Bomb Komodo

So I am riding home last night and some guy pulls over off the side of the road and accuses me of stealing his bike after asking me to pull over. I thought he needed help so I pulled over but he started yelling at me about the bike so I gave him a "cool story bro" and rode off.

I am pulling into my place, and the guy followed me home! Seriously. At this point, I am in defense mode, and I roll up to his car and tell him to get out and ID himself. He won't and calls the cops. The cops come and basically tell him he is a complete dumba55 who could have been severely beaten or shot. To boot, the bike was stolen a year and half ago and he has no serial #. He just said he had the same frame, and was "sure it was his". It is an older fuji race frame, but he told me there were onjly "10 ever made (uhh..wrong)", mis ID'd the color of the bars and seats (I had changed both) and basically looked like a blathering idiot. He then said "it was a popular bike with hipsters", and I asked how if there were only 10 made? lol.

It was so weird, that I am glad the cops showed up to ID this freak and record the incident.

So I ask..have you ever been accused of stealing a bike that you are riding?

For a disclaimer - I did not steal the bike.

EssEllSee

Dunno, but if I found someone who looked like they had my bike and my bike was recently stolen I probably would have pulled over and asked them about it.

xavier853

Yes, as a matter of fact. Back when I was riding my white Peugeot conversion, I was accused of stealing it by the cops. Someone stole a white mercier kilo tt on campus and the cops thought my bike was that one (how you confuse a Peugeot conversion to a kilo tt I have no idea). It was pretty crazy. I was just riding down the street, stopped at an intersection, and all of the sudden 3 cruisers show up out of nowhere and stop me (this was when I was in munice. Those cops have no clue what they are doing and)

The cops didn't know how to pronounce Peugeot or Mercier. I was polite in correcting them and said I would keep an eye out for it. The next day, the "friend" of the guy that got his bike stolen stopped me but then realized it was a Peugeot. He was cool, and I told him to keep an eye on craigslist.

Turns out, in about a month, a white Mercier Kilo TT with reb bar tape (the description by the cops) shows up. The guy said he was "leaving soon and needed to sell asap." He was asking $100 more than the retail on bikesdirect.

I emailed the police about it, but I don't know if anything ever happened.

bikeyboy

No but my 1993 Trek 7000 was stolen four weeks ago. This week I saw it in Craigslist, contacted police, went and looked at bike confirmed it was mine. The police came and confiscated the bike. That is the last I heard. The guy who was selling the bike is a member of these forums. Sounds like I may or may not get the bike back. At least I got it out of the hands of the fence.

motobeCarnage 

I think cops spend a lot of their time trying to look busy.

jdgesus 

the police LOVE emails

Cyclist0383

No, but I accused someone of stealing a bike the other day, took his photo and went on over to the LBS that I thought it was originally bought at. It has just been bought by the original owner two weeks prior, and was indeed stolen. The LBS insisted on giving me some fresh cold water for my bottle (it was a hot day) and gave me some swag to take home. I hope the guy gets his bike back....

Bomb Komodo

haha. Yeah I told the guy if it was his bike I would gladly give it to him. But to not have a serial # and go around following people home and accusing them of theft is insane. Especially when it has been a year and half since the theft. That being said, I told the cops I do not want to be riding around on a stolen bike, so if somehow it truly is stolen, I want the guy to have his bike. The way he went about it, IMO was extremely dangerous. Following me home was a bad idea.

Lesson : Write down your bike Serial # asap. That is your only chance of getting the bike back if it is stolen. The police do not care how "rare" your bike is. They only deal with raw data.

Scrodzilla

bikeyboy

seriously

Scrodzilla

Another reason why PedalRoom is awesome - you can privately store your bikes' serial numbers and notes on your profile.

Did you call him out?

bikeyboy

"Did you call him out?"

We had words at the scene when the bike was recovered. He claimed bike was not mine, and was selling for a friend of his. I know it was my bike, I bought it brand new, and I know every scratch, rusty bolt, and modified part on the bike. The fact he lied, and resisted giving the bike up tells me he is guilty. He probably does not know I know his user name here. I found it by running his phone number through Google. Up pops bikes, bike parts, and other stuff for sale. Some bike parts were listed here on the forums, with the same contact number.

The investigation is ongoing, and direct contact here will not help.

Scrodzilla

I hear you. It's good that you're on his trail.

ianjk

Once things are over, out his shady, stealing ***, at least to the admins.

yummygooey

You should tell us his username so we can stone him with our words.

bikeyboy

I would tell the admins his user name if I knew how to contact them.

EssEllSee

It's sad that a member of these forums would be caught doing something like that - everyone seems a higher quality. I figured everyone here had the same resentment toward bike thieves..

bikeyboy

Fortunately for me I posted a picture of the bike in the C&V forum a month before it was stolen. I had just put those geeky handle bars on, which were still on it when recovered. I still have the bright green straight bars, that were original. I am hoping to eventually find a 1993 Trek catalog to prove the bike came with the original bars. I wonder how hos friend had the bike for years, when I was posting it here in the forums right before it was stolen. The only part stripped was that Specialized Roadbike seat, and post.

My bike is post 1741, in the thread below.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/148170-Show-us-your-vintage-mountain-bikes!?p=12628190&highlight=#post12628190

bikeyboy

To the OP i would never confront the someone like you were confronted. Maybe if it was real obvious it was my bike, and i felt real sure about recovery without injury. Sorry about hijacking your thread.

EssEllSee

I definitely would. I wouldnt be hostile until I found out it really was my bike. Spent a lot of money, and would be furious if someone just stole it and I saw them. But I try to never allow my bike be a crime of opportunity.

vw addict

I'm quoting you, quoting yourself.

Terror_in_pink

He sounds pretty stupid, but I don't know. I went to some great lengths to recover my stolen wheels.

EssEllSee

I think many of us would - stolen anything for that matter.

kyselad

This is entirely true about serial numbers. I found my stolen bike in a rack, and despite all the insanely unique modifications I had made (diamond wrap bar tape, hacked mustache bars, bright yellow fenders and pedals -- yeah, okay, I shouldn't admit to that last one), the cop who showed up told me I was out of luck without a SN.

All that said, I did find my bike about a year after it disappeared. And you indicate you told the cops you don't want to be riding the bike if it is stolen. Does that mean the timing of your purchasing the bike is actually consistent with when it was stolen? Did you ask the guy for identifying features of the frame and any other components that might not have been swapped out? I'm not at all accusing you of having stolen it, but I do know that if I saw someone riding around what I was sure to be my bike, I might become belligerent enough to put the person riding it on the defensive, even if they bought it in good faith. He might have been a jerk about it, but is it possible you have his bike?

fixedgear80

Wow I had the same bike stolen Twice!! It was an old Schwinn Highplains mountain bike. The first time I saw the guy riding my bike past my house, where it was stolen from. He says he paid 20 bones for it I gave him $5 bucks and got it back. Not really into calling the cops when I had contraband on my persons. The second time the same bike was stolen from work. 2 weeks later I spot my bike in a "Bum Circle" at the park across the street from my job??? The kitchen crew and I rolled up on the fools, no one claimed the bike so I walked off with it. From then on out I learned 2 lessons. Buy a decent lock! Dont lock your bike up to Cement blocks, even if it is 3 locked together.