AXE-WAVING BIKER GANG SMASHES into swanky Apple UK store Cops have arrested two men following a failed “smash and grab” robbery at Apple’s flagship store on Regent Street, London. Detectives want to hear from anyone who may have witnessed the incident, which took place at 1am on Tuesday morning. Officers told The Register that up to eight people may have been involved in the …
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These guys are a couple of years late? i mean I remember there being a batch of apple store robberies a couple years ago, then most would be robbers found out that all device serials are traceable and get blocked
or are these guys just super thick? although as mentioned they will basically get a clip round the ear from the UK courts and that will probably encourage them to do something similar again.
According to one report I read (BBC I think) they were caught in Tufnell Park. Now while that *IS* technically in Islington (although only just, it's on the border with Camden) upmarket, trendy Islington it is not. Alongside all the rich trendies some parts of Islington are extremely run-down and deprived.
One of the best things about Islington are it's socioeconomic dynamics.
Take a couple of wrongs turns after exiting one of the trendy bars on a friendly road, and you end up somewhere like the wrong end of North Road. Where I once watched some kids on a scooter smash the back window of an Audi A3 and whup the laptop in there while the owner was in the council office.
And then, as I walked up the road around about the parks/greenspace office, they tried to sell said laptop to me. I politely declined, they politely made their exit.
Even stranger is that 300yds down the road towards the recycling centre is a pretty well known garage that preps full on racespec porsche 911s for privateers IIRC.
Other end of that road is....shall we say, somewhat grittier. My memory might be foggy, but if you know the area, you probably know what I'm talking about.
Funny old place, Islington - but really interesting on multiple levels once you get off Upper street and start floating around the rest of it.
Steven R
As someone old enough to remember the 'Mods' vs 'Rockers' bank holiday events in the 1960's there is no way any self respecting Biker would be seen dead on a scooter.
Mind you the definition of a scooter these days is a far cry from that of the Li-150's that most of the Mods I knew rode.
As a biker I also resent the implication that Bikers are somehow criminals (as portraied by what supposedly passes for the Press these days). We are not.
Now I'm going for a run on my Tiger-1050.
Some thirty years ago I was on my lunch break at the same time as the daft biddy from the department and the manageress. The DB was raving on about how all bikers were murdering, thieving scum and should be locked up or worse and the manageress spent the lunchbreak defending her son, who was a keen biker. Eventually, after about twenty minutes of spittle flying invective washing about my ears I put down my book and went to the cloakroom. I came back with my crash helmet on and carried on reading. Neither of them noticed.
@Steve Davies: Some bikers are criminals, some aren't. However a fair proportion of the bikers I know are really rather over-sensitive about being labelled criminal, and then go on to go home at 100+MPH weaving - sorry, filtering - all the way down the motorway.
It doesn't help their cause.
That said, as a cyclist I sympathise to a certain extent because we don't all shoot red lights, jump on and off pavements, etc. etc. a proportion of a group can badly tar the rest.
"That said, as a cyclist I sympathise to a certain extent because we don't all shoot red lights, jump on and off pavements, etc. etc. a proportion of a group can badly tar the rest."
You're not from Cambridge then. Oh, there they don't jump on and off pavements either. They'd rather block the road instead of using the cycle path because using the cycle path means they'd have to slow down on intersections.
As a biker myself I wholeheartedly agree that scooter-riders <> bikers.
Then again as Mr Davies points out, the distinctions are getting blurred. Strictly speaking the only technical difference between the two is a manual* gearbox vs continuously variable gearbox on scooters. AFAIK one of the Italian brands (Gilera?) produce a machine that is technically a scooter but looks indistinguishable from a small sports bike (125 or 250)
I've actually often wondered if a full-fat touring bike could benefit from a CV gearbox on? Or something like an automatic gearbox with sequential shifting for sports bikes? All the power and acceleration (and engine noise) of a real bike without needing to fiddle with gears.
* or should that be pedal?
Those old Vespas and Lambrettas which mods used to tool around on had 5 speed manual boxes, as do many newer machines - and quite a few larger motorcycles these days have CV boxes.
Technically, what people usually call scooters are a class comprised of "stepthrough"and "underbone" chassis motorcycles. They don't have any legal distinction as far as road use goes and most of the rhetoric is along the lines which used to flow between owners of european cars and those of japanese cars. (or even Ford vs GM owners)
Even Triumph made a few lines of scooters, they were well accepted in the Mod community and are classed as highly desirable rarities these days. The real derision from "bikers" comes about because original scooter lines had pooer weight distribution and that made them unsuitable for going "all out" on - but that's not what they were built for, so who cares? (The rest of it was because mods and rockers were bothi working class groups who listened to different kinds of music and liked to fight)
Triumph certainly did make a couple of scooter models (Tina and Tigress I think) but I clearly remember they were abhorred by the mods of South London where I lived and they were viewed with embarrassment by most of the Grebos (Rockers) that I used to kick around with.
Having worked on both bikes and scooters in those days I don.t remember any 5 speed boxes on Vespas or Lambrettas at that time and a CV twist and go was not something I had ever heard of at that time, I am also sure no self respecting mod would have driven a twist and go for fear of being designated 'a complete tosser' something he would also have suffered at minimum if he had driven a Triumph scooter, really only Vespas and Lambrettas were acceptable as far as I know and the riders of each were extremely partisan as to which was better.
Bikers (like me) generally like large noisy, fast machines and view scooters as something to whizz around town on, in a skirt. Not that there is anything wrong with wearing a skirt! I know some very nice bikers who on occasion wear skirts but they are all ladies.
