randyjawa 

The bicycle, even apparently abondoned, is not yours! Do not steal it and that is exactly what you will be doing. There are already enough bike thieves out there.

Talk to the landlord. Talk to the police who will probably want you to bring the bike in. Do so, and then go get it 90 days later. This is the proper way to do things. In my opinion...

canonizer

You did not read the rest of my previous entry where I relayed more current events. In any case, I will not be appropriating, liberating, taking or stealing the bike with its ownership so [poorly, in this case] confirmed. You do not seem to live in NY, where both landlords (of rent stabilized apts) and police take a very hands off approach to jurisdictional matters of this nature. You may accuse me of moral cowardice and impeachable ethics but that's what anonymous internet forums are for, right?

Again, just as a point of linguistic pride - one cannot steal abandoned property, even in the exceptionally rigorous/capitalist/ownership rights land of the US.

jonwvara 

Yes, that's an interesting point. Under common law, as I understand it (I'm not a lawyer, though) "ownership" is a matter of satisfying two conditions: one must physically possess the thing, and the thing must not already belong to someone else. It's when only one of those conditions is satisfied that the trouble starts.
The real question is when does a thing stop belonging to someone else? In other words, when is it legally considered to be abandoned? Does some authority have to issue a court ruling, or what? I think this is something established under state law pertaining to adverse possession when you're talking about land, but I don't know it that is also true of other property. Is there a lawyer out there who actually understands this stuff who wants to weigh in? That would be educational. These kinds of questions seem to come up all the time, and it's always a sort of back and forth between the "heck, go ahead" and the "don't you dare" camps. Not that that's not fun for all, but it doesn't get us anywhere.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Oddly enough its well defined when it comes to boats. Not so much on land.

banjo_mole 

So, what's the OP been up to?

canonizer

for the pics please folks, poorly displayed in this one.