"Hey, That's MY Bike!!!"
#26
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I had a friend whose bike was stolen. About two weeks after, he sees a guy waiting at a stop light with his bike. He runs over, grabs the bars, and tells the guy that it's his bike and either walk away or call the police. The guy got off the bike and walked away.
#27
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As for the general subject matter of this thread, the "stranger's" story would have to be extremely convincing. There are too many ways to game such a system. Some PO could sell the bike, follow it as it changes hands once or twice, then show up as the "victim" of its "theft" several months/years prior. Or maybe some former roommate, co-worker, etc., who happens to be as knowledgeable about your bike as you are, might get a wild hair to mess with your life, co-ordinate with some other party you don't know, feed her/him enough intel to convincingly show up as the "victim". IOW, even with a convincing story, it's waaaay too complicated to make the call based solely on what the person presents. I don't really have an answer, other than that, because it can get so complicated and because of the imaginable (and unimaginable) wrinkles, there is no blanket "what would you do" answer.
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And this is why (if you had quoted my entire post) you would have noted that we both would have visited the person that sold it to me, to sort this out.
#30
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In Canada you can legally run any serial number through the Police database at anytime.
Search Bicycles by Serial Number
Easy enough to do even if you don't have data on your phone. Before buying a bike (or anything with a number) we can call serial number in and have a friend (or a cop) run it to make sure it isn't stolen. After that if someone says it's theirs, who cares.
Search Bicycles by Serial Number
Easy enough to do even if you don't have data on your phone. Before buying a bike (or anything with a number) we can call serial number in and have a friend (or a cop) run it to make sure it isn't stolen. After that if someone says it's theirs, who cares.
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#31
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And the owner before that, and the owner before that, and.....
This is why this is such a complicated and nuanced question that the OP has posed. Again, too many possible variables.
One thing I would seriously consider proposing, if I sized up the other party as a mature and reasonable person -- split the difference. We find an agreed-upon value of the bike. Then we come to an agreement on who keeps the bike. The the party keeping the bike pays the other party half the agreed-upon value. Granted, neither party is "made whole", but if, say, I were Judge Judy, and such a case came before me, this is probably along the lines of how I would rule.
This is why this is such a complicated and nuanced question that the OP has posed. Again, too many possible variables.
One thing I would seriously consider proposing, if I sized up the other party as a mature and reasonable person -- split the difference. We find an agreed-upon value of the bike. Then we come to an agreement on who keeps the bike. The the party keeping the bike pays the other party half the agreed-upon value. Granted, neither party is "made whole", but if, say, I were Judge Judy, and such a case came before me, this is probably along the lines of how I would rule.
#32
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You can sort it out all you wish with your seller, but if they bought it on good faith, you are sol. If they didn't buy it in good faith, good luck proving it and you are still sol because possession of stolen goods is illegal.
#33
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You would have to have reason to know the bike was stolen. A person paying full fair market value, under circumstances not hinting at anything shady, ought to be protected from prosecution, I would think, or would have a good defense if they were.
Some of the fairly high end 60's and 70's bikes around, who knows how many times they may have been stolen and resold, and stolen again? It would be a safe bet that any bike 50 years old that's had several owners probably has been stolen before at least once. Or "borrowed and not returned", whatever.
Not ever bike theft is done with bolt cutters, by a guy wearing a trench coat in an alley in the middle of the night.
Some of the fairly high end 60's and 70's bikes around, who knows how many times they may have been stolen and resold, and stolen again? It would be a safe bet that any bike 50 years old that's had several owners probably has been stolen before at least once. Or "borrowed and not returned", whatever.
Not ever bike theft is done with bolt cutters, by a guy wearing a trench coat in an alley in the middle of the night.
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#34
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And the owner before that, and the owner before that, and.....
This is why this is such a complicated and nuanced question that the OP has posed. Again, too many possible variables.
One thing I would seriously consider proposing, if I sized up the other party as a mature and reasonable person -- split the difference. We find an agreed-upon value of the bike. Then we come to an agreement on who keeps the bike. The the party keeping the bike pays the other party half the agreed-upon value. Granted, neither party is "made whole", but if, say, I were Judge Judy, and such a case came before me, this is probably along the lines of how I would rule.
This is why this is such a complicated and nuanced question that the OP has posed. Again, too many possible variables.
One thing I would seriously consider proposing, if I sized up the other party as a mature and reasonable person -- split the difference. We find an agreed-upon value of the bike. Then we come to an agreement on who keeps the bike. The the party keeping the bike pays the other party half the agreed-upon value. Granted, neither party is "made whole", but if, say, I were Judge Judy, and such a case came before me, this is probably along the lines of how I would rule.
Awesome.
#35
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Doing nothing, giving the bike back, donating the bike to the local co-op, putting it in the grinder, EVERY possible action "victimizes" someone. By the very nature of the subject of this thread, the identity of the "victim" cannot be ascertained. Presumably that's why the OP posed the question. It wouldn't be worthy of discussion if the it could be determined who the "victim" is.
Last edited by madpogue; 10-17-19 at 04:38 PM.
