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David Cameron has bike stolen. AgainScott-Atacama (a bit like David Cameron's).jpg

David Cameron has bike stolen. Again

Leader of the Opposition has his bike nicked from the railings outside his home
by Tony Farrelly
Wed, May 06, 2009 16:54
7

Have you seen a four-year-old Scott Hybrid, black and silver with blue bands on the top and down tubes? Answers to the name of “old friend”. It's probably somewhere in west London, although I just spotted one parked up while nipping to the shops here in Bath…

Anyway. If you have seen such a bike looking like it's lost its owner the Tory leader would like to hear from you. He had his bike stolen for the second time this morning this time from the railings outside his home in London.

We've had some of the best hybrid bicycle identifying brains in the country working on this and we're saying it's a Scott Atacama, circa 2005/2006, but it could be a Sportster. Udate on that, the guys at Scott reckon it may be older than that poss even a 2000 Atacama Pro. If you know what it is let us know.

The bike pictured is like the one stolen, but Mr Cameron's is silver at the back and has a rack, so practically identical then… in a police photofit kind of a way.

According to the BBC the bike was chained up outside his house at 0710am but was gone an hour later… it would be interesting to know what type of chain Mr Cameron was using. Anything reasonably hefty should have required bolt croppers – unless of course the lock it was used with was a cheap one. If it was locked properly you'd have thought someone would have noticed a person carrying a pair of bolt croppers at that time in the morning outside the home of the leader of the oppostion. Obviously not.

Although bike theft is on the rise and is an increasingly big problem in our major cities, growing along with the rise in the numbers of cyclists, Mr Cameron can count himself unlucky to have been the victim of bike theft twice in such a short space of time. Although there is evidence that some bike thieves are becoming more organised, in the main bike theft remains an opportunist crime, and those most at risk are people who don't lock their bikes properly or at all.

In July last year Mr Cameron's bike was stolen from outside a Tesco store in West London. It was later found in a nearby street and returned to him a few days later.

We hate to hear of anybody having their bike stolen so let's hope he is as lucky this time. Keep 'em peeled! 

Scott Atacama
David Cameron
Tony Farrelly

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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7 comments

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Tony Farrelly | 15 years ago
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Pretty sure this one is - or it's Belgian the little .be might be a giveawy there.

Ironically Dave's bike could well be German too (I know technically all Scotts are German, well Austrian). We wanted to run one of Scott's stock shots of the Atacam, but from pics we've seen of Cameron riding, his bike doesn't match up to any UK spec'd versions they could find, and it's quite old too which made it even harder to identify. It did look to be in pretty good nick though. (pardon the pun) for what our man at Scott reckoned was a nine year old hybrid.

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cat1commuter | 15 years ago
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Photo looks German to me, where orange wheel reflectors are compulsory. (My German neighbour tells me that hers often got pinched.)

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Mr Sock | 15 years ago
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Well I think this sounds like a government attempt to destabilise the opposition by nicking their leader's bike… they tried sending rude emails about people wives, this is the logical next step in ratcheting up the pressure!

How's Dave going to be able to keep his mind on the job of providing an effective opposition, while preparing for government and looking statemanlike if he's worried sick about where his bike is?

It's an assault on democracy that's what it is! Or maybe he should get a better lock.

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bicycle bob | 15 years ago
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doesn't he own a shed to put it in? He is probably claiming for a second shed too.

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Tony Farrelly replied to bicycle bob | 15 years ago
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bicycle bob wrote:

doesn't he own a shed to put it in? He is probably claiming for a second shed too.

No it's a politician's bike it was sitting on the fence… (sorry)

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Jon Burrage | 15 years ago
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Maybe, just maybe this could kick start a bit of self questioning in politics and the police who have this "bikes get nicked, just deal with it" attitude. No, we wont just deal with it...thats the police's job and the politicians. Crack down on it, just because it happens ALL the time doesnt mean it isnt illegal and doesnt cause a hell of a lot of grief/turmoil to an innocent person.

sort it out.

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hammergonewest | 15 years ago
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At least he had it chained up this time, it wasn't locked at all when he left it outside Tesco. I think there's issues of judgement there myself 39 although I don't want to start talking politics

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