Originally Posted by
chipndale9
In hindsight I should have called the police. I didn't have much time to plan this out, but if I did I could've handled it much better. Since I couldn't prove it was stolen I thought it would just be a waste of time for the cops. Could really use a time machine to go back 24 hours.
As for the seller, I have no doubt he was the thief. There was no reason for him to be paranoid about verifying the bike using the serial number. I almost encountered another potential thief before, and both of these guys were extremely talkative, sounded desperate, and came across like a car salesmen. They seemed to assume the buyers are dumb, and I think that's usually an indication of a thief. I'm just a bad story teller; if you guys were with me yesterday you wouldn't have doubted either.
For those who didn't see the ad, here's the screenshot I took before I left:
Interesting that he had the details on the custom built wheels and where they were from since they don't look like they have any decals or other markings on them. Most thieves I've seen wouldn't know all the details of the bike and the small desirable parts like the seat post. NYC thieves are clearly very knowledgeable.
What does rent cost in that apartment building in the financial district?