@ James Micallef
> AFAIK one of the Italian brands (Gilera?) produce a machine that is technically a scooter but looks indistinguishable from a small sports bike (125 or 250)
It was Aprilia (http://preview.tinyurl.com/lt42k3h)
> I've actually often wondered if a full-fat touring bike could benefit from a CV gearbox on? Or something like an automatic gearbox with sequential shifting for sports bikes?
Honda offer both:
- The DN01 (http://preview.tinyurl.com/m84hc9o) uses the continuous transmission used on their quad bikes. Didn't sell as way too expensive, oddly styled and under-powered. (But if they put that transmission onto a version of their Pan European tourer, I would probably buy one.)
- The VFR1200F DCT (http://preview.tinyurl.com/l9r66rx) has dual-clutch transmission (with some clever tricks too: unlike the car versions of DCT, the motorbike version saves weight by having smaller clutches and using both simultaneously when pulling away in first. As soon as one starts to slip significantly it is disengaged, but by then you are rolling, and one clutch on its own is enough thereafter.)
Not that they are the final arbiter of anything really but the US DOT differentiates between scooters and motorcycles based on their controls, i.e. hand & foot brake = motorcycle, both hand controlled brakes = scooter.
The lines are very very thin these days, honda's nc 700 series have DCT (not cvt) as does their larger 1300 (fj?), you can also buy 600+ cc 'maxiscooters' with rumours of liter scoots on the way. You can also get maxiscoots with quasi semi automatic gearboxes but these are basically fancy cvt's which lock the ratio.
Does riding a scooter make you not a 'biker'. I'm so past caring, apparently it does matter to some folks. I have a 'maxiscoot' and a ds and have ridden a motley assembly of various bikes over the years. I got the scoot because it was 45% off list with no out the door costs as the garage was closing. Went to buy a cbr and it had sold already, the guy offered a test on the scoot and told me to thrash it. Hard to argue when it will get either wheel in the air and loves humped back bridges and will lean like crazy. It's no superbike but it is fully capable of inducing ear to ear grins which is all that matters. I always used to laugh at the whole better to ride a slow bike fast mantra, having experienced 'third world roads' and the most random of road hazards (hey last night we had a storm and nature created an impromptu river on this blind bend leaving all sorts of crap on the surface, or palm branches randomly in the road, or dead deer and worst of all those perverts in lycra who insist on running in the road) I am quite happy keeping it under 120mph, plus I don't miss the fuel consumption at 170+.
I guess island life made me soft lol, most of the time there isn't any friction between anyone on two wheels no matter what the type of vehicle (especially as many folks have more than one type), you are just all happy no one got killed by a drunk in a truck. I am constantly amazed how the guys with ape hangers manage to stay alive on some of our twistier fast road.
All bikers ride motorcycles.
In my experience bikers ride in the back of transits and only put their helmets on when they arrive in the pub car park.
Okay, not all bikers, and I don't begrudge them doing that. It is however quite amusing to see and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has seen it.
Pedantry alert.
If it's got two wheels and an motor, it's a motorcycle. That includes mopeds, scooters, and motorised bicycles.
If you're going to associate the term "biker" with "motorcycle" then all riders of motorcycles are bikers.
But I absolutely understand your original sentiment! :)
Nope.
Just because it has two wheels and a motor, it doesn't qualify as a motorcycle - otherwise cement mixers would qualify. At best they can be called a motorised vehicle (cement mixers apart)
A moped or a scooter is NOT a motorcycle - that's why they are CALLED mopeds and scooters...
A Motorcycle will always elicit a positive emotional response from a Biker - that, if anything, is why Bikers ride motorcycles..
And - yes, Mopeds and scooters ( and even cement mixers) will elicit an emotional response - but not in a good way
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I know a priest who rides a scooter. Apparantly all (or a large proportion of) undertakers ride motorbikes and they don't really have anything to do with priests but they are ok with him because they think he is a biker so how does that work ?
Only the 1%er bikers have an opinion worth caring about anyway.
"Can I just point out that people who ride scooters are not "Bikers" "
I would assume that the AXE-WAVING BIKER GANG is in proper Sun/Mail full caps which would indicate a knowledge of the difference between a fat-arsed commuter device and a machine that can rip yer face off when operated correctly.
But I do agree that the standard press 'motorcyclist' grates a lot (and I don't even ride one).
Can I just point out that people who ride scooters are not "Bikers"
Bikers are the kind of people who look like Lemmy from Motörhead and, as far as I'm concerned, when you look that scary, you can ride any damn form of transport you please - no questions asked.
/paris, coz she'll ride anything too
I'm sure Apple pay their business rates for the shop. AFAIK, that is what goes to pay for the met Police.
Now, if they don't pay their business rates then the more they are robbed the better.
The rates for that shop on Regent St will be pretty high so they might well be paying a lot of money to Westminster City Council and subsequently Boris (the Spider)
Scooter/moped riders are definitely not bikers.
However, more importantly, why the need to brandish them "BIKER GANG"?
What's tomorrow's headline "CAR DRIVER COMMITS ROBBERY"?
Us bikers/motorcyclists are normal people too. Our choice of transport does not relate to our criminal record. Just think about all the bikers that regularly do egg runs, santa runs etc getting gifts to needy and poorly children. How many convoys of cars do you see doing the same.
It's about they changed the record and accepted bikes like the rest of Europe do.
Pretty shoddy gang: one axe between all the members.
When I were a lad the yoofs went properly tooled-up to a meeting of their club, whatever frame shape or wheel size their transport of choice displayed.
Tsk.
If they'd had real stones they'd have ram-raided the place in a flurry of two-stroke kamikaze glory.
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