Maybe the owner, after locking up the bike and heading on thier way, had an accident like a heart atack or something. And they are in their hospital bed right now thinking, I can't wiat to get out so I can go see my bike!" And maybe thats the only thing keeping them alive. Don't do it man.....

bringing this one back to life::
I had a same situation of a bike that was left leaning against a building. This is a college area. I watched it for months. After 5 months I moved it to a very close by bike rack about 15' away. It sat there for another year. People were removing stuff from it, tires flat. I spoke with building security, maintenance, & building manager. They said after a period of time they send out a email, cut locks off & let them dissapear. If they stay, then they dispose of them either dumpster or thrift store. No one would really take any responsibility for the bike. Fianlly, I spoke with the campus police, explained to them about the bike. They said students will leave their bikes when they finish school or transfer. So they have a lot of abandoned bikes that are never claimed. The campus police said since it sat there for 1.5 years, tires flat, missing a couple of parts, to take it.

Slippery slope...then it's that jacket that's been hanging on the rack at Macy's for days...the tools at Sears collecting dust on the shelf...best to look elsewhere for your next ride. Try garage sales in the spring and summer, bike swap meets, thrift shops, church rummage sales, word of mouth search for bargains, or something new on sale at one of the online retailers, or check bike shops to see what they are sending to the dumpster. Just leave the bolt clippers home.

yeah, I do feel funny about these things. But I did contact all the proper authorities concerning the bike & they informed me of the procedures and timeline. After the Campus Police; highest authority concerning these issues, said to remove it before it gets trashed, I felt it was OK. Otherwise I would have not. Plus 1.5 years had passed untouched other than a few parts getting removed. Plus it had no lock on it, no bolt cutters used !

People leave bikes at my university all the time- I would imagine it's mainly people who graduate or otherwise leave, and either forget about their bike or just leave it behind because they don't want to bother moving it. They tend to get covered in spiders, the tyres go flat, and eventually they get picked clean by scavengers until there's nothing there but the one part that's locked up. Eventually security come along and tag bikes that have been there a while, and if nothing happens after a further period they cut the locks and take them away.

And you would be a thief. Condo's are typically owned. That person likely still lives there and fully aware of where they stored their bike IN the building they are part owner of.

I remember reading a story a year or so ago about the police finally catching one of the prevailing Portland bike thief rings. It was a bunch of homeless druggies who would roam around stealing easy-to-get bikes, riding them to another part of the city and just locking them up on a bike rack for later storage/sale. After they were caught, they admitted they had done it to hundreds of bikes, sometimes not even remembering where they stored all of them. Every time I see a bike sitting for a long time in a strange location, I assume it is stolen and someone, somewhere, would love to have it back. I couldnt imagine taking it myself.

Unrelated story - when my brother was in college, his front wheel was stolen a couple of times. Turned out there was a gang of meth heads who would do the rounds through the college towns (Eugene, Corvallis) once or twice a month taking all the front wheels of bikes. They cut them up and sold them as scrap. They caught those guys, but there are so, so many more scumbags out there...

Is it actually on the property of the building that you work in, or is it on city/county/state property? If it is on the buildings property talk to either building manager/owner or security or maintenance department to see what their policy is about abandoned property is.

I would also ask them if they know how long the bike has been "abandoned" for. And if security/maintenance or even the owner/manager tells you that you can have it then that should be the end of it.

If the bike is on city/county/state property put in a claim with the police department or relative department.

I wouldn't go the note/week route as really a week isn't enough time and as we've seen in another case mentioned later that it is possible for a note to come detached. If you DO go the leave a note one the bike method. I would suggest using a very stiff stock, as well as using a hole punch to punch a hole in the note and then reinforcing said hole with good quality hole protectors and using some sort of metal tie to secure the note to the bike.

Is it possible that it belongs to a co-worker? Do you have a community black/whiteboard in the break room that you can leave notes on? If so post a note there to see who might own it.

In your case I would suggest talking to the condo board to see if they know whose bike it is. If they don't know ask them if you can have it. Again is there a community black/whiteboard that you can post notes on? If so have you tried posting a note on it?

Given that the campus police have already "tagged" it as a derelict and are going to be removing it shortly why don't you just contact them and let them know that you are interested in it. They just might give you permission to remove it to save themselves the effort.

Quote:

Originally Posted by timdoug

A friend left his bike in an apartment basement after moving. 1 year later he moved back to the state. We went to look for his bike. It was still there. We fixed it up. He has a bike. He is very happy.

I hope that your friend realizes how lucky he is that a year later that his bike is still where he left it. After moving out of the apartment and not taking his bike with him the landlord would have been correct to assume that it had been abandoned. Why didn't your friend take it with him, and why did he feel that he could leave/"store" it (for free) in the basement of an apartment building that he no longer lived in?

Around the end of spring semester most colleges put tags on bikes. The tags are a bright color so anyone that is walking to class can see that all of the bicycles have tags on them. The tag says that either students register their bike for the summer or it has to be removed from the bike rack by a certain date. If they don't remove their bike, it gets disposed of by the city. This date is typically a couple days after the semester ends and the students are all moved home already. If you wait until the night before all the bikes are removed and snag one, I don't think thats stealing. The property is obviously abandoned and going to be repossessed anyways.

Yes, find the relevant authority who would have the legal right to cut the lock and dispose of the bike, and offer them to take it off their hands.