Texas - Bike stolen in Dallas

Friend lost his yesterday

Brown Novarra Randonee
LX rear, Tiagra front, Tiagra 9 speed shifters. Rack, extra spoke holder with just 1 spoke(the other one came lose yesterday morning and wrapped itself around my rear cogs)
531 steel frame
I believe it was a 62CM but I dont remember....
Oh ya it had REI engraved right near the bottom bracket in big letters.. I picked it up at an REI sidewalk sale in Austin
Oh ya the jerks stole my helmet as well, but nothing else

The story:
Was going to ride the silver bullet in this morning and ride it in downtown dallas like usual but I woke up late. I decided to drive in to work instead, left my bike in the back of my jeep. I work in downtown dallas, and park in a remote lot at the corner of Elm and N. Central Expressway (the $1.50 lot across from TiniBar) . I get off work put my pump and my backpack in the back(missed the broken window, it had been a long day of work) I wondered where my bike was but just assumed i left it at home, because I drove. I start driving with my windows down, roll them up to answer a phone call and realize i still here the wind, its then I notice the broken rear driver side window, and the concrete chunk in the back of my car and that yes my bike was gone.

So if you guys can keep an eye out for my bike on Craigslist. I will work up a reward for its return... it was my only working bike.

that blows, I really hope you get it back. I had a cruiser stolen at work while loked to the rack. If I were you I would take a saturday to check nearby pawn shops where it was stolen from.

Pawn shops do not display items right away; they must hold purchases for 21 days, and pawned items are held for the duration of the loan, which, IIRC, is at least 30 days.

Will a pawn shop tell someone, who walks in and asks, if they have purchased or loaned on a certain item recently? Probably not. It is not in their best interest to lose money by having police seize an item, and privacy laws also have an effect on this.

Another thing to consider: If someone walks in an tells them about a stolen brown Novarra Randonee, and a short time later, a person walks in to pawn a brown Novarra Randonee, it will not be in their best interest to purchase or loan on the bike, and then lose it due to a police hold/seizure, so they will turn it down. So, out goes the bike, back on the street.

If something with a serial number is stolen from me, I WANT it to be pawned; that way, there is hope of recovering it. In Texas, a pawn shop must record the serial number of an item on the pawn ticket. If an item's serial number is removed, the pawn shop is not supposed to make a loan on, nor buy, the item. I don't know about all areas, but in Houston, one copy of every pawn ticket goes to the PD, to be entered into the police computer database, and if a report of a stolen item has a matching serial number, the computer flags it. Not all agencies may do this, but the police can check pawn slips.

Make sure to make a police report right away, with the serial number, or if the serial number is unavailable, any unique, distinguishing markings/features. If the item is found for sale in a pawn shop weeks after the theft, and the rightful owner then tries to reclaim it, the pawn shop can contest that. The rightful owner does indeed have the right to reclaim stolen and lost property, but that gets a bit complicated if the owner did not report the theft in a timely manner.

If the owner of an item did not keep the serial number, it is possible that the original seller, which is REI in the case of a Novarra product, may have it on file.

I work a second job (security) one day a week at a jewelry store that has a pawnbroker's license. It is a reputable place, OK? Being a pawnbroker is how they get scrap gold and pre-owned watches.

A little known fact: Home owners and renters insurance covers bike theft outside the home. Well, some do - check your policy, if you have one. Good luck - BTW - I use a Kryptonite NY Faggetaboutit around the frame plus a K cable around the wheels, then I only leave it in trafficked areas. I throw all the accessories in my messenger bag with my helmet. So far so good.