Kimmitt 

The combination of clothing which doesn't match the bike (boots + expensive bike = ?) and the fact that it was an expensive bike that was <i>ill-sized</i> would lead me to call the cops.

My 2c. Classism is everywhere in our society, I know, but what if he's some dude with early-onset Alzheimer's or some other mental illness? There's a lot of hinkiness there. I know we should be careful not to be racist and classist jerks, but we should also look out for one another, too.

canyoneagle

mmmm, bad comparison IMO. In this case, it seems that the guy clearly had no sense of riding skill, which would normally be expected of a person on an $8k bicycle. I think it is reasonable to be suspicious.

Kojak

You might want to check your local Craigslist and/or other local resources to see if anyone has reported a stolen "Prince". I know if it were my bike I'd be screaming from the mountain tops...... everyone would know.

I_bRAD

I see people all the time with zero riding skill on an 8k bicycle. They've usually got a 2G outfit to go with though...

DX Rider

Maybe he's not stealing it, may be he's a drug dealer and someone traded him in leiu of money or he's a loan shark and that was collateral, etc..

Oh that's just so cruel...honest and accurate to an extent, but cruel.

bab2000

Turned around, strike up a conversation and offered to assist. Even trade bikes! Offer $50. If he took either option it was not his.

Still alerting authorities would be best option and most likely the reward would net you more than your would be out, (maybe not on the bike trade).

canyoneagle

Yep, me too - but as you so keenly noted, they have the whole shibang - top end shoes, shorts, jersey and helmet -------- and their knees are 1' away from the top tube as they pedal....

CCrew

I have been today. Nothing so far. Dunno that I'd really have a lot to tell the person though other than I saw it and where...

CCrew

Tried. No Habla.

pedalpedalpedal

I see people riding bikes w/ drop bars... except they've rotated the bars so that the drop part is on the top (the brake levers and hoods are on top). They ride while holding the flat bit... I've also seen someone riding an old mountain bike w/ really long bar-ends (maybe 6 inches long?) that were almost vertical, and he was riding and steering with the bar-ends. Quite odd.

exile

I think I would have called the police and alert them to what I observed. It would have been an inconvenience for the person if it did turn out to be his bike. Maybe he would get angry also, but sorry, stuff happens.

Police are trained to spot things out of the ordinary. It seems criminals get caught not for the crimes they committed, but for the most routine of circumstances (failure to stop at stop sign, expired plates, hanging around in the back of a building, etc.).

I was in a situation at my job a while ago where a kid left the house w/ one bike but returned later that afternoon w/ a different bike (I work at a group home). A kid riding a bike is not out of the ordinary, a kid riding a different bike then the one he stared out with is.

Kimmitt 

The problem is that police are also trained to spot brown people and poor people, so I understand why the OP is in a weird place.

oakback

Offer to buy it from him for $50.

wunderkind

Well maybe the guy was out riding his Pinarello one evening to train for a Century. While riding along a rural area, he was abducted by aliens and subjected to " full body inspections". When it was over, he was dumped at a construction site together with what the alien thought was a crude self-propelled contraption. Disheveled guy quickly gathered scraps of clothes and a boot nearby. Then rode the Pinarello home. Maybe he was all wobbly due to the "inspections"?

I-Like-To-Bike

Sure are a lot of people on this list ready to drop a dime on a stranger for the crime of not looking like themselves or fitting an "approved" bicycling profile.

Shimagnolo

Or he is a drug dealer transporting his goods by packing the frame tubes full of weasel dust.

wolfchild

Anybody that does not wear spandex and clipless shoes when riding a bike is a criminal.

MijnWraak

Oh come on, this isn't profiling. A person who drops $5000 on a bicycle should know how to ride a bike.

Grillparzer

Despite news stories, the profiling police officers do tends to be economic rather then racial. A person wearing construction worker clothing and riding an eight thousand dollar bicycle that doesn't fit him would be a good stop for a cop. Unfortunately, unless the officer was a knowledgeable bicyclist he would have to be told how good of a stop it was. They would stop the guy and run his identification and the description of the bicycle through dispatch or their computer, if he had no warrants for his arrest and the bicycle wasn't stolen they let him go. A ten minute delay for the construction worker looking guy unless he had been up to no good.

RubenX 

+1

RubenX 

Fixed... and anything over 1k.

RubenX 

Oh ... I get it now.... construction worker on a bike and don't speak english... That must have been one of the guys that work in the Dry Wall crew. Ans I bet he didn't had a helmet.

CFXMarauder

Id call the local Non Emergency # and explain to them your observation and thoughts..Ask if they would take the time to look and see if there had been any bikes reported stolen in that area that day..If it was indeed stolen Id almost wager $$ that it's in a close by pawn shop or lying next to a bed made of cardboard and a grill made from a shopping cart..

CCrew

No, no helmet. But that said, I don't really care if he was green, purple or from an alien planet. He and the bike just went together like ... Paris Hilton and Intelligence.

I_bRAD

whatever.