Originally Posted by
dragonwalker
I've called the police to make a report, checked Craigslist as soon as I came back, and just finished calling some local pawn shops (most say they don't buy bicycles because they can't verify it being stolen or not), so far no luck. Can someone give me a suggestion as to where someone might try to flip this bicycle?? I'm about to try local bike shops but the ones I know of don't buy used bicycles.
This sucks! I had my bike stolen almost a year ago from my transit station, and I was religious about checking CL for the first couple of weeks. However, it was almost a month before it was posted. I don't know if it was a really patient thief or if they just know that you'll get bored, frustrated or move on, but you might want to give it more time before giving up.
That said, the other reply about starting to plan your replacement is probably good advice; even if it does show up, recovery is far from assured. The 'detective' in my case, although not blatantly unhelpful, wasn't exactly jumping up and down to 'solve' the crime; he claims he responded to the add through a dummy, but whatever, he never got contact back from the seller (and the ad was gone the next day). He also didn't try to get a subpoena for the CL listing information (if that's even worth bothering with), so yeah, not too helpful.
I had made a report, including serial number and detailed description. When I found the listing on CL, I should have just responded to the advert myself, and gone for the meeting with some 'self help' prepared, but I trusted the system, and someone else is now enjoying my bike.
Oh, and whether you recover yours or get a new bike, get a good lock.