Cycling Team Manager 'Threatened with Machete' During Putney Theft

Bike worth £8000 stolen by pair on moped

The thieves taking the bike from the roof of a car. Picture: JAKROO Handsling Racing

March 19, 2026

An elite British racing team has warned that bike theft in London has become “organised and brazen” after two masked thieves stole a high-end racing bike in a violent daylight robbery on a residential street in West Putney.

The incident took place just before 3pm on Friday (13 March), when two people wearing face coverings arrived on a moped and ripped a locked carbon racing bike from the roof of a parked car belonging to JAKROO Handsling Racing. One of the thieves climbed onto the vehicle, leaving deep dents and a cracked windscreen, before attempting to remove both bikes secured to the roof rack.

When team manager Tony Poole confronted the pair, one of the thieves brandished what he described as a “big machete-looking knife” and threatened him before fleeing with one of the bikes. The second bike was left “completely destroyed”, hanging mangled from the rack after the thieves tried to cut through the frame.

The stolen bike was a customised Handsling A1R0evoS, a carbon racing model that can cost up to £8,000.

Poole said he was “very shaken” by the attack. “Your mind keeps playing through the assailant, the knife, the situation. I’m just happy I walked away unharmed. Bikes are expensive and can be replaced but my health can’t.”

The team shared video footage of the robbery, captured by a neighbour, in the hope of raising awareness. In a statement, they said: “Bike theft in London has become organised and brazen. Today, it crossed the line into violent robbery. This wasn’t overnight theft. This was broad daylight, in a residential street, in front of witnesses.”

The Putney robbery follows a series of reports in recent years of organised gangs targeting expensive road bikes, particularly in and around Richmond Park — one of London’s most popular training grounds for amateur and professional cyclists.

The remaining bike on the roof of the car and the damage done in the attempt to take it. Picture: JAKROO Handsling Racing

Cyclists have previously reported being threatened with hammers and other weapons by thieves lying in wait on the park’s perimeter roads. In one widely reported incident, three riders on bikes worth several thousand pounds each were attacked in a single day. Stolen bikes have later been traced to online marketplaces, including Facebook, and even as far afield as Russia, with police warning that organised groups maintain lists of high-value models to target.

In 2024 police arrested and charged five members of a gang that was targetting high value bikes locally.

Poole called the police immediately after the robbery. Officers are reviewing the video footage and carrying out enquiries, but no arrests have yet been confirmed.

Despite the ordeal, the JAKROO Handsling Racing team returned to competition the following day at an event in the Peak District. “No excuses. Just racing,” the team wrote. “The day after everything happened, the team was straight back on the start line.”