Whenever I see a story like this, I'm always surprised at the vehement moral outrage stemming from seeing things only from the property owner perspective -- which is, I think, a typical American-capitalist response. It makes me think about that childhood story "Black Beauty." Why not see the story the way the horse/bike does? Don't bikes have moral rights too? Through no fault of its own, the bike has been abandoned and stomped.

The most sensible and safest thing to do is to approach things through the local constabulatory -- there are property laws that govern what's "abandoned" and who has rights to it. But the legal machinery moves slowly, and that doesn't bode well for the bike. Though you may not wish to get involved, there's also the "contact the (possibly) jailed owner" path too -- certainly some risk there.

Or, you could simply "liberate" it (there, I've said it), and take another risk by letting the homeless community know you're going to care for the thing, and if the original owner wants it back, come see you. Not the popular solution, obviously, but you'd have my support.

Finally, you can ask yourself: what would Christ/Buddha/Mohammed/Solomon (in alphabetical order only) do? Answers to this, like all religious truths that aren't just dogma, are personal.

BikeForum philosophical question (veering away from ethical): is a UJB mixte frame worth it?