Ethics of stealing abandoned bikes?
 

So everybody has been to a university & seen dozens, if not hundreds of bikes left behind in dorm hall bike racks.

If they are clearly abandoned, what are the various opinions on stealing (if it can even be called that) bikes for ones own use?

So everybody has walked through a mall parking lot & seen dozens, if not hundreds of cars with the keys left in the ignition.

If the owners are clearly stupid enough to leave the keys in the car, what are the various opinions on stealing (if it can even be called that) cars for ones own use?

It's not a good idea. Really. Usually universities and colleges go through and remove 'abandoned' bikes at intervals. They may recycle them. Don't take it on yourself to 'liberate' them, though.

East Hill

I'm not talking about bikes that are in use.

I'm talking about bikes that spent the entire winter buried in snow & that have been left behind at the local university dorm by kids who abandoned them when they went home for the summer.

It's called theft.

BTW, I have some snow ski's in my garage that I haven't used all year. They're not "abandoned," I just haven't used them in awhile. Please don't steal those, either.

How do you know that those kids aren't coming back? Those bikes are still someone's property, especially if they're in a dorm.

East Hill

If you have to ask, it's obviously bothering your conscience so you shouldn't do it. As a practicing Buddhist might say "Take only that which is freely offered."

My son's school requires that all bikes have a registration that includes the serial number. Check with the college to see if they will release the bike to you.
Just because a bike sits at a college doesn't mean it's abandoned. Many students have intentions of riding, then find the pressure of studies and grades prevents those rides. So the bike sits. I know my son's Trek 800 was in the exact position where I parked it when we first brought him to school when we finally took it home. Some students leave their bikes parked in a rack over the summer expecting it to be there when they return. Don't assume its abandon.

East Hill,

By the time they get back, they'll be gone anyways.

The school's maintenance department goes through the campus every June & clears the racks of all the rusted out abandoned bikes.

If you make it as far as a university without learning the difference between your stuff and others' stuff, you need to go back and cover what you have missed.

I know the University of Washington regularly auctions off abandoned bikes, that is where I got my wife's bike a few years ago. Great deal, a REI Novara for $35, it was probably just a year old and in mint shape. Check with the University and see if they have surplus auctions.

That's the point. The bikes still don't belong to you. Check to see if your school recycles them (as gregam pointed out, that's what the UW does).

East Hill

So am I honestly the only person here who thinks that saving a bike &/or parts from *certain* destruction is unethical?

If you think the bike is truly abandoned, try to find any identifying marks, and see if you can find the owner.

There are quite a few threads which discuss the ethics of liberating bikes.

East Hill

Put a zip tie around the bike and the bike rack. Or a strong string, basically something that someone could break easily but wouldn't come apart on its own. Watch them for a while, you might get a better sense of which ones are really abandoned and which simply appear to be so.

On the ethics: I'm going to disagree with the general feeling of people around here. If someone has truly abandoned it, they've treated it no differently than a piece of garbage. But the ethical concern from me comes from knowing whether it is truly abandoned or not, which is difficult to do. You could simply be stealing someone's backup, or a night owl's bike, simply because you didn't see it move during the day.

You might want to check over your post again. Is that a Freudian slip?

The problem here is that there is no guarantee or even assurance that the bikes will be 'destroyed'. The school I go to also cuts the bikes off of the racks at the end of every school year and auctions them off (most of the time under 50 dollars) to make money for the school. Do what many have said and talk to the school. If they're just going to recycle them they may be willing to give them to you but more than likely they're going to auction them off.

Edit: Good call Grouch.

I dont see why the school would have any more claim to the bike... other than maybe being on its property...
the question is... can you really tell if its abandoned or not.

IF it aint yours, dont take it.

There are abandoned and derelict homes in many towns/cities. Why pay rent somewhere, just move in, right?

I'm pretty sure that the bike being on private property is pretty significant in terms of claims.

also try to sign up for ethics 101.

Well, that's a good start, isn't it? Suppose someone left a bike in your driveway. Isn't there a difference between you taking the bike (and perhaps selling it after a while), and one of your neighbors coming over and taking the bike for his use? Looks different to me.

We have liberated a few bikes from the University before they do their annual removal... we have contacted the U about this and they have given us the okay and know where these bikes have gone.

The bikes we have taken were those that were tagged for removal and would be aimed for the crusher due them missing parts that make them un-sellable.

We also liberate bikes on the premise that if the original owner comes to claim their bike they can have them sans the parts we have bought / recycled to bring them back to working order.

My friend (a Master's student) rides a beautiful Peugeot mountain bike that we liberated last year... it had no wheels, no rear derailer, and was tagged for removal / crushage... it was also unlocked.

There's an old Eaton's Glider chained to a post a few blocks from our shop...it's a Raleigh built three speed and has been there for three years. The police said they would be happy to see us remove what they believed was a ghost bike (it's white) and the shop owners would like to see it gone as the drunks just keep tripping over it. It is still a serviceable bike.

I liberated this last summer after it sat abandoned at a local coffee shop for a few days with no lock and in a state of being completely un-rideable. I spoke with the shop owners (who wanted it gone) and my contacts with the police who traced the serial number and deemed the bike as being mine after finding no report of the bike being stolen (this took months).

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/PLX1.jpg

It is on it's way to looking like this and had I not saved it, a beautiful 1957 Peugeot PLX8 would have likely gone to the crusher:

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikepics/plx10.jpg

There's a CCM frame locked to one of the racks at my college that has been there since February 2007 (at least - that's just when I noticed it). I'm planning to ask the security office what they are going to do with it and if I can maybe have it (they'd have to cut the lock, though - I can't do that!).