g3ck0

Not that I'm really considering, it's all locked up with a HUGE kryptonite lock. But there's this bike (04 trek 1000) that' been parked outside the school library for some time now, it's never been moved since...forever. I went to go take a closer look at it and you can see that it hasn't been used: the seat is all dustry, dry dirt all over the bike and cobwebs on the wheels...so then...would it be morally right to give this bike a better owner?

soda

How long is "some time now"?

TMX

What you're proposing is theft. Not to sound like too much of a prick, but if it's not yours, leave it alone.

There is another thread in these forums someplace by a guy who stole someone's nearly-new mountain bike and gave it to his girlfriend. His justification was that it had been lying on the ground near a bike rack for about a week, and therefore must have been abandoned (amazingly, nearly everone involved in that thread gave him a pass on it). Don't be that guy.

-B

Taz

Bikes that are locked at a Metra Train Station around Chicago can stay for one year before Metra takes the bike away.

Thay are supossed to put a notice on the bike for a month before it is done.

DnvrFox

Report it to the school librarian or security or whatever, and let them take whatever procedures they have for it (which may be nothing). If one of those procedures involves giving the bike to the person reporting, then fine. Otherwise it is not yours, period.

Matt Gaunt

Why not leave a note on it? Just say you think you could make use of it and that if the owner is interested in getting rid of it, let you know.

Otherwise, it's theft and that's never good.

Nightshade

Ditto!! Ditto!!

Ritehsedad

I'd ask the local police what the procedure would be.

EXCALIBUR

I don't think these are the answer the OP are looking for.

huhenio

A bike locked a week with an expensive lock sounds fishy .... report to police

EricDJ

I say the property owner gets the say so. If they leave a warning on the bike for xx amount of time and its still there, they can choose to remove and sell it to you.

Otherwise the police have to do it if its on public property.

Eatadonut

I took a trashed roadmaster from outside the student union that had been there for about 14 months. We had a good night with it, and deposited it elsewhere on campus for someone else to find.

Also, I took a schwinn traveler labeled "trash" from the alleyway next to a trashcan.

Most recently, I rescued a 1984 trek 400 from outside an apartment building in my complex. It'd been there for at least 4 months (since I moved in at least), the chain was rusted in place, both wheels completely destroyed, bar tape torn to shreds, and seat beat up. Frame's in good condition though.

none of these bikes were locked up, all of them had the distinctive look of having been abandoned, as the location they were in were the type of places people leave things they don't want anymore.

I wouldn't take a decent bike locked up like that though. Not unless it had a picture of a guy holding the original receipt with his signature on it, and a signed note that said "please steal me" on the bike.

Blue Order

I borrowed a friend's bike once to get to school; when I got there, I locked it to the bike rack. It was at least a month before she had the free time to pick up her bike, so it stayed locked until then. Another friend locked his bike up and lost the key, so his bike stayed locked to the rack for probably close to a year. He finally went to security and told them that he had lost the key, and together they removed his bike from the rack.

According to the OP's philosophy, both of these bikes were fair game for someone to come along and "find."

v1nce

Yeah i agree with all the above. I once stole a cheapy bike and still regret it. Sure it was abandoned for months and needed work but maybe someone still wanted it backeventually. I also later realized that the money i spend on new tires and such would have been (plus a lot of effort) less if i had just bought a similair and decent second hand instead!

It is just not cool to take a bike that someone might still want back. Especially as you will trash that person's expensive lock. Plus you can never know the circumstances.

Even if someone left a bike unlocked there are possible reasons which would make taking the bike really low. What if someone was having some sort of distress (mental problems, someone he knows hospitalized and he had to rush of by car, lost his lock etc etc) and didn't lock it up for that reason. Not very cool to go back and find your bike stolen to top things off. Lastly most bikes left for long are bikes you could buy second hand cheap. Why resort to theft that might mess someone else up and get you in trouble?

The note thing might work out very nice. You might get a (very) good deal on a legal bike and the previous owner might get rid of something he didn't need anymore.

