My off site storage unit was broken into while I was out of town and at least two items were stolen.
1) a NIB Bianchi l’Eroica complete bike, never out of the box, size 57cm, with two Brooks saddles- both the original and the special engraved Eroica edition.
2) a nearly new condition 85 Raleigh Gran Tour frameset with shifters and headset attached, also size 57.

A bunch of other non-bike stuff was either stolen or damaged, but those are the immediate knowns. Both are very rare and unusual examples, not easily sold on the open market without drawing some attention. Police report filed, etc. but please touch base with me if you hear of someone selling one of these.

Many thanks
Doc

What a loss! Geographic location of the theft?

Northern VA. But the market for specialty vintage bikes in this area is pretty small, so they could appear anywhere. Or nowhere.

I am still periodically looking for my stolen Masi GC now nearing 50 years ago.

Some bikes cannot be replaced.

I fully understand the anguish.

Many of these never were/are safe and less so now.

Under or no staffed and little or no surveillance, not monitored or maintained and becoming a land use scourge while driving up property cost.

Sorry for your loss, I think as we've seen the market is small everywhere for the most part aside from grail, one of a kind, very revered builders and NOS ones like here.

And they have still seemed to take a hit as well.

I am sorry to hear about this, Doc. Not that this eases the blow, but if what I wish for the thief comes to pass, his (and it is 99% certain it's a "his") life is about to become extremely unpleasant. Extremely.

In most things, I try to be a "turn the other cheek" kind of guy. But for bike thieves, I'm a lot more Old Testament.

I echoed the content of your post to the internet-bob list, didn't include your screenname here at bf, can do that if you say ok.

Part of the pain is feeling sure the scoundrel does not appreciate the non-pecuniary value.

RATS!!!! - Next Time I'll Be Waiting For You...

So sorry to hear this and for your loss, hope the thieves will be caught and jailed

I'm so sorry. Hoping for a miracle!

Doc, what a bummer!!! Hopefully there's some security video that gives the police a few clues. Was your unit the only one broken in to?

Gosh, breaks my heart to read about thefts like this!

Haven't had a bike stolen yet but suspect that it is just a matter of time. Anyway, I found this organization, BikeIndex.org, to be super helpful in cataloguing the bikes that matter the most to me. This will sound like a PSA but this non-profit organization is dedicated to preventing bicycle theft and if you have one stolen, providing another option to report and hopefully recover it. You can post photos and info about your bicycles, including serial numbers, and if one of them is stolen, you report it to the site and a bunch of other people will keep an eye out for your bike and alert you if they think that they have spotted it. This is a great non-profit and they do produce results!

rccardr - if you have info about the stolen bikes, go ahead and register the bikes on the site. Best of luck to you recovering these bikes!

I'll keep my eyes peeled too!

Here is the link: Bike Index

Bike Index-related miracles do happen. An acquaintance had his lovely Merton stolen out of his garage in San Francisco. He came thiiiiis close to being able to buy it back from the perp, but the guy spooked. My friend thought it was gone forever. Fast forward something like five years, he gets a call out of the blue in the East Bay. The caller was a fellow cyclist, had bought the Merton, checked Bike Index, saw the "stolen bike alert," made the call, and my buddy and his Merton were reunited. My friend offered to buy it from the guy for whatever he paid for it, but the guy turned it down, saying he was pleased the rightful owner got the bike back.

I'm not saying this is a common occurrence, but it does happen. Here's hoping Doc is one of the lucky ones.

I've had my favourite bike stolen, so I know what this is like. I'm in favour of Sharia Law for thieves.

Doc, the Portland suspects have our eyes open.

No cameras there?

So sorry to hear this happened to you Doc. You’ve probably already done this but might want to set up a bunch of keyword-based email alerts at the usual outlets (ebay, fb marketplace, craigslist, etc), and cast a wide geographic net.

That's a real drag, Doc. I was lucky enough to recover a stolen bike once. Maybe you'll be the lucky one...

Sorry to hear, Doc. That’s such a horrible feeling to discover your private property has been violated. I hope you didn’t lose any RC cars too!

My favorite rednecky/snarky sign:
“Private Property: trespassers will be violated to the fullest extent of the law”

Reminds of the scene in Pulp Fiction that prompts Bruce Willis’ character to say, “Zed’s dead baby, Zed’s dead.”

It’s not much consolation for losing prized possessions, but at least you and yours are safe and sound. As my grandmother would remind me in this situation, it’s just stuff. But we’ll surely keep an eye out for it!

Good news and Other News: Turned out the Bianchi l’Eroica complete was under the big pile O’ stuff they piled up in the back of the unit. So, that’s safe.

But the Raleigh frameset is gone, as is a NiB Bianchi l’Eroica frameset size 55cm (box was literally never opened) and a really nice Ultegra/Open Pro wheelset.

Damn. I really liked that Raleigh.

Doc, was that the bike you were saving for your grandson?

What color? And size 57, is that center to top?

Yes, that was the bike I bought at auction at l’Eroica CA 2016 (VR Jake was present) and have saved it in the box for my grandson. He was about 9 months old at the time, now almost 11. The backup 55cm frame was in case he wasn’t tall enough for the 57.

The Raleigh looks like this: