A British cycling team is devastated after balaclava-clad robbers wielding a machete stole a £8,000 bike in south-west London.
The pair, dressed in black, arrived on a moped and yanked the locked cycle belonging to Jakroo Handsling Racing from the roof rack of a Volvo XC40.
One of them jumped on top of the car parked in a residential street in Putney just before 3pm on Friday.
As he clambered on the vehicle, he left large dents and cracked a windscreen.
When team manager Tony Poole, 33, confronted them, one of the robbers brandished a large knife and threatened him before riding away.
A second cycle was “completely destroyed” and left “hanging and mangled” off the roof rack as the thieves tried to cut through its frame. The missing bike is a carbon Handsling A1R0evoS.
Jakroo said on social media: “Bike theft in London has become organised and brazen.
“Today it crossed the line into violent robbery.
“Senseless really, when you realise how much damage the bikes sustained as they were in the process of being stolen.”
Mr Poole had gone to Putney to collect the bikes for a race at the weekend.
He told The Times: “I started loading the car and left two bikes on the roof, they were locked. They were unattended for maybe five minutes.”
After challenging the robbers, one of them “jumped down, took a couple of steps towards me and grabbed a big handle sticking out of his trousers and showed me a big machete-looking knife down to his thigh.”
Stolen bikes have been found for sale on Facebook as well as in Russia. Organised gangs draw up lists of sought-after models.
The Metropolitan Police said enquiries are ongoing.
David Streule, Jakroo Handsling’s joint manager, told Cycling Weekly: “The Met Police arrived within 10 minutes and took statements. They also sent a forensic expert to lift a boot print from the car bonnet.
“As far as we are aware no one has been caught or arrested so the boot print is unlikely to yield any benefit.”
