Guest

Do you all know the names and addresses for pawn shops in the Washington, DC area? I'm renting a car and driving out to the to my work, so I hoped to stop by pawn shops if possible to check on my wheel.

If you could post what you know, that would be so appreciated.

Thanks!

Koffee

Maelstrom 

https://www.thecityofwashingtondc.org...hop/index.html

Google

randya

Yellow Pages?

meb

Yellow pages on the internet gets a list too. Tried a couple after I had a bike stolen in Alexandria last May. One of the Alexandria cops even suggested the pawn shops. I checked a couple, and they didn't have any bikes-one listed was even out of business. The bike shops didn't think that checking pawn shops would be productive.

DCCommuter

Koffee --

I think the question you're getting at is, What happens to all the stolen bikes (and parts)? That's a question I've often pondered, because in DC bikes are stolen in copious quantities, I've lost a few myself, but where do they go? I've never been able to find any place that sells used bikes in any quantity.

supcom

Check out ebay.

Maelstrom 

Its rare for bike theft rings to keep the bikes or bike parts in the area. Whistler has the highest bike theft per person ratio in canada (mostly because of the 1,000,000 tourists in the summer) and thos bikes that are stolen are brought to the mainland (vancouver) or sent east. Unless the thief is dumb, you won't find your bike parts in your area.

alanbikehouston

In Houston, pawn shops will buy a used bike from someone that has photo id, but they won't buy a wheel. The shops know their typical customer won't pay more than $5 for a wheel, so a wheel is not worth buying.

In my neighborhood, the dumber crooks take stolen wheels to whichever bike shop is closest to where they stole the wheel. The guys at the bike shops know when a junkie walks in with a stolen wheel, that it IS a stolen wheel. So, usually they tell the guy to get lost. But, if there is something unique about the wheel that would give the shop a chance to trace to owner, they may give the junkie $5 for the wheel, and then try to find the owner.

So, it might be useful to give a description of the wheel to every bike shop within five miles of where it was stolen. Tell them you will pay them $50 for their trouble if they can get it back. When the junkie comes in, they offer him some money for it, "if it can be trued". Put the wheel on the tuing stand, while another employee calls the cops.

Crooks are lazy. So, if the first two or three pawnshops and bikeshops refuse to buy the wheel, laziness takes over. They just toss the wheel into a dumpster or into a vacant lot.

BroMax

With incresing metal prices, maybe they become scrap?

meb

Ebay does not seem to be a significant source of stolen part fencing in the DC area. Too few parts being sold here relative the number of thefts.
In this case though, it is still worth the longshot.

stella

if not pawnshops, check out craigslist...a few of the folks I treated that stole to support a drug habit generally used pawnshops (quick money) or craigslist (if they had time to pay back rent on their place and they would use computers at the local library).

Guest

I'm still combing craigslist and ebay, but I've checked pawn shops and bike shops in the area. No luck.

I don't think I'll see that wheel again, so I took my entire refund check and paid for new ones. Dammit!



Koffee