There's a bike locked up outside my office building that would make a perfect commuter bike for me. It's a Schwinn World Sport, in my (hard to find, large) size. A switch to upright handlebars, a rack and fenders, and I'd be good to go.

It's locked with nothing but a long cable (through wheels and frame). I could practically go through that with a garden shears. It's been there for weeks at this point. I know it never goes anywhere, because the rear wheel is nearly tacoed, and there's no way it could make a full rotation.

I don't know if the owner has abandoned the bike, or is unable to ride it, or can't come up with the bucks to fix/replace the rear wheel.

Tempting . . . but I'll try to be ethical about this. Should I leave a note?

Leave a note, give it a week and then remove it. Love it like it was your own. I see alot of abandoned bikes locked at my college. after a while they cut them off and throw them away. I recycle them.

There was a thread recently (here or on another site) where a guy was using some apartment bicycle rack as his personal storage rack for multiple bikes. Not directly relevant, but might be.

I'd leave a note and ask around to see if anyone knows who's bike it is. If you've got a spare unused extra wheel at home that would work for the bike you might offer it to the bike owner as a good will gesture in case the owner is finacially strapped at the moment.

Try harder.

I feel the same way you do about multiple bikes each year. I end up not doing a thing.....I guess that is waht feels most ethical to me. I totally disagree with the leave a note, wait a week, cut it off approach.

Is a new old bike really worth trading in your honor? Even if it is abandoned, their is no way you could ever be sure. And that is what makes cutting it off dishonorable, imo.

On a related note, my buddy and I longed for a steel lemond alp-de-huez with Campy Veloce left outside at our work over the winter. I was almost certain it had been abandoned.

It changed positions again when it warmed up. Turns out it belonged to the Security Guard!!!!!

I would hate for some city employee etc to remove and discard it.

Sure seems like somebody else's bike to me. Unless you can find the owner and get permission for it, it's not yours. Sucks to see it there begging, I'm sure, but I'd leave it alone.

You guys are right, taking it is wrong but it seems like there should be a way to contact the owner and find out what the situation is.

I will change my response, leave a note in a plastic bag and see if you get a response. Leave your phone # folded inside. If a city employee sees it they might call you, or maybe the owner. It cant hurt to try?

I actually own two cars ( I know I know) One is my regular car and the other is a classic car that is a family heirloom. Both are parked at my apartment. Neither have been driven much lately but if somebody left a note on the classic concerned with its possible abandonment or whatever I would contact them. i also wash it monthly and move it around.

If it's on your building property I'd ask security if you can get dibs on it when they cut it off.

I'm doing fine, thanks. My ethical compass is in excellent shape. Points north and everything. You didn't read that I'd actually taken steps to remove this bike, did you? Or that I'd do anything besides leave a note?

One poster (Bike4More) touched upon what's actually likely to happen here. Either the owner of the adjacent private property or the city will eventually clip the lock and remove and dispose of the bike. It's on a heavily traveled midtown Manhattan street, in front of a very active retail store. The bike is going, one way or another. I'd like it to go my way. With the owner's (if there is one) agreement.

I think it's fine to leave a note, and to ask building security about what happens to it when it's eventually cut off, but not to cut it off yourself. I've had situations where I've to leave a bike parked somewhere for a long time. Especially when I lived in the dorms, and the only options were to keep it in my tiny dorm room or lock it up nearby and hope for the best. One time someone stole my rear tire, and I didn't have the money or time to deal with right then, so it sat there even longer, completely unrideable. If the wheel is tacoed, it's entirely possible that someone had an accident with it, couldn't ride it home, and locked it up to come back for it later, when they can fix it. At some points it becomes officially abandoned, but it's best to let someone with authority (building management or law enforcement) to make that call. Otherwise it's not only morally dicey, but legally as well. Regardless of your intentions and good faith efforts, you get caught riding a stolen bike and it could go badly for you.

Alright I agree with everybody else but I really struggled with this one in college. People would leave sweet bikes and go home leaving the bike around not for weeks but months. I never took one as much as I wanted to. Do everything you can to get the bike without stealing it.

