For Eric Oliver and his son, mountain biking is a passion they’ve shared for more than a decade, and the pair were looking forward to a summer filled with sunny treks across Munster’s many biking trails. Then, in the early hours of Monday morning, the family’s hopes were dashed when a brazen group of thieves broke into their property along the Blackrock Road and made off with the high-end bikes.
The entire incident was caught on CCTV, which shows one of the thieves scaling the property’s gates before searching a car left unlocked in the driveway. Coming up empty-handed, the thief then moves towards a small shed near the far wall and, after gaining access, is seen using his phone’s flashlight to look around.
Once inside, he finds two new, high-end electric mountain bikes that have a combined value of around €10,000. The cameras show him heading back outside to call his accomplice, who was in the process of stealing another bike from another nearby home. The first thief then unlocks the gate to let his friend in, and the pair flee the scene on the two high-end bikes, leaving a third stolen bike abandoned by the gate.
The thief was seen rummaging through Eric’s car
Eric has been an avid cyclist for more than three decades and says it’s a hobby he and his 17-year-old son have shared since the day he first learned to ride a bike at age 4. Eric and his son moved to Cork more than four years ago from Denver, Colorado, when the tech company he works for merged with a business here on Leeside. Eric says he’s enjoyed Cork immensely over the last four years but that this incident has left him shaken.
He told CorkBeo: “It was the craziest thing, I couldn’t sleep last night as I was waking up every thirty minutes or so. I’ve never had something like this happen to me, and having it all on video shows just how vulnerable you really are. The car was unlocked in the driveway, but they managed to pick the shed lock very quickly.
“They also stole our fishing rods and tackle from the shed, and they tried to take an e-scooter we had in there, but it has a tumbprint lock on it so they couldn’t get it started. That’s not a problem with the bikes; they could just pedal them away.
“You can even see in the video that after he gets into the shed, he hangs out by the gate for a long time on the phone to his friend. He had stolen a bike from one of my neighbours, and he abandoned it outside my house after his friend called him down. I was glad that I was able to return that bike, so at least there was a silver lining for someone else.
“I do hope that these young men find a better path in life, but for now, I just really want the bikes back. They’re quite unique, so I think they’ll have a hard time selling them.”
Info on the stolen bikes
Eric has shared images and detailed descriptions of the two bikes, including their serial numbers, in the hopes that cycling enthusiasts and shop owners will alert him if anyone tries to sell them or if they’re spotted on online marketplaces.
The e-bikes, both 2026 Trek Rail+ EU Dark Star models in L and XL, have a gloss black finish, a gold Trek logo, tan sidewall tyres, and the smaller of the two has distinctive blue/purple pedals. Eric is offering a cash reward for their safe return and has urged the public to be on the lookout.
Gardaí visited the property the following morning to take the report, and while they tried to dust for prints, the rain had washed away any lingering evidence.
A Garda spokesperson said: “Gardaí received a report of an incident of burglary that occurred in the Blackrock Road area of Cork city on Monday, 8th June 2026 at approximately 2 am. Two bicycles have been reported as stolen.”
In recent years, Cork has been dealing with an increasing number of late-night thefts carried out by groups of teenagers and young people prowling through estates in the early hours of the morning.
Earlier this year, another incident was captured on CCTV, showing the moment thieves in Carrigaline broke into a car and jump-started it. The group had been wandering through estates looking for vulnerable vehicles, and while the car was later recovered, those responsible were never caught.
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