Yep, that is an issue with the online indexes. They may at best only cover about 5 years of thefts. The Police Department may have longer records, but may not have them well indexed for the last 20+ years. Or, I think around here, they may have started using the online index, but may not have uploaded the old records.

At first, I thought that grind was clean, but now that I look at it again, it could have been ground down years ago.

Anyway, do your best to check, then go from there.

If you have a local free bike ads (Craigslist), you could post a "Found" notice with a description, but leaving out important details like color.

Then if you do sell the bike, just do full disclosure. If you can't find the original owner now, it is likely they won't pop up in the future.

I'd be tempted to emboss your own S/N with enough records that someone won't pop up and say the bike was stolen last week.