James Bond calls for witnesses

A fleet of superbikes has been stolen from East Midlands bike shops in what is believed to be a series of connected ram raids on Tuesday night.

The Specialized concept store in Nottingham, Chesterfield Cycle Centre and Expert Bike Repair in Rotherham were targeted by the thieves who used vehicles to break into the stores. They clearly knew what they were looking for as in all cases as they targeted high end models and ended up with thousands of pounds worth of bikes

Nottinghamshire police reports that early on Tuesday morning, a stolen Ford Fiesta was driven into the Nottinghamshire store and took two bikes. They were:

Similarly a van was driven into the front doors of Chesterfield Cycle Centre and thieves ended up taking:

Ram raid yetis

The stolen Yetis (Henton)

Finally Expert Bike Repair in Rotherham was also broken into and two Bergamont hardtails and a red and white Lapierre 214 were taken.

The three bike shops are all within 40 miles which leads Police to believe that the incidents are related.

Det Sgt James Bond (yes, really), of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We would urge anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area at the time of this incident to get in touch.

“We are also asking people to look out for these bikes – which are quite unique in appearance – particularly on selling sites. If you hear of anyone attempting to sell such a bike, we would like to hear from you.”

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Tom Henton, an employee at Chesterfield Cycle Centre, is hoping that raising awareness of the thefts will make the bikes too hot to handle. He posted on Facebook: “So some robbing sods have broken into Chesterfield cycle centre tonight! Our store has been ram raided. Over £15000 worth or bikes stolen!”

As always, if you know anything or see anything suspicious contact the Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.