An Illawarra family is reeling after thieves again targeted one of their bike shops, making off with $20,000 worth of goods on Saturday.
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This is the second time the Simple Cycles Shellharbour store has been targeted in the last two years, while its Wollongong counterpart has also been robbed twice.
CCTV footage captured the crime but without clear facial recognition of the hooded robbers.
At least two offenders can be seen getting out of a ute parked outside the Barra Road shopfront before they pry open the metal security door around 1:30am.
Co-owner Kate Lenton said it was gut-wrenching to watch as 35 seconds after the offenders drove away with four dual suspension mountain bikes her brother pulled up to the store to attend to the multi-sensor alarm.
“We thought we had Fort Knox … we thought that shop was impenetrable,” she said.
“We’re just a family who are trying to put dinner on the table for all our kids.”
The bicycles stolen were all Trek with serial numbers and include a black Remedy 9.8, a black Fuel Ex 5, a white Fuel Ex 8 and a grey Fuel Ex 8.
It’s believed the top-of-the-line bikes would be sold outside of the area.
Ms Lenton said the incident was a kick in the face to her family for all of their community work including foster care and donating second-hand bicycles to disadvantaged young people.
“No matter how much good you do people still want to target [you], we’re just fed up,” she said.
“This one hurts because we’ve tried to forgive in the past but it just keeps happening so how do you just keep forgiving?”