Stolen from Macarthur BART Oakland
03-10-09, 03:19 AM
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Stolen from Macarthur BART Oakland
Hello,
I am posting this ad in order to see if there will be a possibility for my bike to be returned in some fashion or at least sighted in the East Bay, Oakland area.
It is an all white (the most spotless bike I personally have ever seen), 59cm Republic Bike Aristotle (republicbike.org) with yellow wheels, single speed/fixed flip flop hub, sugino silver crank set. Along with the yellow and white theme, there is a sticker of a stenciled man on a yellow background on the bar in front of the back wheel. Black seat and black handle bars. It has a white chain and deep silver rims. It was stolen from the BART in which the station said they saw suspicious activity but nothing was done.
I am hopeful some clues will show up. I am willing to provide a reward and of course, I understand if you purchased it unknowingly from the thief.
All best,
and thank you. this is a tough one.
I am posting this ad in order to see if there will be a possibility for my bike to be returned in some fashion or at least sighted in the East Bay, Oakland area.
It is an all white (the most spotless bike I personally have ever seen), 59cm Republic Bike Aristotle (republicbike.org) with yellow wheels, single speed/fixed flip flop hub, sugino silver crank set. Along with the yellow and white theme, there is a sticker of a stenciled man on a yellow background on the bar in front of the back wheel. Black seat and black handle bars. It has a white chain and deep silver rims. It was stolen from the BART in which the station said they saw suspicious activity but nothing was done.
I am hopeful some clues will show up. I am willing to provide a reward and of course, I understand if you purchased it unknowingly from the thief.
All best,
and thank you. this is a tough one.
03-10-09, 08:54 AM
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Sorry to hear it. Macarthur is my regular stop. I wasn't comfortable locking any bike there, so I got a folding bike. Was your bike in one of the lockers? How was it locked up? How long were you away from the bike? I am not trying to be critical, just curious about how secure different methods are.
03-10-09, 08:59 AM
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Excerpts from an MTBR post I have saved:
First, spring into action IMMEDIATELY. The longer it's out there, the less chance you have of ever seeing it again.
1) Call police and report it stolen the *second* you realize it, even if you don't have the serial number with you. The thief might still be riding or wheeling it around, and the police might see them. They'll give you a case number: call later and add the serial number to the case file. Sometimes the case officer will have email and you can send them a picture of the bike, which helps a lot. If not, print/copy one and take it down there yourself to add to the file.
2) Call local bike shops *immediately*. Don't just call the ones that deal in used bikes: thieves will sometimes take it to random places on their way to wherever. In my case, the thief walked right by the Bent Spoke (used bikes, whom I contacted right away) and walked into Tip Top (new bikes only) with a *videotape* of my bicycle, asking "how much is a bike like this worth?" I can't make this up.
3) Post a stolen bike alert in the "bikes for sale" section on Craigslist and put up physical flyers in the area where it was stolen. Offer a reward with no questions asked. Sometimes this works, especially for unusual bikes that are hard to sell, but you have to actually follow through on it. If it does work, stifle your curiosity. Just pay the tax, take your bike, get out of there, and be glad you got it back.
4) Thieves want money, fast. In the East Bay, this means they will often go to the flea market *the next morning* to sell it, usually for pennies on the dollar. Go early: they open at 7 AM and hot stuff tends to get sold in the first few hours. My bike was reportedly gone at 9 AM.
Ashby (Saturday/Sunday)
Laney (Sunday, maybe Saturday also? I get conflicting info)
Oakland Coliseum (Tuesday-Saturday)
I was told by many bike shops that Ashby and Laney were the hot spots, but I hit Ashby in both the morning and evening and I didn't see anything that looked too sketchy. Maybe it's been cleaned up, or maybe I was just there on a good day.
Laney, OTOH, was FULL of hot bikes and other merchandise. I saw probably 6-7 bicycles that were obviously stolen. It's the guys with a booth that looks like the contents of an apartment that are suspicious...when you see someone selling a DVD player, a couple car stereos, some CDs and DVDs, a cell phone, a computer, and a Tommasso with full Ultegra...
Note that the guys that buy and sell low-end bicycles are generally legit. Talk to them and ask them if they've seen your bike. Offer them a cash reward, no questions asked, and leave your *cell phone* (i.e. not your home phone where they can reverse lookup your address). The thief will usually sell a $1000 bike for about $50, so even if you have to pay off the vendor too you're coming out way ahead. If you talk to enough of these guys you will have the flea markets covered. That's how I found out what happened to my bike, though since I went to the wrong market the day it got sold I wasn't able to get it back that way.
The Coliseum evidently also has a lot of hot merch, because that's where my bike went.
5) The advice I got was "stolen property flows downhill towards the Oakland flats", and it's true: my bike was seen at MLK/Ashby on Thursday, 50th/Telegraph and 34th/West on Friday, and was probably sold at the Coliseum on Saturday morning.
