It is pretty easy to tell if a bike has been abandoned vs. just locked up everytime you see it. If the chain and gears are a rusted blob as well as tires that are toast it is a good indication that the thing is not being ridden. If if is parked in a public place in this conditon you can almost bet on it, esp if it has fallen over or not moved in a while covered with bird s*hit. The note idea is not bad if you think the owner might still keep an eye on it. In realiy most people who abandon bikes are not serious bikers and often forget they have a bike. These are the kind of people who stop riding because they have a flat. Usually they are older bikes that even if it was given back to them they might trash it because of weathering and go buy a brand new wal-mart spercial (Vertical, next, Ozone 500, pacific...) with mega springs.

Some friends and I delt with a pair of abandoned bikes at the Co-op we lived at. They had been locked up for over 1.5 years on the propertey, we checked if anyone living in the house owned them, then cut them off and gave them to some of our house mates to use. A few days later a buddy was ridning one down the street and this girl who used to live at the house over 2 years ago (who moved down the street a bit) calimed it was her bike and my buddy stole it. Ha according to Texas Law, a tennant has 30 days to remove personal property from a residence after a lease expires, after that point the propertey manager/owner has the right to dispose of the abandoned propertey. She threatened to call the cops, but for what? We just gave her back the bikes, but the truth is we were in the right. Just food for thought