To liberate or not to liberate
 

This has come up in conversation a few times, but I thought I would go ahead and solicit general advice. Since I moved in to my new apartment about 5 months ago, I noticed that there is a bianchi campione d'italia sitting in the alley behind my building, rotting. It's a frame, fork, headset and front wheel with no additional gear on it (ie, no derailleurs, brakes, gear shifters, etc.). It's locked up with a kryptonite lock and chain. Obviously someone cared for it at some point, enough to use a decent lock and chain.

I gathered from some small amount of research that it is japanese double-butted tubing (probably similar in quality to my centurion elite rs), so, while it carries the fancy italian [edit, initially said japanese] nom, it's not really a "special" bike. That said, it makes me sad seeing it rot.

I put a note on it yesterday saying I would pay some money just to bring it in from the elements. I was wondering how long you guys would wait before just hooking up an extension cord to my roommate's sawzall and taking it for myself.

I realize that the responses are going to range from "never" to "immediately", with a dash of "please post pics" in between. Seeing a perfect decent steel frame die slowly upsets me, not much more to it than that.

One option I've heard of is to call local police. What they may do is "liberate" it for you, and then hold it for a set amount of time. If no one claims it, then it will likely become yours...legally :thumb:

Someone probably left it there if it's been there that long and there's nothing on it, or someone stole the campy off it and than left the rest, the guy figured it was stolen, and never came back for it.

It's hard to say when it's okay to take that bike. But if not, someone else may, and Drew it.

It really depends on if it's been left there, or abandoned. There's a difference.

-Nick

That's a big part of the debate for me. The fact that there is a perfectly good lock and chain on it suggests that it was, at one time, a well thought of possession. Now in hipster land NY, a lot of people buy 'the best lock & chain money can buy', a reasonable thing to do, but don't really stick to cycling.

I'll consider calling the police. My gut tells me they're not going to care much, especially since it's not on a street but rather in an alley.

right, it's not technically abandoned until either the owner says so or the authorities do, you don't get to decide it. Unfortunately. If you do cut the lock, you put yourself at risk and risk facing the consequences of a theft and/or destruction of property charge (you won't be able to cut a Kryptonite lock in silence and secret, BTW: I suggest an angle grinder, not a Sawzall). Why not ask your building manager and tell him you're interested in it? He might help to get an eyesore out of the alley. It's a Japanese Bianchi, a good value and good rider, worth fixing up if you can get it "legit".

I would definitely call the police and have them assess it. Do it right and do it legally. Worse thing would be you stealing a bike from someone else.

Technically it's illegal. But, technically, you should take it. Doing things that feel right but are still illegal--that's the spice of life. Just ask Henry David Thoreau, he'll tell you.

To get around the moral hand-wringing part, here's what you should do: make it a very hard, and very illegal-seeming to do.

Repel down your building in a black jumpsuit. Instead of using a dremel, use a file. And do this every night for a month until you've finally cracked the code and 'liberated' that cycle.

Also, shifty eyes are key.

It's a nice bike... the Italian versions I have seen have equipped with nice level Ofmega parts and not Campagnolo and am not sure what the Japanese version would have been equipped with.

Talk to the building management and the police...the bike appears to have been abandoned and may have belonged to a previous tenant.

With their blessing you might then obtain a nice project bike.

Curious. If the bike was striped there and then the owner decided to abandon why didnt thay at least take the $$$ locks. If it was stolen then striped than why the locks? If you are going to take the bike why not go all the way and claim the money that crypto offers if a lock is defeated. Would you feel comfortable taking the bike in broad daylight with lots of people around? I started to rescua a bike that was cheap locked and rusting away for about 10 months but than I found myself out there with bolt cutters at 3 AM and that just felt too much like stealing to me. Likely the rightful owner has long since lost any interest in maintaining ownership .

People used to say you can spray those U locks with some aerosol that freezes them so cold they become brittle and you can crack them with a hammer. I never tried it, though. Urban legend?

forget the Freon, you can open them with the barrel of a Bic pen (or have we forgotten that already?) But it's still theft until you have permission.

I would do this in broad daylight and even potentially hope that the owner came out. If he said it was his, all he would be out is one link on his chain and maybe he'd come take my money or some such. My only problem would be he'd need to prove it was his by unlocking it, not just a profiteering neighbor.

I'm not sure how easy it is to get krypto to pay out on the insurance. how many people register their serial numbers?

Regardless, I'm planning on giving the note a week or two to work its magic, and then i guess the next step should be to speak to the police.

This isn't a U Lock, it's their chain lock (with a normal key, not an O key). Also, those u-locks susceptible to the pen have been recalled. There shouldn't be many left on the street.

And, it it's right behind your window you should be able to play the pink panther theme while you take it.
Duh duh, duh duh, da da da da da daaaaaaahhha

--

Also, it has been stripped right? Missing one wheel, maybe more parts? Rusting away?

Hopefully the note will do some good, I wouldn't want to deal with NYC police. Good luck!

You mentioned NY earlier in this thread.
If its NYC I'd bet my last dollar that you'll have a pretty hard time finding a cop who gives a damn about an abandoned bike or if someone is stealing or liberating it. Its not that NYC cops don't care, they just got better things to do than worry about partially disassembled bikes in alleyways. They won't be shy to tell you that if its the case.

NYC cops are the best IMO because they aren't interested in busting balls over trivial stuff unlike suburban cops.

You may not need to talk to any authorities. If it has been locked up on private property (assuming it's locked to a building, private rack, etc), then the owner of the property can determine that it has been abandoned after a period of time. Landlords deal with this all the time. In fact, if it was a tenant, their lease probably had specific clauses about this type of condition. I'd just talk to the building owner. If it has been there for months, then more than likely they'd be happy to have you cut it off so they don't have to _pay_ someone to do it later.

Cheers,
Karl

I wouldn't go that far - NYC cops like busting people's balls as much as a suburban cop, but they don't have as much of their day devoted to it. I can't imagine them coming very quickly, were someone actually to call them. Hell, I wouldn't be opposed to talking to them when they arrived necessarily, especially if it was not the owner who placed the call.

Hey brudder. I will definitely play pink panther music if it comes to that.

The landlord is of the "I do not do anything variety" and I'm having some problems getting him to fix broken **** inside the apt. I can't imagine actually talking to him about this, not to mention there are probably 2 or 3 bikes locked up that are farther down the road towards dead than this one.

It's not like every bike deserves to be rescued. I have enough ethical dilemmas just living life the best I can, no need to add to it voluntarily. I would always have a pang of guilt having taken a bike that wasn't mine.

I feel better here on Penn State campus knowing that abandoned bikes are picked up once a year.

If it has been there for 5 months I would take it tonight. Think of all the starving kids. They would still be starving but they could possibly taste the freedom in their minds and it would be so good.

Do it. For the kids!

vjp

Except no one is picking up abandoned bikes in ny. Fully rotted bikes are left to...rot more.

Abandoned. Take.

What else is down there? anything good? Have those other bikes been undisturbed for as long as the Bianchi?

I fully understand that. I get pissed off thinking about the kids that wasted their parents money buying a bike and then abandoning it to rust away, but I'm relieved to know they will be gone next week. Resolves any ethical issues I might have had. My advice to you is to use that bike rotting away as a reminder that ethical behavior doesn't always feel good. Otherwise, try to get the bike legitimately.

My final point is that there are other bikes out there, go get one of those.

I had the misfortune of eye-ing up a nice track bike over the course of three years off lorimer. Eventually the MTA came because it was on their property, but no before the frame was totally, totally worthless.

damn shame.