Isn't there some sort of charter right or something about simply declaring someone a bike thief, taking every bike in their possession, deciding that they're stolen and redistributing them before there is a trial? You'd think it would be up to the cops to prove that each and every one of those bikes were stolen. I'm fairly convinced he's a thief, but the cops are no better. Worse even as they're supposed to be the "good guys"

Anyhoo, Swear an oath to god or something and you can have any bike in there.

Maybe a case of mistaken identity? (That's a wheelchair wheel)

Yeah, I was wondering about that.. or maybe go in one day, write down a few serials, and come back with em next week? Short of a shop receipt / photos, how can you really prove ownership?

I hear what you're saying. But I would hope that they're no just giving bikes back to any joe-schmoe who walks in there with a grainy cell phone picture of a random bicycle "look it's got two wheels, so it's obviously my bike..". I assume they reunite bikes with previous owners when there is solid proof, like an original receipt or matching serial number. Ones that don't get claimed will NOT be auctioned off immediately afterwards...they will be held until the end of his trial as evidence. BTW did anyone go see his hearing yesterday?

and a related question:

I just emailed a friend who moved to Berlin in May (from Toronto), he had a completely mint, dialed in Urbanite, touring bike, tompson seat post and stem, XTR components, etc.. that was stolen about a year ago in front of the Rivoli. I have a half dozen photos of him on the bike and could describe it precise detail. I haven't been down there yet to even bother looking for it, but I expect it's in there....though it's not my bike, but he's not flying back from Europe to get his bicycle by tomorrow either. I'm betting the cops would not let me claim it... even if I could identify it in the pile they have down there. But they can't seriously expect that every (stolen) bike they recovered that the original owner even still lives in the city?!

Emergency Tour video feed for anyone in need: https://www.justin.tv/kamtronistv

Same bit, audio only: mms://ulswmod003.bcst.uls.yahoo.com/slot016?StreamID=42339832%26pl_auth=b64a59543684ff38cf7d809706d8166%26ht=30%26b=dnsd

it was closer to one of these wheels.

the general vibe that i've gotten both times that i've went is that most of the bikes probably won't be claimed so if you can provide some vague proof that goes beyond a reasonable doubt you'll get that bike.

i saw one guy find his bike and prove that it was his except there weren't any wheels on it so he simply walked over to the wheel section and started randomly trying to fit wheels until he found a proper set.

You guys are sounding like the town mob from the Simpsons. First it's the police don't take any action, then it's the police don't take due process. Okay, that was an exageration but I'm prone to such things ...

I'm glad the police are taking a common sense approach and letting people provide reasonable proof to get their bikes back. No, it's not a perfect solution but this is an imperfect situation. Do you really think this would work any better (or at all) if the burden fell on the police to prove each one of Igor's bikes were stolen and track down the owners one at a time? I'm not trying to insight a flame war over this but I do think that what's currently going on is about as good as it could be given the circumstances. Are some people going to take advantage of the situation? Maybe, but I think the vast majority will keep their immorality in check.

But this is exactly the situation at present. The only way you're going to tack on more $ to the charge against Igor is if more people come up to claim their bikes. It's at least what $5k for the lowest charge? So it's (the collective value that's been claimed) gotta be higher than that. I've no idea if the police are actively trying to find the owners or not but it would help their case.

eeeesh ive known of that guy since highschool...and im 35 I cant imagine how many chopped an flipped bikes hes sold...as far as i knew way back when he would 'find' your stolen bike...take all expensive parts put it in a glass shelf and sell separate rebuild bike with cheaper parts and sell it...I dont know why hes been allowed to go this long...its reprehensible that he was allowed to. and now the cops are having a hard time? they shoulda busted this guy from long time. I cant see how they will even begin to start contacting peeps...now that hes gonna get charged for trafficking he'll be gone for a while at least.

The police didn't actually "take action" per se, they just finally got around to busting Igor. There's some serious sleuth work there. Now they get a big media fanfare (National news!) and all they had to do was load up a few trucks with bikes. That aught to hold them off from actually having to do anything for the rest of this summer and possibly next.

It's good that people are getting their bikes back and for the time being there's gonna be a dent in the stolen bike market but I still disagree with their way of going about it. In fact, I bet Igor gets off 'cause of it.

I have stolen music on my iPod, so should you assume that my entire CD collection is stolen too?

He won't get off, because the real reason he will go away is for possession of Crack Cocaine. Do you actually think the police have the resources to prove ownership of every bike one at a time? Nice thought but that would never never happen. It is a question of police resources. Not to mention where would they store all of these bikes until Igor goes to trial?

