More than £50,000 worth of bikes stolen in a night

Twenty bikes worth a total of more than £50,000 have been stolen from premises at a Cairngorms mountain bike trail.

Eight hire bikes were stolen from a community enterprise at Laggan Wolftrax Visitor Centre and 12 from The Wee Bike Hub bike shop, also at the centre.

Thieves cut power to the centre in the incident which happened overnight on 15 and 16 January.

Laggan Forest Trust said lockdown demand for bikes would make it hard for it to replace the stolen hire bikes.

Eight of its Polygon Siskiu T8 bikes, estimated to be worth £12,800, were stolen between 23:00 on 15 January and 03:00 on 16 January.

At the same time, 12 bikes of various makes and models and estimated to be worth a total of £39,500, were stolen from The Wee Bike Hub along with £3,100-worth of clothing.

Police said a large vehicle would have been needed to take away all the items.

Laggan Forest Trust chairman Colin Morgan said: "Our view is that the thieves knew of the existence of the bikes and had probably done some reconnaissance.

"The thieves disconnected the power source to the centre."

Mr Morgan said replacing the trust's bikes would be a challenge.

Last year, fear of catching coronavirus on public transport led to a boom in cycle-to-work schemes.

The schemes saw a 200% increase in bicycle orders from people working for emergency services. There was high demand for bikes for leisure.

Mr Morgan said: "The unlikelihood of being able to replace the hire bikes for the new season in time because of their scarcity means we have got to think long and hard about how we reopen things going forward."