Slodo

I am heartbroken. If anyone sees a 2005 Bianchi Pista with a honey brown Brooks Team Pro, black handlebar wrap, a brake lever on the left side, and Shimano SPD touring pedals PM me. Stolen today at the corner of Jackson and Michigan. Does anyone know where stolen bikes usually end up in this city? I am talking about some sort of bike black market so I can begin the hunt and put a slug in the head of guilty parties. Thank you.

acj

sorry, dude. just out of curiosity, how was it locked?

dolface

argh! that totally sucks, best of luck in your search.

Slodo

Really thick cable lock. The one that's garden hose thickness. And yes, I do know I should have been using a U-lock. I guess hindsight is always 20/20.

chimblysweep

dunno about Chicago, but in dc most stolen bikes are sold by crackheads in a park or at pawn shops. ask your lbs-- they'll know.

Pat Eisenhauer

NYC has bike chop shops, don't know if Chicago has gotten that sophisticated yet.

alanbikehouston

In my neighborhood, the smarter crooks take the stolen bike to a pawn shop within a couple of miles of where they got the bike. The dumber crooks take it to a bike shop near the scene of the crime.

Take a description of your bike to every bike shop and pawn shop within five miles of where it was taken. Tell them you will give them $50 to get the bike bike. Ask them to buy it from the crook (he'll accept $20) but to ask for his photo id (explaining that copying id info is "routine" when buying a bike).

Then, when they call to say they have bought your bike from the crook, you can turn over his description and ID info to the police.

If you park your bike in the inner city of a Houston, New York, or Chicago, you need a Kryptonite New York 3000 around the rear wheel, and a sturdy cable around the front wheel. And it helps to have an old and ulgly bike. "Pretty" bikes are the first to go...

absntr

Maxwell St market - Sundays. I haven't been but I've heard things. Monkey knows some people so you may want to shoot him a PM. He keeps his ear to the ground.

Sorry about your loss. Years ago I had a week old brand new mountain bike stolen from Wabash and Jackson - I had a regular u-lock on it. Went in for work, came out for lunch - gone. File a report with 311 if you have a serial, post on craigslist.

I lock with two u-locks when I'm anywhere for more than a few minutes -- a mini and a NY u-lock and all tied together with a cable too. I'm paranoid about my bike. And I love my Phils.

Slodo

Thanks man! That's a good start. Believe me, I am a vindictive bastard; this has only just begun.

bodegabandit

Man that sucks! I will keep my eyes open The maxwell place is pretty good place to check but you need to get there early. Check craigslist my roomates bike was stolen the other day and it was on craigslist in less than an hour. Its the (sirrus for 270) I think its still there but we cant get him to email us back. We called the police but dont expect them to help too much.

teadoggg

every time I get comfortable locking my bike up outside, i hear about something like this happening again. i'm sorry for you're loss! i'll keep my eyes peeled.

when you find the guy, let me know. i've got a tire iron i'm itchin' to put through someone's throat.

crazyjohnson

Great, I was thinking of heading over there to to look for bikes. Now I dont want to buy anything because I cant be sure if its hot or not.

Do you know this first hand or are you just relying on what someone said on CL a few days back.

Thanks.

monkey

Oh, man - I've been locking up on Lasalle and Jackson every day. Today was the first day this week that I didn't ride in. No more locking the Gios out there. Not even with 2 uLocks and a cable. Sorry 'bout your loss.

monkey

If there's a track bike at Maxwell street, you bet your a$$ it's stolen. Also, call Pawn Shops.

cookiepuss

Seems to me there are two kinds of bike robbers around. The crack/smack heads that are just looking for some money fast. Then there are the smarter and much more knowledgable ones looking to get certain bikes or "orders" people have placed. So a 2005 Pista with a nice saddle seems like it might be more the latter (sadly). If that is the case you may never see a sign of it. Hopefully it was the first of the two. Then it won't be hard to find. . .

I'll keep an eye out. Craigslist, Pawn Shops, Flea Markets, LBSs, are the best place to start. Even if the LBS was smart enough to not buy it they have seen it offered already.

teadoggg

Guys, is maxwell street market still operational? i though that got shut down a while ago?

if it is, what's the cross street? i'm interested in checking it out. i'll keep my peepers open for the list of recently stolen bikes.

teadoggg

here's an idea. what about setting up like a mailing list for stolen bikes that could be sent to the bike shops around town? It doesn't seem like it would be that hard, and i'm sure most, if not all, bike shops around town would give us an e-mail address that we could send a weekly list of stolen bikes. i'm sure most theives are smart enough not to sell it to a LBS, but if it recovers one bike, then I think we could consider it a success.

any thoughts?

absntr

How about locking up at the Bicycle Stationat MIllenium Park? It's not too far of a walk after that. I'd certainly be more than happy to lock up there and then walk to work.

absntr

Could be a good idea. A while ago, Mike Morell's Cinelli was stolen. The thief or whoever tried to sell the parts to Upgrade - they knew the bike and Mike and they stalled for time while they called the cops. The guy was arrested. I don't think he recovered the frame though.

MeekSA

Man what a bummer I will keep my eyes peeled.

Just began riding to work so I guess I better go buy me some locks, cables etc.. so I can try and keep my bike safe in Chicago

crazyjohnson

Yeah, it is just not on Maxwell any more. Head over to Canal street - I dont know exactly how far N and S it goes but Canal and Roosevelt should get you in the middle of things. 7am - 3pm Sundays.

I just wanted to head over and see if they had any old used bikes.

cookiepuss

https://www.bikechicago.info/stolen.html

chicagoamdream

"Maxwell Street" is now on Canal Street on Sunday mornings, to the north and south of where Canal intersects with Roosevelt. I wouldn't go out of your way to check it out--the rumors of tons of bikes never seem to materialize anytime I've gone. That said, I have no idea where they go. My old Trek mountain bike was stolen last year from my back porch, along with the piece of the porch it was locked to. Viva Chicago.

monkey

Ya, I'm gonna have to start doing it again. It just seemed to take so much longer. And I'm lazy.

cookiepuss

Try https://www.workingbikes.org

They have a ton of old bikes many are very suited for a fixie conversion. You can go there on the weekends: https://www.workingbikes.org/modules....showpage&pid=4