Yeah, I suspect possession with intent to traffic is what they're most interested in at this point. The bikes provided a seque for the search and who knows, maybe there's a meth or ecstasy lab kicking around. How the hell would he pay for renting how ever many garages, plus renting a house in Yorkdale when he's a "used bike dealer" and his wife is an occasional session pianist?

There's a lovely mugshot in today's Globe (not on the website unfortunately).

I stopped following the Igor thing when the cops invited the media to a garage and used axes to smash open the doors. They could have very easily cut the lock and just opened the doors but that is not what people want to see, they want to see the cops busting ***** up and getting the crooks.

I am sorry to hear what you guys described down at the viewing, that people are claiming bikes by merely describing them or putting on a believable show, that sucks. I figured it might happen though as I saw some very nice bikes down there and people are people...

I am glad my neighbour got his bike back and yes, it was stolen but as I said earlier in the thread, up until recently, Igor always operated within the law. Walk into any pawn shop and you will see the same thing, stolen goods up for sale, legally.

Heheh, I am a slow typist, while I was typing, cavit8 posted----->the guy who owns a pawn shop near me drives a Hummer and a 740iL BMW, there is a lot of money in these types of businesses. They are all cash and they are all under the radar. The people whom they purchase the goods from prefer it that way and the pawn shop owners prefer it that way, it is a very shady business.

Granted, Igor was allegedly offering crack for bikes, which is a whole other level of shady but he did this for a long time and when he bought these properties, Toronto was a very different place. That spot on Queen across from the park was bought in 1995 for $85K which isn't very much money at all. He probably only needed $15K of his own to get the loan, any one of us could purchase a piece of property in Toronto for $85K, if such a thing existed anymore.

The encounters I saw at the warehouse it wasn't quite as easy as saying "it's my bike". The fuzz were grilling people pretty closely from what I saw.

Granted it's a shady business, but it only works if you sell stuff. How the heck to you stockpile >2500 bikes and make money? Buying from chain snatchers is a whole different ball game, you can just sell it off as gold. I'm still hopeful something more nefarious will arise.

That's good news. My neighbour had a photo of him with his bike in the background and that was enough. I'd hate to see what someone with photoshop skillz could accomplish though...

Its not mailicious people in there getting bikes, just your average joe schmoe who knows only that his bike was blue and had a gripshift. Saw soo many people like that who didnt know the make or even the groupset, just the color, anbd that it had straight bars and grippy grips. Like watching my girlfriend pick out her dads rental car in a parking garage.

Just clueless folks picking up random canadian tire bikes, I didnt see anyone bull****ting to pick up a fixed or a brand new devinci, except for the cfo of globe and mail who tried to pull that stunt and was thoroughly grilled by a popo. Most people I saw getting thheir bikes back were not hard core cyclists. All the worn in, loved, and customised bikes arent going anywhere with schmoes, just the big-box ones.

Thats my two cents, going in there was like being in a graveyard. Many beautiful worn bikes in there, with no owner in sight, almost brought tears to my eyes more than once. Still no sign of my baby, but Kergin has hooked me up with a gorgeous Miele to dull the pain.

I hear ya. I just got back from warehouse, looking through the rows with my friend. He had two Peugeot's stolen. We actually found one of them, and it was one he had miraculously registered back in 2000, serials matched and everything. The bike was completely trashed, missing the rear wheel, bent frame, trashed and missing components...though I think it's valuable to the cops that he made the claim even though we left the bike and it's headed for the dumpster. It's one more they can nail against Igor's case.

i felt sick though seeing that many quality bikes left to rot ....there are a lot of jewels in there, sad.

They'll find good homes once the cops start to auction everything off. But yeah, it is a little sad that so many people had something stolen from them for just a few bucks worth of crack.

He's an Adonis

anyone riding around? im just gonna go for a quick spin...

1400 pages, w00t for toronto.

Just took the twenty to storage for the time being, my girlfriend said three bikes in our tiny apartment was a "deal breaker". I think its overboard but she seemed pissed. So roadbike and trailbike will have to live without the beater twenty for now.

Bought a great roadie, got a free half-empty two-four from a barbeque... I declare today a good day. Anyone up for a ride tomorrow? I wanna break this thing in =D.

whens the 8 hour?

You can tell her she's a deal breaker

haha

/dan YOU'RE A deal breaker (or braker ssfg sic)

i just had a cabbie at a light tell me my bike was nice
and then asked if it was fixed
and told me he used to ride fixie and skip to stop brakeless.


there's at least one out there on "our side"