$55,000 in stolen bikes and equipment
 

Click to read more.

Purchased any high end bikes or equipment lately?

Hardy Boys to the rescue!

Link is jibberish for me?

Have I ever bought any high end stolen bicycles? Possibly. If you remember the theft of stuff last year? About $340,000 worth of stuff that was ebayed. Bought a frame that was part of that stuff. Unbeknowst to me and nobody has showed up at my door to take the frame back. The guy was caught and has to pay restitution.

Oh yea, and ebay did an Alfred E. Newman on the whole thing. "Who me?"

Non Junk Link:

http://tdn.com/articles/2008/01/31/a...s/10085552.txt

Fixed link in original post.

If the guy is paying restitution then recovering the stolen goods from those who purchased them may not be necessary. Otherwise, the victim may be recovering twice (getting the goods back plus the proceeds from their sale).

Don't ya ever wonder if these people are on Bike Forums? Are we missing anyone?

DrPete

Bad decision on the shop's part: my LBS always takes a driver's licens and/or credit card before they let someone stranger off on a test ride.

I'd think the restitutions would be paid to the people who originally paid for the bikes, and the bikes are then returned to the store. Or, the thief could give the money to the shop, and the owners could pay the difference in price to the shop, since usually stolen goods aren't sold at retail :D

I don't know, first off, he might not be able to pay the court judgment. Even if he does, you have to factor in the lost profit on the sale that could have been made by the shop, cost to restock the product after it was stolen, devaluation when trying to sell the reclaimed bike, appropriateness of punitive damages, etc. I can think of a lot of good reasons why they should get the bike back AND get its value.

Back when I started working at my old shop about 5yrs back, no one ever asked for anything when people would go out for test rides - and we would encourage people buying high end stuff to go for at least a half hour ride! No word was ever handed down from the boss, but as the high end-side of our buisness grew, all of us who worked there slowly started asking for ID more often. However, even when I left (last year), there were still plenty of times I would send someone out on a $2K bike and not bother. Even after hearing stuff like this, I still have mixed feelings - I am guessing the number of bikes that are stolen via shop test rides is trivial compared to those stolen out of garages/bikes racks/left leaning against the side of the building, etc.

I'm still here.

The real scenerio

Dr.Cluptomaniac:Hey dude,let me try out that $6000 "Itralian" ride.I,ll leave my coffee mug and baseball cap as collateral.
Former bike shop employee:Enjoy,take your time.
At 6pm. closing time,fired employee seen leaving shop with used coffee mug,dirty cap,old slippers.

Last test ride I went on I did not have to leave anything.


....then again that's because I left my 1-1/2yr old son with them. Guess they figured I would come back.


Damn...missed my chance.


...and before you yell at me for leaving my son there were 3 employees that were already go-go-ing over him. I would have let any one of them babysit. Besides, what would you do to get some ride time in?

same here, but that's because the shop sponsors my team. and i'm there every other day. but that's why I said "strangers" in my post.

Doesn't really matter what we think...what did his Mom have to say?

Seriously?

Ryanf

Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking?

I have a raging clue

INUYASHA. That's kind of crazy. This could end up being a Roger Rabbit kind of detective story, blurring the lines of reality.

That's some hot bike schwag.

Man, I must be stuck with the slow class today. "Mom doesn't have to know 'bout this, m'kay?"

I don't know nuthin'!!

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Where is Seattle anyway? See, told ya I don know nuthin'!

Depends.

What kind of bike was it?