markhr

Please could we have a stolen bikes forum preferably on it's own. If that's not an option, a stolen bikes sub-forum within the General cycling forum.

Lastly, if the above are not possible, a stickied stolen bikes thread please.

Having had my "one bike that does it all" stolen it was a little frustrating posting and tracking notices in the UK, cyclocross, clydesdale and road forums.

Little Darwin

I picked No/Other...

I think that isolating the stolen bike into stickies or a different forum would only cause people to ignore them. I probably wouldn't on a typical day check out the stolen bike forum or thread.

I think the best method is to post in the appropriate forums... more eyes will see it.

However, I think if there is a way to grant "temporary" stickiness for the first week or two it would be nice (depending on the number of stolen bikes reported here).

To track the multiple threads in multiple forums (which is a good idea to maximize visibility) just subscribe to each thread, and you will get notified if there is a response. Also have the person either send a PM or an email if they have possible information on the bike.

Just my thoughts.

Doug5150

Yea, but then again--the internet being world-wide, when someone in Hogs Hollow, Arkansas starts a thread about "my bike got stolen", they'd be much better off watching LOCAL online sales listings than bothering people all over the world with it.

As big of a bummer as it is, the fact is that 99.9% of the people who read these threads aren't ever going to see it, because they're located somewhere else geographically. How many bikes have been recovered here due to these threads? I'd be surprised if more than one has been, in the last 5 years.

How about letting people make the threads where they want, but the mods locking the "stolen bike" threads as soon as they see them?
~

donnamb 

What about a stolen bikes sticky in each regional forum? It seems more like a local issue. I mean, I would not expect to see your bike on my morning commute in Portland, Oregon.

Brian

I'd want to centralize them. The thread title would have to have the location and brief bike description as well. But I'm not so sure that we'd be helping anyone recover any stolen bikes. What I do think is that if you list your bike, some members will take the challenge of searching for it on craigslist or other classifieds, so it may not matter where they are located.

markhr

Thanks for the replies

Little Darwin - to keep threads in the public eye I needed to bump them back up every 2 hours (especially in the more popular forums) so just subscribing would never achieve much.

Doug5150 - while the majority of people would never look at a thread entitled "Stolen, bike IL-USA" I'd suggest that you would at least take one look. Even if the bike's recovery can never be attributed to the "Stolen bikes forum" it may prevent people from trying to resell it.

Donnamb - stickies are ok if the forum in question is used by a healthy majority. There were a number of replies to my "road bikes" thread that made me think that some UK cyclists never even look in the UK regional forum. This may happen to a stolen bikes forum, i.e., the majority of people would ignore it, however I'm hoping that BF people are a little more concerned about loss of property than that.

Brian - agreed

Stacey

I agree with Donna, a sticky in the regional forums would be great, for the reason mentioned.

walmart

https://stolen.bikechicago.info/

I've spent a couple of hours reading the entries in the above database. Even though I don't live in Chicago I find the "Incident Description" comments quite informative and especially helpful in getting over my own recent bike theft and in making a to-do list to theft-proof my next bike.

Something like that should have it's own dedicated space for it to work properly I think, so I'm for placing it at top-level in the forum strata.

Brian T

+1

markhr

Back Up, More Posts.

Brian

Mark, in two weeks, you've had less than 10 responses and 22 votes, even after bumping this thread several times. Would you like us to move it, to see if it gets more interest elsewhere?

markhr

Thanks

It looks like it's dead in the water anyway. So, given the lack of response I think it's probably safe to let the idea go to the great big archive of lost polls.

If I ever have another bike stolen (here's hoping never) I, and hopefully any other unlucky people, will just cross-post into the relevant forums.

Brian

Hey, if the interest is there, we can do something. But this isn't getting much interest right now.

markhr

Yeah, people only really think about theft once it's happened. Until then you try not to.

Brian

I think four bikes have been stolen from me so far. Two were recovered.

markhr

That sucks and congratulations, I hoe you got your favorites back at least.

I've pretty much given up on the original. I still look at the London craigslist/ebay/gumtree/etc. occasionally. However with an insurance replacement on the way the only real incentive is to try and make the bike thieves' lives as difficult as possible.