Large-scale, professionally organized bike thefts are nothing new. But the criminal professionalism of those who robbed the transport of the Czech bicycle manufacturer Bike Fun International (BFI) is staggering. At best, we know this from money and prisoner transports - and from gangster films.

In an open letter, those responsible at BFI suggest that the thieves had followed the truck from the moment it was loaded with Shimano parts. At a service station, they fed anaesthetic gas into the driver's cab. While the driver was unconscious, they emptied the truck, removing only the boxes of high-value components and leaving the cheap parts behind. Finally, they sprayed the cargo area with fire extinguishing powder to cover their tracks.

10,000 bikes cannot be assembled

The letter was sent out by BFI around two weeks after the attack. They want to call on other manufacturers to be careful. It is not clear from the information where exactly the gang struck. The police are investigating. The bike news portal Bike Rumor publishes excerpts from the letter.

Bike Fun International claims to assemble 150,000 bikes per year. The stolen parts would have been destined for 10,000 bikes and e-bikes with a retail value of 10 million euros, according to the letter from BFI. The production of some models has been delayed by a whole year as a result of the incident. Petr Krkoska, who is responsible for supply chains at BFI, emphasizes that this is a serious blow for the company in an already difficult situation with a shortage of components. A smaller manufacturer might not be able to survive such a loss.

The parts had been intended for Superior bikes, among others, which are distributed in Switzerland by Amsler Bikes & Parts. The JB Brunex racing team has been riding the Czech manufacturer's XC bikes since 2021. According to Peter Züst from Amsler, the stolen components were intended for gravel and road bikes. It was already difficult to predict when which bikes would arrive. This is now even more difficult. He comments on the robbery with a touch of irony: "It shows that bike components are currently worth just as much as cash - but are simply even rarer."