6) Start trolling Craigslist and Ebay in case someone is dumb enough to post it up right away. Usually people are smarter and wait a week or two, but you have to check just in case.
Remember, if you post a reward with no questions asked, you may have to pay someone to get your own bike back in a sketchy transaction. This will rankle you, but it'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than replacing your bike.
Good luck,
BR
First, spring into action IMMEDIATELY. The longer it's out there, the less chance you have of ever seeing it again.
1) Call police and report it stolen the *second* you realize it, even if you don't have the serial number with you. The thief might still be riding or wheeling it around, and the police might see them. They'll give you a case number: call later and add the serial number to the case file. Sometimes the case officer will have email and you can send them a picture of the bike, which helps a lot. If not, print/copy one and take it down there yourself to add to the file.
2) Call local bike shops *immediately*. Don't just call the ones that deal in used bikes: thieves will sometimes take it to random places on their way to wherever. In my case, the thief walked right by the Bent Spoke (used bikes, whom I contacted right away) and walked into Tip Top (new bikes only) with a *videotape* of my bicycle, asking "how much is a bike like this worth?" I can't make this up.
3) Post a stolen bike alert in the "bikes for sale" section on Craigslist and put up physical flyers in the area where it was stolen. Offer a reward with no questions asked. Sometimes this works, especially for unusual bikes that are hard to sell, but you have to actually follow through on it. If it does work, stifle your curiosity. Just pay the tax, take your bike, get out of there, and be glad you got it back.
4) Thieves want money, fast. In the East Bay, this means they will often go to the flea market *the next morning* to sell it, usually for pennies on the dollar. Go early: they open at 7 AM and hot stuff tends to get sold in the first few hours. My bike was reportedly gone at 9 AM.
Ashby (Saturday/Sunday)
Laney (Sunday, maybe Saturday also? I get conflicting info)
Oakland Coliseum (Tuesday-Saturday)
I was told by many bike shops that Ashby and Laney were the hot spots, but I hit Ashby in both the morning and evening and I didn't see anything that looked too sketchy. Maybe it's been cleaned up, or maybe I was just there on a good day.
Laney, OTOH, was FULL of hot bikes and other merchandise. I saw probably 6-7 bicycles that were obviously stolen. It's the guys with a booth that looks like the contents of an apartment that are suspicious...when you see someone selling a DVD player, a couple car stereos, some CDs and DVDs, a cell phone, a computer, and a Tommasso with full Ultegra...
Note that the guys that buy and sell low-end bicycles are generally legit. Talk to them and ask them if they've seen your bike. Offer them a cash reward, no questions asked, and leave your *cell phone* (i.e. not your home phone where they can reverse lookup your address). The thief will usually sell a $1000 bike for about $50, so even if you have to pay off the vendor too you're coming out way ahead. If you talk to enough of these guys you will have the flea markets covered. That's how I found out what happened to my bike, though since I went to the wrong market the day it got sold I wasn't able to get it back that way.
The Coliseum evidently also has a lot of hot merch, because that's where my bike went.
5) The advice I got was "stolen property flows downhill towards the Oakland flats", and it's true: my bike was seen at MLK/Ashby on Thursday, 50th/Telegraph and 34th/West on Friday, and was probably sold at the Coliseum on Saturday morning.
6) Start trolling Craigslist and Ebay in case someone is dumb enough to post it up right away. Usually people are smarter and wait a week or two, but you have to check just in case.
Remember, if you post a reward with no questions asked, you may have to pay someone to get your own bike back in a sketchy transaction. This will rankle you, but it'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than replacing your bike.
Good luck,
BR
03-10-09, 12:35 PM
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Another possible idea to consider: https://www.bikeforums.net/general-cycling-discussion/114839-karim-cycles-bay-area-folks-rejoice.html
03-10-09, 04:46 PM
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Apparently some thieves wait for months before trying to sell on Craigslist. Interesting recovery story at Oakland:
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2237299
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2237299
03-10-09, 09:35 PM
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Thank you for the advice, it is an interesting thing, I went and searched during the morning hours today at the Coliseum Flea market, and will do that again for certain, a lot of stuff was being moved in and out that was not quite straight, ended up buying a tape cassette player and tapes and just did my homework near the entrance strolling around after every batch of new cars came through, the guys up there know me now for certain and seemed relatively helpful. My friends and I had a good eye on things.
It was not in a locker but rather in front and chained up, but it was broke into sometime when I was away downtown at Laney.
I have attached a photo of it and am going to be more proactive in trying to find it and pick up advice and information.
thank you for your support. It is nice to hear these kind of voices existing in here and in general.
All best
Asher (949) 525-7843
It was not in a locker but rather in front and chained up, but it was broke into sometime when I was away downtown at Laney.
I have attached a photo of it and am going to be more proactive in trying to find it and pick up advice and information.
thank you for your support. It is nice to hear these kind of voices existing in here and in general.
All best
Asher (949) 525-7843
Last edited by Amory Blaine; 03-10-09 at 10:23 PM.
