Thursday, 28 March 2024
FeaturedNews

Bike maker sees “ten thousand bikes” worth of OEM kit stolen, driver gassed

The largest bike maker in the Czech Republic, Bike Fun International, has seen the equivalent of ten thousand bicycles’ worth of OEM finishing kit stolen on route to the assembly plant.

While transporting the components from Germany, criminals put a truck driver to sleep by gassing him in a parking lot and then stole the important Shimano components. As a result, the customers of the bike maker’s brands will have to wait longer for some models from Superior, Rock Machine and other brands.

The heist took place on the night of January 21 at a motorway rest area in Germany during a truck driver’s break. The incident was carried out by a well-organised group who, by all indications, must have planned the whole thing in advance. The bike maker suggests that, in all likelihood, the truck had been followed from the time it was loaded. The thieves waited for the driver to take a rest break, and then the perpetrators put him to sleep with gas let into the cab. Finally, they disguised the evidence in the cargo area with a fire extinguisher to prevent the seizure of the trace.

BFI supply chain director Petr Krkoska said of the stolen haul: The situation for bicycle producers worldwide is really difficult. On the one side we are dealing with huge demand, but on the other side there is an even bigger shortage of components, caused by many factors. From the consignment loaded mostly with expensive e-bike and bike parts only nine boxes of low-end components were left in the truck. This will delay production of some models by almost a year, as there is no alternative on the market for many of the parts from this shipment. We are a strong and stable company, so this is just another obstacle out of many we are facing last years, but would this happen to smaller manufacturers, it would be liquidating for them.

We really haven’t seen this situation before. Even Shimano has not faced with a targeted robbery of a shipment on a similar scale. We hope that due to the shortage of parts, these cases will not be repeated, because despite all the measures we have set up, no insurance cover can compensate us for the loss and especially the reputation for late delivery. We decided to communicate this matter to warn other producers, because it could happen to them also,” he added.

During the pandemic, the interest in bicycles increased rapidly and stolen goods have been a problem for the trade, in particular for bike shops. However, delivery times for new bicycles to end customers have been delayed in some cases for up to two years due to component shortages.

In addition to the global pandemic there have been countless other unprecedented hurdles, for example the grounding of a container ship in the Suez Canal, where many producers had material.