Originally Posted by
dougmc
... I'm guessing the stolen bikes figure is based on those reported to the police? Many people don't report their stolen bikes to the police -- perhaps because they figure it's a lost cause, the bike isn't worth anything, because they don't have a serial number or receipt (not that they're needed, but they're certainly nice), perhaps because the bike was stolen originally? Dunno.
I also doubt that the police really do recover half of the stolen bikes -- that seems way too high. Though perhaps Vancouver police are different than Austin police?
And quite often people steal parts off of bikes rather than whole bikes -- if they steal your wheel rather than your bike, it doesn't count as a stolen bike, even if replacing that one wheel costs you more than the the entire bike did.
Well, my numbers are more about the general ball park of how big the problem is. I'm sure there are lots of bikes out there that have been stolen but not reported, but even if there are lots more bikes stolen than reported, it still doesn't seem like that many bikes in consideration of how many bikes are out there.
I have read a couple of reports on bike thefts that do say police do recover that many bikes and have been at a number of police auctions that sell non claimed items and let me tell you, there are tons of bikes for sale, so by seeing them, it's be pretty hard to say cops don't find a lot of stolen bikes.
As for parts being stolen off bikes, I'm sure it happens and considering how many parts cost so much money and how they can be so easily and quickly removed, it speaks to how small a market there must be for a professional thiefs services that it doesn't happen more often.