gitarzan

I am asking this here, feeling that you are the guys that typically come across these items, being on the lookout for bikes.

Along the way to work, I've noticed an abandoned bike. It's been sitting aside a phone pole for about a week. It's a fairly modern bike of an upright, english touring bike design. Going by on the way to work I cannot see the brand or gearing situation, as I'm moving along too fast. I can see there is no apparent lock. I am surprised it has been there that long.

The locale is a kind of a dead zone, at the edge of an airport where the trailer courts and section 8 begins, and a few businesses nearby. The nearest business or abode is prob a quarter mile away, so I figure some kid grabbed it rode close home and left it before Mom or Dad might see him.

Anyway it appears to be a ditched stolen bike.

So, what are my salvage rights? I plan to not resale it but to ride or if it does not fit, give it away to a charity.

Should I pick it up? I've taken a stolen/ditched bike before, but that was after it sat for three months.

10 Wheels

Leave it there...

randyjawa 

When this sort of thing happens to me, I pick the bike up and turn it in to the Police. If the bike goes unclaimed, I get the bike three months later with a record to prove ownership. Keep in mind that if the original owner sees you with his bike, you could be charged with possession of stolen property.

Just taking it seems a lot like stealing to me. I might add that this dilemma has presented itself in other threads in this forum and sparks all kinds of opinions. This was simply mine.

cudak888 

Anyone have a link to the previous discussion of this nature? It'll save a lot of time, bother, and the irritation of having this thread at the top of the forum for two weeks.

-Kurt

T-Mar

As avid cyclists, we owe it to our fellow cyclists to ensure abandoned bicycles are returned to the rightfully owners. How would you feel if this was one of your bicycles? Someone may have relied on it as their sole source of transportation. Report it to the police and let them deal with it.

Panthers007

Yup. Call the police. Someone may well be missing something very valuable.

KonAaron Snake 

I would turn it into the police as abandoned and also post it to craigslist with calls to local bike shops.

beech333

banjo_mole 

Bring it to the po', then if no one takes it after 3 months, apparently it's yours. Pretty good deal all around.

I wouldn't just leave it there, or I don't doubt someone else will steal it and Craigslist it or otherwise.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Stop there. Don't bother

RapidRobert

Take it to the police, and leave a note on the pole. If it is someone's who cares, the police will know and you'll save it from going away for good. Chances are best it's a POS, but by taking it you can eventually then give it to someone who will ride it.

ilikebikes

+1

I have a question, like most of the other members I buy A LOT of flea market bikes for flippin', most all are fixer uppers but some need way less fixing, what happens if one of these bikes is stolen? I mean like you fix it up, post it, and someone contacts you telling you its their bike! what do you do then? do you ask for proof? like serial number? Police report?

EjustE

Same thing that happens with any stolen property sold (think of someone buying a stolen camera from a pawn shop e.g.) :

the original owner has the burden of proof that the property is indeed his/hers (and he had better filed a police report to report the property as stolen) and the final buyer/current owner has the right of compensation/retribution from the thief (if known/caught), otherwise he/she is SOL, if proven in a court that his current property rightfully belongs to someone else (and this is a civil law case). There are no involvement/issues of the intermediate owners/buyers/sellers etc, unless they knowingly sold stolen property (the burden of proof is on the state on this one and this is a criminal law case). This is how it goes pretty much, with a few variations, mainly on the rights of retribution and how much of the first case is civil vs. criminal and why, depending on the state.

To the OP: let the bike be where it is. Call the cops/sheriff to impound it.

RobbieTunes

+1

Not yours, and you wouldn't know about it if you drove a different way.
50/50 it's a problem waiting to occur. Avoid rationalizing it; it'll drive you crazy.

gitarzan

Good Advice. I'll just call the cops and let them pick it up. Maybe the owner filed a theft report and will get it back.

ilikebikes

Thanks for the reply, I think I may stop buying flea market bikes! sounds like to much BS for anyone to have to deal with.

KonAaron Snake 

Just a slight add on to what ejust said...he's mostly accurate, but some of this is more gray area than most understand. When you buy at a retail establishment, you are getting what's known as automatic good title...meaning that even if it's stolen, it's your's. Period. Without this assumption, no business could be conducted. At that point, the burden is on the retail establishment. Whether or not good title applies to flea marketsis a grey area. A pawn shop almost certainly gives good title...if it's stolen, the shop is responsible, not you. You might NOT be SOL, although the honorable thing to do, IMO, is to give it back for what you paid and try to identify the seller to police.

I, like most here, have been offered clearly stolen bikes many times...and have always passed. I won't do it morally, I don't want to help promote theft, and it's risky if you get caught with it. My dad called me while he was at a flea market, knowing about my hobby. He described a Bianchi Pista to me being sold for $100...I told him to buy. Later, he told me the seller looked a little shady but had several bikes. I called local police asking if this bike ended up on a report...I posted an ad to craigslist and I called my local bike shops.

Nothing. I didn't know what to do. I spoke with co-workers and family who are attorneys and heard it could be decided either way. I eventually decided to re-sell it after it was clear I had done my due dilligence.

Schnayke

Man leave it alone, I have a friend that leave's bikes all over the place and just hops on what ever one is close. Some of his stuff sits around for a month or two before he gets back on and rides it. You are not the bike athority, People can do what they like with their bikes. If anything call the cops and say you think it is abandoned and give them your name, But don't move it, that could just totaly screw up someones day.

ilikebikes

That helps too, thanks. I sometimes feel some that some bikes at the flea market appear stolen, and when that feeling creeps up I just don't by it! Period!