APPEAL FOLLOWING BICYCLE ROBBERY

Officers are appealing for witnesses following a robbery in Tamworth.

At around 10.30am on Sunday (16 August), four men in balaclavas approached two men riding on trails in Hopwas Hays Wood, off Lichfield Road, and stole their mountain bikes.

When one of the victims refused to hand over his bicycle, he was repeatedly kicked and dragged away from it.

One of the suspects threatened to stab the other victim before taking his bike too.

The mountain bikes are a blue and black Canyon Torque and a silver/grey Nukeproof Mega 275, worth around £2,000 each.

The Canyon is a custom 2019 model. It has a Stans Flow wheelset with Hope Pro5 hubs; the rear hub is blue and the front hub is

black. It has a Rockshox suspension and dropper seatpost, a custom DMR stem and handlebar and silver Sram brakes.

The bike has numerous stickers on it. On the top bar, it has the word 'committed' in white, and on the seat tube, it has a white sticker of a coffin.

The Nukeproof has an aluminium frame. The tyres are Michelin Wild Enduro tyres which are nonstock. It has a small paper tag with a QR code on the bars which is an entry tag for a bike park. The bike also has a significant scratch on the top tube on the left-hand side towards the front by the headset.

Following the robbery, the suspects left the area on two off-road motorcycles.

Officers have been carrying out enquiries including examining CCTV.

We’re keen to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time, or those who may have witnessed anything suspicious.

Call us on 101 or use Live Chat on our website, quoting incident 307 of 16 August.

To report anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.