Hey, don't start acting all sure of yourself now. If you were that self-assured this thread wouldn't be here.

I was just throwing out my smartass comment... because... well... the thread was begging for it.

There's an old Univega with 7 sp 105 in the basement of my condo. It's been there for 6 years, and never moved. I'm currently trying to find its owner. When I do, I guess I'll offer $20. But a little nagging thought says no one will miss it if it just disappears, then reappears with new paint.

If it's on public land, I'd check with the city to see what their policy on abandoned property is. You may be able to lay claim to it if it's truly abandoned, but in many places you'd be on the wrong side of the law if you just made off with it (or even if you just left a note and then made off with it).

Well said, brown bat. The original idea of leaving a note to hope to contact the owner is good. Beyond that, the OP has no legal rights. The city had the right to remove it after a certain point. The best thing to do in that case would be to contact the city and find out when the abandoned bicycle auction is being held.

Six years and I'm taking it, no worries. There's no way someone is coming back for that.

Oh, you totally beat me to it. I was going to say "Be careful, it might belong to that guy from the other thread. He might be storing it there to come back for it later."

Ethically, this is really simple, whether your the OP or the guy with the bike in the apartment basement. If it's not your bike it's not OK to just take it. There is absolutely no gray area here.

Now practically, I agree that providing loving homes for abandoned bikes is a wonderful thing. You still have to go through the current owner to become the new owner. In some extreme cases the "current owner" may have become the owner of the property in which the bike has been abandoned.

Clue to Chop61 (who I hope is at least somewhat joking): if you feel the need to repaint a bike you "claim", you're probably stealing.

Actually, there's an old Jamis Earth Cruiser with a flat and a missing chain out in front of my building that the campus police have marked as derelict that they'll be coming for soon. I was thinking of snatching the rack off of it. It's been there for at least a year.

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 would bet the owner of the bike knows where the bike is, and would expect that it is stolen. However, when he comes back for it and it is still there he will be very happy (and surprised).

Besides you said it yourself it's just a crappy old Schwinn. Go buy something from Bikesdirect, it'll probably work better anyway.

The person took the time to lock it up. It's not available for adoption. Why it's been there is none of your concern, but it could be there waiting for the owner's return from: deployment, sudden change in family, medical, or *ahem* legal status, some other long term travel, or God knows what.

I've lusted after abandoned bikes too, but can't justify taking them.

It's a funny thing about the note--it's not a bad idea I guess, but I can't help thinking it's useless. If the owner reads the note, it's probably because he's in the act of moving/using the bike--which you'd notice anyway and would generally mean that the bike isn't available. If the bike is actually abandoned, there'd be nobody to read the note.

If someone leaves a bike chained up outside for a while, they aren't generally going to be checking up on it even if they plan to use it later. You can never be sure.

I left a near mint 1972 Raleigh Record mixte in the basement of a building where I lived for 8 years. It was a real classic, with perfect paint and decals, no rust. I went back for it a few months later, and it was gone. But then a year later I saw it on campus, nicely cleaned up, with new tires, new light, new horn. I was tempted to steal it back, or at least steal the Brooks B-67 saddle off it, but instead I left a note on it, asking who was riding it now. Turned out to be a good friend of mine, who'd got it from the 'abandoned bikes' room at the school, and had invested over a hundred bucks sprucing it up. I told him okay, but if he ever leaves it unlocked, I'm stealing it back! He's been keeping it locked.

I took a 1970s huffy sea pines 3 speed, unlocked, from behind a dumpster a few weeks ago. Both tires were flat but it was in otherwise great shape. I let it sit there for 24 hours and then took it under the assumption that someone was throwing it away, but didn't want to heave it into the dumpster. That bike was stolen off my porch about 2 weeks later. So, I guess that was karma if I did actually steal it, but I'm pretty sure it was garbage.

Anyway, if you're having trouble determining the ethics, then it's probably not terribly ethical or unethical either way, so I say go for it. Also, if you're going to steal a bike, may as well make it a nice one and hope it has some sweet gear in the panniers!