PhotoJoe 

From San Francisco PD. He's expanding his sights southward, but who knows where he goes next. And, if he's hitting bike shops, who knows if he'll start calling on CL ads, too. Just be careful.

eepok

I love bike thief wanted posters: https://sites.uci.edu/bikeuci/convict...-bike-thieves/

alicestrong

jmX

I guess this helps to explain why they were keeping a pretty close eye on me at Incycle the other day when I was test riding their fancy bikes. Before they let me ride the guy even went away to ask another person if my ID looked fake.

Wonder how common it is for a bike to walk off at the shops.

As it turned out I ended up accidentally stealing a muiltitool from the mechanics that I borrowed for the test ride. Oops! I'll be returning it today.

Jed19

Which of the Incycles? When I was shopping for a new bike not long ago, I went to one of the Incycles (I won't say which one), after calling to ask about sizes in stock, that I'll be riding with my wheels, saddle and pedals and more importantly that I'll be driving a considerable distance, and was told to come on over on a certain day and time. I went and was not amused that one of their salesmen insisted on riding with me on the test-ride, despite dropping my driver's license and credit card. In other words, I was a suspected thief wanting to test-ride a bike. I went on the test-ride, came back and let him know that I did not appreciate the "suspicion".

I then called a bike shop in San Diego who showed a similar bike (different make, but similar relaxed geometry) on their website, went there, test-rode the bike for quite a distance without escort, came back and bought the bike.

TrojanHorse

Why would an employee riding with you be a problem? Was he slowing you down? Wouldn't be much point sending him along if he were slower I guess, so...

I don't think that would bother me at all. Much better than the response of the bike shop near me (where I bought all my kid's bikes & gear)... "No, we don't do test rides"

Jed19

No, he was not slowing me down. It was bothersome b/cos I had never been "escorted" on a test-ride b/4. If I could test-ride a bike at a San Diego shop where they had never seen me b/4 (only a prior phone conversation) and could do so for a considerable distance, then I feel better about buying my bike from those folks. Nothing personal, just the way I feel.

And when I test-ride bikes, I go there and change into my own full riding outfit, including my own helmet.

sdgrannygear

Considering some bikes cost as much as cars these days, I don't blame them. it's well within their right to protect their goods, in fact, i'm surprised more shops don't do this.

volosong

Not a big deal. Since my youth, every time I've test driven an automobile, a salesman always went with.

Condorita

What's a "b/4", and is it anything like an A1?

Jed19

Before.

Just too lazy to type out the full word.

Condorita

So, as I understand it, it's "easier" to search all over the keyboard for pointless and inane "abbreviations" than it is to actually type out the correct word? What a fascinating concept!

Jed19

Nope, I don't search all over the web for "pointless and inane abbreviations" to use rather than type the actual words. Believe it or not, I learnt those abbreviations when I was taught to take minutes of meetings as quickly and accurately as possible as a fourteen year old by the Jesuits that owned my high school. So I use them in informal writings a lot.

Have you ever heard of a course called "Shorthand writing"?

Mr. Beanz

Must have been the helmet.

I see your point but with the recent increase in bike thefts (street and shops) I can understand why they send an escort. In fact, none of the test rides I have been on have been out of the parking lot so consider yourself lucky with those other shops that allowed a lengthy ride without an escort.

Mr. Beanz

I fixt it 4 ya! .....

Mr. Beanz

A disgrace to the Clydesdales!

rooftest

Although I test rode my (very expensive) bike solo for about 30 minutes, I wouldn't have minded riding along with the salesguy. Gives me someone to talk to - and it was a lot of bucks.

And I remember the salespeople who were foolish enough to let me test drive a sports car solo - we were doing 150 about 60 seconds after leaving the dealership.

alicestrong

Give the poor sales dude a break. He'd probably love to get paid to take a little "test ride"...

GP

Yes. For example:

Surfer34

Dang, that guy looks ALOT like someone I know but he lives in another state. Hmmm.

squeegy200

I would suspect the escort policy/practice was borne from their previous experience. They've probably been burned before. So I don't blame them.
For a store to set aside an employee to escort test riders means they also commit additional employees to watch the store while the other employee is out with a customer. That's inconvenient for the store management as well as the extra costs in salary and other expenditures. That's a lot of resources to commit if you are a small shop.

Pug

You should have attacked and dropped him

CbadRider

If you read the notice the OP posted, that thief uses fake or stolen IDs and credit cards. I wouldn't blame a shop for sending out an escort for an expensive bike going on a test ride.

Jed19

Oh, if the ride-along was even explained to me before we took off, then no issues. It was that the salesman was not only kinda surly when I asked him questions about the bike, but his overall mien was just not conducive to me dropping $3000 plus at his shop. Of course, he was not the shop owner, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. The San Diego shop went out of their way to make me feel they really want my business, and I was glad to oblige them. They even threw in a more expensive stem for free. Such is life (shrug).