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robbed! please read and advise me
Today I met up with some guy on craigslist to sell him my bike, he asked can he ride it down the block to see how it rides and he gives me his phone to hold on to for reassurance, long story short he reached the end of the block and made a sharp right and I never seen him again, it turns out his phone was broken also. If i called the police what's the chances of them getting my bike back and arresting that ****er? If I catch him on the street a I legallly allowed to subdue him while police arrive or is it too minor of a crime?v
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Do you know what the bike's serial number is? If not, there isn't much you can do.
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Man that sucks.... and sorry but police are going to be of little help due to priorities and their tight budgets.
Spread the word; post posters around the area & LBS; notify LBS staff; craigslist; community newspapers; bulletins Next time, you should ask for more collateral than a phone as what just happened. Like their wallet. |
how much was the bike worth? if the answer isnt much, dont bother and be safer next time. i know revenge is great and all and i would be pretty pissed too, but confronting the guy on the street could lead to hospital bills and such.
^ is correct, post posters. striknein's is also dead on, the serial number to help identify helps the process along tenfold. next time, get his id. goodluck. |
wow....
What bike was it? |
lame. i always get drivers license and credit card when giving CL test ride
or car keys if they drove |
The crime is theft, not robbery.
Robbery involves violence, or threat of violence. You have no right to use violence to recover the bike. The law would look at that as a case of assault. Now that was strictly speaking; If you happen to get a sympathetic cop, you might get away with it. |
Jeez that sucks so much.
Good idea jdgesus, I'll keep that in mind for future CL deals. |
I've never been ripped off like this yet, and I usually give people the benefit of the doubt. If they pull up in a car, I'll let them take the bike for a spin because it's obviously worth less than a car. Unless they stole the car... Otherwise a driver's license, or the cash for the bike is a good safety deposit.
Sucks you got your bike stolen. |
I always ride with 'em on my road bike. Dunno what I'd do if I sold a nice road bike. At least 90% of the riding populace can outsprint me.
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Originally Posted by LesterOfPuppets
(Post 12475143)
At least 90% of the riding populace can outsprint me.
Then again, I'm a squirrel, what do I know? http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2562/...5c2c961f2f.jpg |
wow. that's pretty crazy. i'm a pretty trusting guy, i'm glad nothing like this has happened to me.
do you have his phone number or just an email address? i would report this to the police regardless. |
Wow this ****ing sucks but thanks for the input guys, wow I've never thought of holding their ID's/driver's licenses. Thanks for the ideas, I'll be very careful next time. Hope he gets hit by a car or something :notamused:
by the way the bike was a black iro running radial blue b43s. i'll post the information up on my local craigslist to see what they can do :( |
Hope you can get it back. Do the flyer thing mentioned. File a police report. Put it up on the stolen bike registry.
Cruise all the craigslists in your region daily with crazedlist.org. Visit all the pawnshops you can... |
Local fixed forums are often helpful.
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I'm just going to quote bikesnob, and echo everyone in saying that this really really sucks, and i'm sorry. Also, do not use violence to recover the bike. At the end of the day it's just a bike, and no one thing is worth dying for.
I also want to thank Michael for his candor in describing how his bike was stolen. Michael may feel like a “schmuck,” but he shouldn’t. It’s important to know how thieves operate so that we can learn how to avoid them. A surprising number of thieves will in fact attempt to cajole you into letting them “see” your bike. As I mentioned before, because of the shame and stigma attached to bike theft victimhood, too many people don’t describe how their bicycle was stolen, since they wrongly feel that the fact that it was stolen makes them stupid. The fact is that bikes are stolen every day, and it can happen to anyone at any time. |
Chances are pretty slim you'll get your bike back, but I'm 2 for 8 when it comes to retrieving bikes I've had ripped.
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Wowwwww that really sucks. What a terrible person. Some girl said the other day she had her Bianchi road bike stolen from campus and mourned its loss for two weeks, then later saw some dude on campus with it... she chased him down and jumped on him... but idk, girls can get away with stuff like that.
I hope you get yours back somehow. |
Originally Posted by pylea
(Post 12475257)
... she chased him down and jumped on him...
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+1 to all the above posts, im sorry to hear about this man. Also keep an eye out for any individual parts that were on your bike, the dude might try to slowly sell it off, or possibly swap parts to a different bike. Sounds like the wheelset you had may be unique, keep an eye out for those.
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Also, an usual trick among thieves in Vancouver (not sure if it is the same in other CLs) is an ad saying it's this bike but email exchange and thief would reveal: "someone bought that bike already, how about I give you this one for cheap?". It could be yours.
Reply to fishy ads with no pictures, use a different email account so the a-hole doesn't recognize you. |
Was the rear wheel radially laced? If it was, the perp might get what's coming to him and have the rear wheel explode when he tries to pull a sweet skid on his brand new stolen goods.
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Originally Posted by Squirrelli
(Post 12475304)
Also, an usual trick among thieves in Vancouver (not sure if it is the same in other CLs) is an ad saying it's this bike but email exchange and thief would reveal: "someone bought that bike already, how about I give you this one for cheap?". It could be yours.
Reply to fishy ads with no pictures, use a different email account so the a-hole doesn't recognize you. |
That's harsh; especially harsh when every-day activities require almost 100% trust in others. I don't know of much you could possibly do. How he contacted you could definitely be a starting point.
Side story which squirrelli reminded me of: I had my first bicycle stolen from in front of my old gym about 5 years back. Then, about 10 months after the fact, I met some guy at the gym who mentioned having over 40 bikes in his basement that he had "collected" over the years. I got his info, went over to his place with a friend, and - surprisingly - got my old bike back; he claimed a buddy of his gave it to him... |
sketchy!
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