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Where do stolen bikes go?

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Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#241

Post by rompic »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #236
AlexTWithBeard wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It becomes complicated if the new owner has legitimately bought the bike in a second hand store.

It's not that complicated, legally speaking. The rightful owner gets to get their stuff back, and the new "owner" has a claim against the purveyor of stolen goods for the purchase price.

At least in Austria that's not how it works.

The new "owner" will keep the bike as he has bought it in good faith. The shop will claim that it cannot check every used bike. The rightful owner could try to get money from the person who stole it (if found), but they most likely don't have any money.

It's the perfect crime and the reason why we cannot have nice bikes. People are literally sleeping with their expensive bikes in a room.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#243

Post by bambam3000 »

jackmott42 wrote: post #42
quacked wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Almost made me feel like I was the bad guy in the situation. Many people who choose to live outside square-lawed society rely on people remaining docile and sticking to principle in order to prey on them, or at least to live a lifestyle where they don't have to collaborate with larger society to reap its rewards. It took me years to un-program "assume good intent and empathy" with people I didn't know that were try…

Yeah, every homeless person I have ever talked to has had some bullshit story. Its almost as if the impulse to spew bullshit is the primary cause of homelessness. Or some inevitable consequence of most mental health problems. Its so reliable that it makes me question the idea that housing costs are the primary cause of homelessness, but perhaps that just pushes more people on the mental margins over the edge.

This is a pretty mean-spirited comment, I don't even know where to start. Homeless people are just people like you and me. If you'd been born in their shoes, with their inherited genetic make-up, raised by their parents, surrounded by their friends, living their life experiences etc you'd very possibly be homeless too and 'spewing bullshit' as you put it

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#244

Post by Symbiote »

swarnie wrote: post #216
genuinefupa wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just call the police, say it is your bike, they verify the serial number (you need to provide some proof, or register the theft prior). Then, if everything is in order, police just cut the lock.

I wonder what country this actually works in? Our police had a policy of not attending house burglaries with odd street numbers to cut their required response rate in half. I can't imagine them even answering the phone over a bike. The only reason i would call the police is to get a reference number for an insurance claim.

At least for a short while, and I do not understand why, bicycle theft was somehow linked to terrorism by London's police. See [1] for example.

I had a bicycle stolen, and after filing the report the police phoned me to ask for more details on the lock I'd used.

I later found it on Gumtree, with a description ending something like "Call Peter on 07123456789, meet at Forest Heath Station". Putting the mobile phone number into Gumtree's search brought up about 50 bicycles, "Call John" "Call Dave" etc. I emailed this to the police, and had another phone call thanking me for my incredible investigation skill.

They said they would go to find Peter/John/Dave, but would only contact me again if they found my bike, which they did not.

I'm very suspicious of accounts like [2] "Mr T" with "Cash only" and a huge selection of bicycles.

[1] https://www.bikeregister.com/news/putting-a-value-on-protect...

[2] https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/48e9b2ff00d3f04e27f... or similarly https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/b8b756750f2960d115b...

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#245

Post by swarnie »

Symbiote wrote: post #244
swarnie wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what country this actually works in? Our police had a policy of not attending house burglaries with odd street numbers to cut their required response rate in half. I can't imagine them even answering the phone over a bike. The only reason i would call the police is to get a reference number for an insurance claim.

At least for a short while, and I do not understand why, bicycle theft was somehow linked to terrorism by London's police. See [1] for example. I had a bicycle stolen, and after filing the report the police phoned me to ask for more details on the lock I'd used. I later found it on Gumtree, with a description ending something like "Call Peter on 07123456789, meet at Forest Heath Station". Putting the mobile phone num…

That first Gumtree link is absolutely insane. It looks like a full time job for multiple people.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#246

Post by victorthehuman »

High-end eMTB bikes that are stolen in western Europe end up here in eastern Europe, the usual retail price is around the 1000-3000 euro mark, that's less than half their original price for bikes in almost new condition.

There are dedicated organizations that do these runs across Europe, to keep a low profile a wan with only 4 bikes will cross the border at a time.

The profits must be good enough to keep selling the bikes at half the price and continue doing these runs.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#247

Post by mschuster91 »

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…

> 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.

The problem is that Dutch police are a narco-state dysfunctional hellhole. They don't do anything that goes after organized crime... they even cut the team dealing with the gangs behind ATM explosions in Germany [1].

[1] https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/geldautomaten-sprengung...

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#248

Post by jrimbault »

adastra22 wrote: post #219
ozim wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not hear about VanMoof earlier but my buddy called police (Amsterdam area of course) once when he found his bike and he wanted to be good citizen so he did not want to just steal it back from some backyard. Well police helped him recover the bike without arresting anyone and told him next time he should just steal it back and don't bother them.

How is taking your own property back being a bad citizen?

Citizens are, generally, not supposed (nor expected to) to take justice into their own hands.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#249

Post by goodcanadian »

orangepurple wrote: post #159
forgotusername6 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine had his bike stolen in Oxford. Someone came and took all the bikes at my house one night (except mine, because mine was awful and worthless). My friend later spotted the bike being ridden by a homeless man in the city. He was riding his other bike and made chase. The thief tried to outrun him, but my friend was on his racing bike. When he started to ring the police and describe his location, the thie…

Homeless man overreacted. The police would not dispatch an officer to pursue.

The homeless man wasn't concerned about the police; he was concerned about the guy chasing him down.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#250

Post by diceduckmonk »

swarnie wrote: post #216
genuinefupa wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just call the police, say it is your bike, they verify the serial number (you need to provide some proof, or register the theft prior). Then, if everything is in order, police just cut the lock.

I wonder what country this actually works in? Our police had a policy of not attending house burglaries with odd street numbers to cut their required response rate in half. I can't imagine them even answering the phone over a bike. The only reason i would call the police is to get a reference number for an insurance claim.

Japan. All bikes must be registered with the local government. Bikes are one of the things police are vigilant about bikes. Police routinely pull over cyclists, especially if you’re a foreigner, to confirm you are the owner of the bike.

Driving a bicycle while intoxicated is also treated just like driving a car.

Electric bikes going 25km an hour or faster, or have larger than a 250watt battery needs to be registered as a motor vehicle. You’ll need a driver’s license, insurance, etc.

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