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Where do stolen bikes go?

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Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#21

Post by bckygldstn »

There's a Dutch bike company (VanMoof) that offers a Theft Recovery service for their bikes: they have teams of people that track down the bike (using GPS primarily) and basically steal it back.

They used to produce monthly videos of bike recovery operations, though it looks like they've stopped the videos so you'll have to scroll past a few years of promo videos: https://www.youtube.com/@vanmoof

Often they recover the bike from a yard / homeless camp / shop with 100s of other non-VanMoof bikes they leave behind. It would be so easy to crack down on organised bike theft. The financial, social, and environmental costs of securing bikes and recovering from a theft is huge.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#22

Post by actually_a_dog »

Cieplak wrote: post #8

If one's bike is stolen in the San Francisco Bay Area, there's a small but significant chance you can find it for sale at the Laney College Flea Market (e.g. [1]). [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/BAbike/comments/8mmrne/stolen_bike_...

In the Oakland/Berkeley/Albany/El Cerrito area, you want to check out Karim's in Berkeley.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#23

Post by Arrath »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #19
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Seattle, high end bikes are targeted to be disassembled for components. The components can then easily be fenced for drug money.

I remember my co-worker at the bike shop talking about this and how people in the area will sand their frames down and remove labels and anything else that would give their bike a look and feel of being expensive. Even adding duct and black electrical tape to ward off thieves from going after their bikes.

Finally a case where purposefully distressing something has a use!

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#24

Post by at-fates-hands »

Minneapolis has been a hotbed of stolen bikes for a few years now. I remember several friends getting their high end dirt bikes stolen in the 80's, only to show up in a Chicago police auction two years later.

There was an article in the local paper about bike thefts in 2019 and mentioned the Project 529 site which is one of the largest bike registries.

https://project529.com/garage/

From the 2019 article:

Bike theft is at a five-year high, and Police Department data obtained by the Star Tribune shows almost 4,300 bikes reported stolen since 2017.

The rash of thefts frustrates cyclists and police, who don’t always have time to track down stolen bikes amid other more serious calls. But for thieves, selling stolen bikes — some valued at more than $4,000 — can be a quick way to make hundreds of dollars.

https://www.startribune.com/bicycle-thefts-hit-five-year-hig...

I had no idea someone had started a Facebook group for stolen bikes called "Twin Cities Stolen Bikes" where people can go and report their bike and ask for help.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#25

Post by roywashere »

jmyeet wrote: post #16

Property theft can be broadly separated into two categories: opportunistic and professional. 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…

I live in NL. I had many bikes stolen over the years.

Once my bike got stolen in the middle of the night in the city center. I searched for my bike the next day but could not find it. I reported it to the police, but did not expect much of it.

About a week later I received a phone call from the police telling me someone found my bike. Apparently this person was woken up in the middle of the night by someone trying to break open the bike lock under his bedroom window. He scared away the thief. Because the lock was damaged he put the bike in his shed. He put notes in mailboxes of all his neighbors to ask if someone was missing their bike. He got no response and thought: oh I might just tell the police; but I doubt it will help much.

Well it did! I was happy I reported it stolen that time.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#27

Post by ElfinTrousers »

Cieplak wrote: post #8

If one's bike is stolen in the San Francisco Bay Area, there's a small but significant chance you can find it for sale at the Laney College Flea Market (e.g. [1]). [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/BAbike/comments/8mmrne/stolen_bike_...

Or under the Division Street overpass, but I disclaim responsibility if you go looking there.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#28

Post by anonymouskimmer »

bckygldstn wrote: post #21

There's a Dutch bike company (VanMoof) that offers a Theft Recovery service for their bikes: they have teams of people that track down the bike (using GPS primarily) and basically steal it back. They used to produce monthly videos of bike recovery operations, though it looks like they've stopped the videos so you'll have to scroll past a few years of promo videos: https://www.youtube.com/@vanmoof Often they recover t…

I presume the researchers would have checked these 100 second-hand bikes for VanMoof trackers before equipping their own trackers?

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#29

Post by skrebbel »

Hahaha this is really some "why does water flow down" level shit. Bikes in NL get stolen by junkies, homeless, generally people without many options and definitely without the ability to do organized crime. They sell it asap, by circling around random people and saying "hey wanna buy a bike?" and then they buy whatever hit/food they needed to steal and sell the bike for. It's a pretty sad situation IMO, but it's no mystery.

I know lots of people who bought their own bike back at some point in life, and even more who never bought a bike from anyone other than someone like this. Bike theft in NL really is the pettiest of petty crimes and I'm confused about what makes MIT, of all places, decide to try and figure this out.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#30

Post by denton-scratch »

I had a £2,000 electric bike stolen in Oxford. No worries - it had a GPS tracker, and I could see it heading to Birmingham up the M40. Also, my neighbour had CCTV footage. You couldn't make out the faces or number-plate, but you could see it was a black Mercedes. It was taken at about 3AM.

So they had "liberated" the bike (it was locked up), and immediately headed out of town. I'm sure it was scouted, then they came back in the small hours to steal it. I'm convinced that it was an organized operation, and the bike might have been stolen to order.

When it stopped moving, I could see it was located in the back of a house in a Birmingham suburb. So I rang the Oxford police.

They weren't interested - they told me to contact West Midlands police. So I rang them. No, they were not going to investigate: "Don't you realize how many Porsches are stolen in this city every day?" Also, they said they can't just walk in and have a look around (I guess they need a warrant, which is fair enough; but then why not get a warrant?)

Like, I knew the address it was located at; so maybe the WM police would provide an officer to protect me, when I head up to Brum to collect the machine? No way.

So I gave up. My replacement has no GPS tracker.

So my experience seems to differ from the Amsterdam narrative. I had heard that most stolen bikes end up in Birmingham. My anecdote appears to confirm that bikes stolen in Oxford don't stay in Oxford.

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