socially derogatory stereotype term "chav" to describe the criminals...
"one superbike replica 125cc bike with a loud exhaust"
If you genuinely interested in Journlistic accuracy then why do you wish to describe this motorcycle as a moped, a moped has a max engine capacity of 50cc
Mopeds also have pedals (hence the 'ped' bit), so scooter might be more accurate, although in this case one of the bikes was described as an electric motocross style bike. I've seen people riding these, but they ride them on pavements and don't treat them as an actual motorcycle.
Whilst that is undoubtedly the etymology of the word, I am not sure it is now the accepted (or at least unique) definition. The more common definition was, I thought, a motorbike with a small capacity engine.
Mopeds, (motor) scooters and motorcycles are all motorcycles.
Nope, distinct license types and competence.
Balance Bikes, Penny Farthings and Time Trials are all cycles, so no distinction there...
A motorcycle, often called a motorbike, bike, cycle, or (if three-wheeled) trike, is a two- or three-wheeled motor vehicle..
It's why I always have a heavy duty D-lock on me.
Not that this kind of thing happens up here in the sleepy north Midlands.
However, I have had confrontations with irate motorists before, who soon back off when they see you have a heavy, blunt object in your hands.
Would I give up my pride and joy to scrotes on the off-chance they do actually have knives and are willing to use them?
It's easy to say just hand over your bike, phone, wallet etc, but all that does is embolden them and what starts as threats can quite easily escalate. In the right circumstances I'd give them a taste of their own medicine, there's nothing I hate more than bullies.
I stepped in to stop bike thieves with angle grinders in Camden Town just before the pandemic started and got the "do you know who I am" from them. They soon effed off when I put the biggest on his arse when he got a bit too cocky.
But do you train with it? More - do you train you + D-lock (delivering a devastating strike, can parry, but a slow-moving weapon) vs. someone likely younger than you with a knife? How well do you train? Practice makes ... habit.
Even more than that - do you train the bit that comes before e.g. can we stop the conflict escalating before it's potentially kill or be killed?
Each to their own and there's something to standing up to people. Sometimes just having that confidence in yourself can mean trouble passes you by. There is over-confidence though. I believe a fast knife - or several - is a great leveller.
As I said, I take each situation as it comes. I'm no hero and I'm very much aware of how my age can work against me with slower reaction times when dealing with young men, but to always give in, while the sensible solution, doesn't neccessarily mean that you aren't going to get stabbed anyway. If emboldened by victims just handing their belongings over, many bullies will take it that step further anyway, they get a buzz from it. If someone is daft enough to carry a blade in the first place, they are equally daft to use it.
I don't condone violence, but having been a violent man in the past as part of my job, I may well see the world in a totally different prspective to others.
If we all just throw in the towel every time, they win. Then what do they do? Going after cyclists is probably considered a relatively easy target to them. What next, a lone female walking home at night. Someone's daughter, wife, girlfriend? If the Police had a higher profile crooks wouldn't be so brazen in their attitudes and members of the public wouldn't feel like they need to take the law into their own hands.
Then again, it's London, somewhere I escaped from decades ago and have very few reasons to visit anymore, but when I do there is definitely a different, more menacing vibe wherever you tend to be.
I'm genuinely intrigued as to what your job was!
I was riding solo around the lanes in question this morning, and came to the conclusion that my best bet if I saw moped riders coming would be to hope a fence or gate with my bike. I don't have experience of violence and although I would consider standing up to one, I couldn't stand up to three.
I came to the same conclusion although there's not much fencing alongside those lanes. At those long stretched fields there's literally nothing one can do.
Supply teacher?
It sounds as if you didn't 'escape' London - you couldn't handle it. You're all talk - if you think London is 'menacing' you must be a wuss.
Blimey - are we going to see a lock tonfa duel?
You'd need two for that wouldn't you - one for each leg?
Mount a single long one to the front of the bike and use as tri-bars. Hey presto! You're now twice as dangerous (in the opinions of some people)!
Knife attacks are extremely dangerous.. there's a good reason cops wear stab vests in risky locations.
A sting operation will sort these scumbags out. A high end bike and then taser the bastards!
Failing that. Pepper spray in your bar bag.
The first should be tried by the police
The second is illegal.
Is simply get off my bike push them over whilst they straddle theirs. Pinch their keys. Possibly twist helmets around with their heads still in them so they point the wrong way. Squirt some sugary gels in there petrol tanks. Oh and confiscate their knives.
Society is full of feral kids with police struggling to cope.
Really? So you have one scrote on a moped in front of you and one behind you, they both have knives, what do you think Scrote B is going to be doing while you're dealing with Scrote A?
Haven't you seen the movies? They only attack you one at a time.
Well I'd bravely run away if I could. I've no doubt the first commentor (or yourself of course) would totally take them down though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU8949uj5YI
I would very much be of the running away persuasion, I assure you! If I couldn't run away I'd let them have my bike, much as I adore it and can't really afford to replace it, I'll fight to defend people (or myself) if it's absolutely the only option but there ain't a piece of property on earth I'd risk getting mashed up for.
Or if two do attack at once you simply time a duck so that they end up hitting each other.
It'd look good in a film. I'm not convinced it'd work out that way in real life.
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