good points.
Hopefully, this sort of thing will happen less frequently as we all become more vigilant. It seemed that the spirit of the thread was one of community. If we do this - and I really think we should - we are not necessarily setting a precedent. I mean, I dont think if a thief gets away with Judah or ostro's bike (god forbid), they're gonna pipe up that we OWE them a bike or a collection fund just because we did it for someone else, you know?

I guess another consideration is Caroline's own financial situation. maybe she IS loaded and can buy a new one on her own. probably not, though. Who here knows her? she doesn't post here, does she?

The way I see it, between the 10-20 SF/east bay peeps we have on the forum, plus our other fixie friends that may not post here, we can get a good hunk of change together without any real significant expense to any one of us.