2mtr

yes. unequivocally yes, it is moral and ethical. more ethical than anything.
i pondered over this, and after posting to this forum, the bike was gone. damn it! i thought. damn it!

alanbikehouston

Around the Rice University campus there are lots of bikes locked up that don't move for months. A student will show up as a freshman with a new bike. Ride it for a few weeks. Learn how the campus bus system works. Find out the campus bus goes to the local shopping and restaurant district. Leave the bike locked to a rack or pole month after month.

And, even though these bikes may not get ridden more than once in eight weeks (or even once in eight months) they are still the property of their lawful owner...not up for "grabs" by any greedy, amoral passer-by.

During the summer, the campus police will "tag" bikes they suspect are abandoned by former students, and then move them to storage if the owner does not claim them. Eventually, they likely get auctioned for some good cause (the "Campus Police Retirement Fund").

In contrast, if I saw a nice bike left unmoved outside a bar or nightclub week after week...THAT might indicate an abandoned bike...but the sort of bikes I see at those locations typically are cheap and shoddy Wal-Mart junk.

1fluffhead

Think Karma. Would you want someone to take your bike whether you rode it on a regular basis or left it lock up outside for months?

FullSpectrum

g3ck0, take it before someone else does, it deserves a better fate than rust and dust. I doubt that bicycle has a 24/7 police surveilance. Be sure to nourish it.

FarHorizon

Local Police departments will take abandoned bikes and, after a specified "claim it" period, put those bikes up for auction. I've bought bikes at my local Police auction before.

If you just take the bike, and later someone identifies it as "stolen" and files with the Police, you could become a FELON (depending on the value of the bike and the laws in your state). LOTS of potential downside for a convenient ride!

Let the Police take it, and ask when their bicycle auction is to be held. Buy it at the auction and the bike is then legally YOURS!

soda

A bike deserves to be ridden. It's almost a crime in my opinion to lock a bike up for so long. Someone mentioned karma... Well, the bad karma goes to the owner of the abandoned bike for leaving it locked up for so long. They just want to be loved and used.... I feel sorry for the poor things all locked up not getting love.

But, I'd still do the note thing or contact the police thing first. Then take it and set it free.

Longhorn

Bikes are inanimate objects that do not have feelings. Owners, on the other hand, are humans who *may* have feelings.

My son's bike has been locked to a rack for months now. He's a Marine stationed in Japan and he bought the bike to get around base. However, he has also been sent to training exercises in Korea, Thailand, and northern Japan for weeks at a time. There's certainly nothing he can do about his bike while he's gone and there's no room for it in his barracks. He's now hoping to clean it up and sell it for a little money. It's not a fancy bike but it's still his. Perhaps he shouldn't have bought it but that's not anyone's business but his own.

Bikewer

We get abandoned bikes at the university I work at all the time. Generally, we (the police) end up with them, and they sit around on a bike rack for a year or so (we have to keep them that long), then we donate 'em to charity.

I have recovered and refurbished several of these bikes, but only after 1. establishing original ownership. and 2. determining that it was not reported stolen.

I have a nice little Raleigh roadster that I put back together after finding the thing abandoned at one of the frat houses. I determined from some of the present brothers that the owner had graduated, and looked up his home phone number in the university phone book.

Retro Grouch 

Nope. A practicing Buddhist wouldn't take anything that wasn't freely offered.

Waxbytes

Theres quite a bit of land around here that never gets used. The owners just left it all covered with trees and such. Not using it at all. Maybe I should just go take it? Or, not take the land, but I could make use of the timber. No one else has used it in a long time.
The Reservations look under used too, we should take those too.

Note: Read with Biting Sarcasm.

v1nce

Oh oh, that is not a good analogy for me ha ha... As a active squatter i "take" land and abandoned homes (from those that are immoral and give them to those that are needy) all the time. And the Dutch law even protects me. IMO the land should be held in common/be used the way the native americans used to do it as it is such a basic resource necessary for survival. A bike (especially a second or third one) is a luxury item in some ways, plus it is cheap. People shouldn't take them for eachother for these and other reasons.