11–20 of 307 posts
I can't imagine it being worthwhile to take a bike very far unless it is a very expensive bike. If they are normal bikes, you would have to transport them in numbers, and it would be hard to explain it if you got caught. And you would need a van. Best solution: steal local, sell local for fast turnover of minimal stocks. I lost my bike twice in Cambridge: once found it around the corner and another in the police depo…
Found it:
https://www.cnet.com/culture/guy-successfully-hunts-down-his...
During the 90s the stories were about heroin junkies selling bikes for 25 NLG (11.34 EUR). Clearly not the type of people with the organizational skills to set up an international crime syndicate.
These were stories, and it's good/interesting to check in case they were wrong, but the results are as one would expect.
(Another common observational joke about inner city bikes is that the value of the locks commonly exceed the value of the bikes they lock.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most metals, as well as carbon fiber will interfere with reading an RFID tag. It's more likely one could be put on top of a bike frame and concealed by paint, or inside the seat than inside the frame.
Just stick it in the rear light or in the tire.
https://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-city-life/2014/10/this-i...
You leave your wallet on a restaurant table by accident it may well get stolen opportunistically. The thief may have limited or no history of theft. An opportunity merely presented itself. It could also be teenagers stealing a car for a joyride.
The second, bigger category is professional theft. Note that "professional" here is statement about skill or even organization. It's just done as a source of income. So when you see anything stolen at scale the first thing to consider is how easily is this converted into money because that's where the majority of it goes.
So for stolen bikes it surprises me not at all that they stay local. I imagine an awful lot of bikes are sold privately through predictable channels (eg Craigslist, FB Marketplace, flea markets). It may not even be pawn shops because those generally have ID requirements.
Higher end bikes may end up being shipped (eg [1]) because the more expensive and rarer (and thus more identifiable) a bike, the more risk in selling it locally and the harder it is to maybe find a buyer.
I'm actually surprised so many people report stolen bikes. Like what does this do, really? Is there really going to be an insurance claim? If it's thousands of dollars I would totally understand but most bikes are cheap. Interestingly I once had a garage door left open. An expensive mountain bike was stolen and they didn't bother taking my cheap piece of crap bike.
[1]: https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/report-reveals-pipeli...
They used something called a smarttag, not sure what that is. But I wonder if one could put an RFID tag inside the frame some where ? And I wonder if you have a steel frame would that interfere with it ?
[0]: https://www.bicycode.org/pages-1/Documents_PDF/plaquette__Bi...
[1]: https://www.bicycode.org/faire-marquer-son-velo.rub-2/le-mar...
This is not really surprising to locals. The joke was always that if your bike is stolen when you get back, you'd just steal another one and keep the circulation going. During the 90s the stories were about heroin junkies selling bikes for 25 NLG (11.34 EUR). Clearly not the type of people with the organizational skills to set up an international crime syndicate. These were stories, and it's good/interesting to check…
I can't imagine it being worthwhile to take a bike very far unless it is a very expensive bike. If they are normal bikes, you would have to transport them in numbers, and it would be hard to explain it if you got caught. And you would need a van. Best solution: steal local, sell local for fast turnover of minimal stocks. I lost my bike twice in Cambridge: once found it around the corner and another in the police depo…
In Seattle, high end bikes are targeted to be disassembled for components. The components can then easily be fenced for drug money.
They used something called a smarttag, not sure what that is. But I wonder if one could put an RFID tag inside the frame some where ? And I wonder if you have a steel frame would that interfere with it ?
Most metals, as well as carbon fiber will interfere with reading an RFID tag. It's more likely one could be put on top of a bike frame and concealed by paint, or inside the seat than inside the frame.