General Cycling Discussion - Stolen bike, now it may be mine again

So I had a bike stolen almost 3 weeks ago. I contacted cops, etc. Well last week the bike was posted on CL as for sale, well to my luck the seller took the bait of a friend's email and has called me on setting up a sale. tomorrow afternoon the police should have my bike in their possession, if everything works out I will have the bike back. Never thought anyone would be stupid enough to post it on CL, but hey I'll let it slide and get back my bike.

Glad to hear you were able to track down your bike. Most folks are not that fortunate when their bikes are stolen.

Good detective work. Let us know how it goes.

Your local police is actually going to accompany you to the sale meeting? Where do you live?

Thief just read your post . . .

It happened to me with my first bike, a 1976 Schwinn Traveler, it got stolen out of my yard.
One day I was hanging out at the end of my street and some kid was riding a silver bike
that looked strangely familiar, the handlebars were tilted up just the way I always had em.
I said to the kid, "hey let me see that!" I took a dime out of my pocket, scratched the frame
whaddya know? it was Opaque Red underneath! I told him to get the f*%k off it and took it.
It was in bad shape, but I got it back. :mad:

Never thought anyone would be stupid enough to post it on CL, but hey I'll let it slide and get back my bike.Then check this out -
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/bik/858797190.html

Hope the cops drop by.

Thief just read your post . . .

......first thing I thought was "NOOOOO! don't post here about it until after the sting"

So I had a bike stolen almost 3 weeks ago. I contacted cops, etc. Well last week the bike was posted on CL as for sale, well to my luck the seller took the bait of a friend's email and has called me on setting up a sale. tomorrow afternoon the police should have my bike in their possession, if everything works out I will have the bike back. Never thought anyone would be stupid enough to post it on CL, but hey I'll let it slide and get back my bike.

How are you sure it is yours? Was he stupid enough to post a pic too?

And same question above. Where do you live???? Hicksville?? :) I can't imagine a police department of any decent size giving a rats behind about a bike. If this works out, you better buy plenty of tickets to the policeman's ball. :)

How are you sure it is yours? Was he stupid enough to post a pic too?

And same question above. Where do you live???? Hicksville?? :) I can't imagine a police department of any decent size giving a rats behind about a bike. If this works out, you better buy plenty of tickets to the policeman's ball. :)

He was dumb enough to post a pic. I had to convince the cops to help out, over and over, medium metropolis area.

Good luck and let us know how it works out. I have managed to recover a couple of my stolen bikes over the years, but with no help from the police. We actually found one of my buddy's bikes at the police auction. What was ignorant is that it 1) had the "Official City Bike License" sticker on it, and 2) the serial number was on the police report. So much for registering and reporting:innocent:

Aaron:)

Many years ago, a fellow rode a shiny new Schwinn Le Tour into a gas station to put air in the tires. The Le Tour had just come out, and was a fairly nice bike at the time.
The manager of the station said, "hey, nice bike."
"uh, yeah..."
"I understand there are only a few in the whole St. Louis area."
"Oh, really?"
"yeah. You know, I just bought one. It was stolen a couple of days ago...Same color as this one."
"Uh......"
Manager grabs bike, flips it upside down, and there is his social security number engraved into the bottom bracket shell.....

Brain-dead actually stood there and waited for the police (me) to arrive....

Brain-dead actually stood there and waited for the police (me) to arrive....

Sounds like a great candidate for the "Darwin Awards".

Sounds like a great candidate for the "Darwin Awards".

I thought you had to die or close to death for those awards.

Which is why he was only a candidate. He hadn't won the election yet!

Back around 1991-2 I left the door open on my parents garage overnite. I went outside the next morning and noticed a totally junk single speed bike laying alongside the road in some fresh dirt in front of my house with footprints headed towards the open door. Uh oh. I looked inside the garage to see my 2 week old Specialized Sirrus Triple had been the trade for the bike laying in my front yard. I called the police, who even went to the trouble of photographing the footprints in the dirt while filling out the report. The trooper was pretty cool about the whole thing, he couldn't be I had spent $650 on a bike. I also called the LBS I bought it off of, pretty much just because I knew them and wanted them to share my pain. A couple of days went by and I figured that was the last I had seen of my shiny new ride when I got a call from the LBS saying they had my bike! They told me some guy had rode up to the shop wanted to sell the bike, they immediately recognized it and told him sure let us put it up on the stand and check it out. Check it out they did, matching up the serial number with the info they had on my sale. Then they offered to write the guy a check for it and asked who they should make it out too after which they got his full name and address. The guys then told him they new the bike was stolen and they were going to call the police at which point he told them he had bought it from somebody from ORD and took off. Instead of calling the police they called me instead so the bike wouldn't end up held as evidence. When I got it back the water bottles were full of burbon and there was a small scratch on the top tube where he had leaned it up against something but it was no worse for the wear. I let the police know what had happened and they were actually looking for this guy on other charges. I'm not sure what actually became of the situation, they never contacted me again but at least I had my bike.

How was the bourbon?

Sorry, but that bike would've been in my bed with me not the garage....

Well, how did the recovery operation work out?

bckpck2rev.... inquiring minds what to know


Did your sting work?

Need to know . . .

I decided not to sell the bike to him. The deal smelled funny. Glad I saw this thread to confirm my suspicions.
:lol:

I guess the OP never got his bike. The seller would be anxious to get rid of the bike as soon as he can and may have sold to an earlier buyer, first come first served. Or maybe the police did get the bike and it may be held up as evidence and that could take awhile.
Ernest

I let the police know what had happened and they were actually looking for this guy on other charges. I'm not sure what actually became of the situation, they never contacted me again but at least I had my bike.

Too bad they didn't call the cops, maybe he'll lay low for awhile before stealing some more.


Brain-dead actually stood there and waited for the police (me) to arrive....

Similar but different: Worked security at a bank and was watching some old tapes. Two crooks came into the bank trying to cash a payroll check. They had broken into a car and stolen the check. They just happened to choose the teller they stole the check from. She stalled with manager approval excuses until the police arrived. Idiots stood there 15 minutes while she stalled.