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#38
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I had a bike stolen after work one night, and it was documented by the local Popo's. I checked the impound lot for four weeks before buying another one just like it. They were both Trek 770's intended for Alexi before he left the team. Two years later my front wheel showed up in one of the LBS's. Shorten the story, my bike was sold by impound to a fellow who was a LDS member who would have returned it to me. I had moved on and did not want to upset this fellow's apple cart. But it really pissed me off about the local cops reselling my stolen bike. They made $ by my misfortune, and were never even apologetic about it. I am fortunate that I have been able to purchase new bikes in these cases, but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with corruption by the Popo's. MH
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do whats right/
happened to me 1 year after I bought a Commencal meta4.org. owner seen I had it for sale nearby,came over said-"thats my bike".showed pics of it in his possession but did not record the serial#.I was convinced so I removed all of my parts & handed it over-to his surprise.lost $$$ but win some lose some.if you ever had yours stolen then you know its not good karma.
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#41
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I quit arguing with him once I saw that "I'm always right" attitude. Life is too short. BTW, I try to buy from reputable people, because I already knew all the stuff he was trying to tell me.
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#45
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In Hawai'i the police will take your bike if its not registered.
One time i had my bike stolen, so I quickly dragged out another bike and fixed it up enough to ride and rode it to work... to Waikiki. I had not time to register it as I was in a hurry to get transport to get to my job.
came out from my job. bike was gone.. turns out the cops cut my lock and took my bike! I had to go down there and pay them to get it back. what a racket. I was like.. friggin cops stole my bicycle!!! and they destroyed my property (lock). what a scam. All I wanted to do was get to work...
PS: the bike that was registered and got stolen... they never found that.
One time i had my bike stolen, so I quickly dragged out another bike and fixed it up enough to ride and rode it to work... to Waikiki. I had not time to register it as I was in a hurry to get transport to get to my job.
came out from my job. bike was gone.. turns out the cops cut my lock and took my bike! I had to go down there and pay them to get it back. what a racket. I was like.. friggin cops stole my bicycle!!! and they destroyed my property (lock). what a scam. All I wanted to do was get to work...
PS: the bike that was registered and got stolen... they never found that.
Last edited by jetboy; 10-17-19 at 08:09 PM.
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#46
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In Hawai'i the police will take your bike if its not registered.
One time i had my bike stolen, so I quickly dragged out another bike and fixed it up enough to ride and rode it to work... to Waikiki. I had not time to register it as I was in a hurry to get transport to get to my job.
came out from my job. bike was gone.. turns out the cops cut my lock and took my bike! I had to go down there and pay them to get it back. what a racket. I was like.. friggin cops stole my bicycle!!! and they destroyed my property (lock). what a scam. All I wanted to do was get to work...
PS: the bike that was registered and got stolen... they never found that.
One time i had my bike stolen, so I quickly dragged out another bike and fixed it up enough to ride and rode it to work... to Waikiki. I had not time to register it as I was in a hurry to get transport to get to my job.
came out from my job. bike was gone.. turns out the cops cut my lock and took my bike! I had to go down there and pay them to get it back. what a racket. I was like.. friggin cops stole my bicycle!!! and they destroyed my property (lock). what a scam. All I wanted to do was get to work...
PS: the bike that was registered and got stolen... they never found that.
#47
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#48
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If one of my bikes ever get stolen I'll just refer them to my project threads on here.
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#49
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I've given away bikes, but probably not to thieves. If I was convinced my bike had been stolen and the original owner presented, I'd give it back, as I got it (but less the 10sp or 11sp group!) I'd probably include the seat bag.
Pedal Room is a great place to inventory your bikes, including serial numbers. I try to keep a build sheet on each bike, in case of theft or damage. Almost every bike is a "build" of some kind or another, sort of the "why we're here."
The thing is, can you gain a riding partner, friend, or fellow enthusiast from the situation? If that's the case, there is no downside. We are all just borrowing or renting the bikes we have, anyway. If we think we can impose our will on them after we're gone, well, nice thought. Hopefully, the bikes win.
Pedal Room is a great place to inventory your bikes, including serial numbers. I try to keep a build sheet on each bike, in case of theft or damage. Almost every bike is a "build" of some kind or another, sort of the "why we're here."
The thing is, can you gain a riding partner, friend, or fellow enthusiast from the situation? If that's the case, there is no downside. We are all just borrowing or renting the bikes we have, anyway. If we think we can impose our will on them after we're gone, well, nice thought. Hopefully, the bikes win.
#50
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Whoever it was, they mentioned offlining or deleting all their content. It was at that point I realized the risk of putting that much info online. There's absolutely nothing stopping someone near you from filing a police report containing info of your bikes. Camp on it a few months, then report "OMG, I found my bike!" and you've got a mess on your hands.
I've always been tempted. At this point I just keep everything on a file store so I can reference pictures, and in the same folder keep critical details like pics of the online ad/auction (if applicable), a text file with serial numbers, contact info or address of the seller (if applicable) etc. "Just in case". It's tedious and it sucks when you need to share quickly/easily online, though.