General Cycling Discussion - Operation Recover Stolen Bike

Hi Everyone,

Sooo.... I'm Ben. Last Spring, I rode my 1994 Trek 5200 from San Diego to Washington DC. Although I'm not bike expert. I fell in love with this Bike. I've put lots of work into and have brand new Mavic Aksium wheels on it. This is us:
http://i48.tinypic.com/1609d08.jpg[/IMG]

This is another image of a bike similar to mine.
http://i48.tinypic.com/281a4w.jpg

About 3 months ago, someone broke into our garage and stole my fiancee's bike. By the grace of god my bike wasn't there at the time. After this incident, I installed a locking mechanism in the garage and at work would use a ulock and a chain lock. So about a week ago I wake up and lo and behold, the garage has been broken into again and the lock to my bike has been cut. Bike is gone.

Afterwards, I was enraged, filed a police report, etc.

While checking craigslist the other day, I stumbled upon this guy from about half-hour away from where I live:
http://columbus.craigslist.org/bik/3300371141.html

Is this my bike frame?

After e-mailing back and forth with this guy, I'm set to meet with him tomorrow. The guy doesn't know the size/year of the bike. He says the bike is black and it looks somewhat black in the image, but I think you could make the argument that it's actually the dark green of my bike. What do you guys think? Are there any marks or identifying info where you could say that this is or is not definitely my bike? I've done some investigating and this lettering on the 5200 only was in 1994 and there is no black version that year that I can find.

Furthermore, I've done some investigation and this guy is selling lots of wheels and pieces and parts on craigslist.

Unfortunately, with the bike stripped like this, I don't have any way to prove this is my bike. Where is the serial number on this frame?

So, if you guys think this could be my bike, I'm going to go ahead and meet with him tomorrow. I do have the serial number for the Mavic wheels, but so far they haven't popped up on CL yet. I'm going to say something along the lines of, "Do you have any other stuff to show me?" and hope that he produces the wheels. Where would I find the serial number on the wheels? If anyone has Mavic aksiums, what form does your serial number on them take? Any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

If you bought the bike from a bike shop I'd check with them to see if they might still have a record of the serial number.

The CL bike looks black and doesn't look like it's been resprayed. The info says it has a cracked right chainstay. Did yours? It also looks like it has a threadless fork, and yours looks like it was threaded, judging from the stem. His has a black lock nut on the headset and a silver seat tube collar on the back. Yours are silver on the headset and black on the seat tube clamp.

I might be wrong, but much and all as you have your hopes up, I think you might be accusing the wrong guy.

Without the serial number you don't have a legal leg to stand on.

I record ALL of my serial numbers as well as add hidden numbers or symbols in case someone tries to file off the serial numbers. There are a variety of ways to do this.

Aaron :)

The CL bike looks black and doesn't look like it's been resprayed. The info says it has a cracked right chainstay. Did yours? It also looks like it has a threadless fork, and yours looks like it was threaded, judging from the stem. His has a black lock nut on the headset and a silver seat tube collar on the back. Yours are silver on the headset and black on the seat tube clamp.

I might be wrong, but much and all as you have your hopes up, I think you might be accusing the wrong guy.

So in reference to your points, here's my thoughts. First, I agree it's most likely wishful thinking on my part. I just can't get over the coincidence of my bike being stolen and then one week later the same (or very similar) 18 year old bike appearing on Craigslist.

About the color, I have to agree it does look black. There are some other images online and in the right light, it does look black. Also, I've gone through every year looking for a black 5200 with those decals and I just don't see one. Maybe i'm missing something? But overall this is a big sticking point.

The picture of the bike without the person in it isn't actually my bike so don't use that as a point of comparison. My seat tube collar was silver. I didn't have a headset lock on it I don't think so if you are pretty sure that the headset lock would be obvious, it's very likely not my bike. I"m not sure about the fork situation.

So, what happened? It looks to me your bike had silver headset cups and the one for sale has black ones. Good luck finding your bike. BTW for future reference serial numbers are under the cranks on the bottom bracket shell (usually).

So, what happened? It looks to me your bike had silver headset cups and the one for sale has black ones. Good luck finding your bike. BTW for future reference serial numbers are under the cranks on the bottom bracket shell (usually).

As expected, it wasn't my bike. By the time I went over there, I highly doubted it, but I would kick myself if I didn't at least check. Thanks everyone for the thoughts/feedback.

What were you planning to do if it was your bike? You'd have to like call the cops and wait there while making a citizens arrest on the scumbag. Would of been very interesting.

That reminds me, I need to etch all the major components on my bike, and record it with the local police registration. Without something like that, I don't know how you could prove, or even be reasonably sure, that it is yours.