What Happens to Stolen Bicycles? • Hacker News Board

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#111

Post by qq66 » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 7:51 PM UTC

fffggg wrote: post #70

Jun8 wrote: post #55

I think a useful tactic to curb loss of expensive bikes would be to legally target the people who buy them, these are the people that cause the market to exist and perpetuate the situation. My guess is that most of these people are not crooks, i.e. they are just young people who want to but can't afford a nice bike and they know exactly what they are buying. I don't understand anything about bikes so can't give an ex…

"I just know that is a stolen car" Which is why criminals do not charge half of its used value -- they charge 100% of the used value just like everyone else. You cannot tell a stolen bike on craigslist apart from a non-stolen bike based on the price alone. The problem of stolen cars is addressed through licensing and registration. Not to mention, bicycles do not have a reliable and standardized VIN system like cars d…

More often they charge 75-90% of its used value, enough of a discount to move it quickly but high enough of a price to avoid looking "too good to be true."

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#112

Post by herval » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 7:51 PM UTC

Jun8 wrote: post #55

I think a useful tactic to curb loss of expensive bikes would be to legally target the people who buy them, these are the people that cause the market to exist and perpetuate the situation. My guess is that most of these people are not crooks, i.e. they are just young people who want to but can't afford a nice bike and they know exactly what they are buying. I don't understand anything about bikes so can't give an ex…

> Tangentially, and pardon my ignorance, I'm not a biker: I can't understand people who shell out thousands of dollars for a bike, are these so much better than a $500 one?

Yes, they're considerably better - the price is directly reflected on aspects such as durability and weight of the components (frame, gearing, wheels, etc). Keep in mind, though, that buying the most expensive bike around just to commute 10-20 miles to work won't be a good investment - you should go for a good quality one when you're serious about long distance training or hard core mountain biking, for instance (usually after you're already practicing whichever style you prefer - a lot of people invest in an expensive bike upfront and never really use it to its full capacity).

(or assemble your own. It's fun, specially for hackers/geeks!)

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#113

Post by qq66 » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 7:54 PM UTC

dmm wrote: post #10

Cities should levy a bike tax and use it to fund some snipers that shoot assholes who steal bikes.

These guys did that -- set up a bait bike and paintballed the guy. I don't condone vigilantism but here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi6XtthI2F0

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#114

Post by herval » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 7:56 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #109

enraged_camel wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you tell if a bike you are buying is stolen? It would be pretty easy for a bike thief to post an ad on Craigslist saying they are selling their used bike. >>Tangentially, and pardon my ignorance, I'm not a biker: I can't understand people who shell out thousands of dollars for a bike, are these so much better than a $500 one? It makes a huge difference. More expensive bikes are built from lighter and stronger…

I would argue it's often more about falling into the same trap as 'audiophiles' as it is about direct benefits. Few people notice the added weight from drinking 2lb of water but people spend hundreds of dollars shaving 1/10th of that from their bike.

It does make a very considerable difference, if you're serious about your biking, though. Plus, more expensive bikes are not necessarily lighter - there are many variables involved on the price (wrist comfort, seating type, suspensions, frame stiffness/weight, numbers and quality of gears, etc) - many more than the usual 'audiophile' choosing range.

But yeah, a lot of people buy expensive rides for the looks and have no idea what do do with them...

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#115

Post by moe » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 7:57 PM UTC

zurn wrote: post #98

colinshark wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between a nice "adult" bike and a cheap department store bike is night and day. The expensive bike won't rust. The expensive bike can be repaired when things break. The expensive bike is half the weight. If you are using your bike frequently, it's better in the long run to have decent hardware.

Sure, the department store bikes are garbage, but you can get a perfectly good brand name basic city bike for well under $1000. Bikes mass is marginal compared to your body weight especially if you're average weight. A basic bike is 34 lbs and you are 175 lbs. And the weight only makes a big difference when climbing hills. You're much better off losing a few pounds of fat than spending a few grand to get 10 lbs off t…

And the weight only makes a big difference when climbing hills

For most people the weight makes the biggest difference when climbing stairs (with the bike on your shoulder).

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#116

Post by Dove » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 7:57 PM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #92

pavel_lishin wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I don't see a reply link on certain comments; clicking on the direct link for those comments, though, shows me the "reply" button.

I tried that, without success. It's probably a karma related behavior

Actually, it's time-related and everyone sees it. Deeper comment threads have a timer that prevents comments for several minutes. It's to give people arguing with each other time to cool off.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#117

Post by wtvanhest » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 7:57 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #85

wtvanhest wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You were in a holding cell, not jail. 5 days in jail, you would be with everyone else. Not just some guys going through processing. My friends that have done both describe the later to be a completely different experience.

My friend who was transferred out of the holding tank into jail actually said it was much nicer once he was processed, and assigned a cell.

I wish I had an extra $10k so I could pay you to get arrested and go to jail for 5 days to see if you would actually agree to it.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#118

Post by ljf » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 8:01 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #93

I love priceonomics, every time I read one of their articles I learn something new (for example I didn't realize you could exchange a stolen bike for sex). Approaching this as an economics problem seems like a good approach. I think if bike manufacturers built in ways to uniquely identify bikes, and those idents were economically infeasible to remove, then you could do a bitcoin style distributed database of the curr…

Most (all?) bikes have a serial number stamped on the bottom of the 'bottom bracket' the part that the pedals go into. These serial numbers are unique per bike brand, but not universally unique.

The serial is pretty hard to remove, without it's removal being obvious to anyone that looks, though the brand can be removed or changed - if that happens the serial wouldn't show as stolen.

If there was a lookup for serials then you could check if the bike was stolen, or if the bike was incorrectly branded (serial doesn't match brand), but there isn't a central place for this, unless the (ex)owner registers it on a service such as immobilise.com

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#119

Post by mturmon » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 8:01 PM UTC

zurn wrote: post #98

colinshark wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between a nice "adult" bike and a cheap department store bike is night and day. The expensive bike won't rust. The expensive bike can be repaired when things break. The expensive bike is half the weight. If you are using your bike frequently, it's better in the long run to have decent hardware.

Sure, the department store bikes are garbage, but you can get a perfectly good brand name basic city bike for well under $1000. Bikes mass is marginal compared to your body weight especially if you're average weight. A basic bike is 34 lbs and you are 175 lbs. And the weight only makes a big difference when climbing hills. You're much better off losing a few pounds of fat than spending a few grand to get 10 lbs off t…

In general, about weight, I agree. One exception is rotating mass (i.e., wheels). A light, well-built wheel handles a lot better than a heavy one. No amount of personal weight loss is going to make up for that.

Beyond mass, the behavior of shifters and brakes on nice bikes is much, much crisper and more predictable than on cheaper models. They also have better capacity for tuning (e.g., to eliminate chain rub, or accommodate a high-range sprocket set), and are more likely to stay in proper adjustment for longer. This makes riding a lot more fun -- the machine is very responsive to your wishes, and you forget it's there.

You probably are aware of this, but I felt a need to mention some of the advantages of a nice bike.

Re: What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?

#120

Post by kahirsch » Tue, Aug 28, 2012, 8:01 PM UTC

mseebach wrote: post #95

furyg3 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowingly purchasing stolen goods is already illegal in most places. The key is the "knowingly" part. You would have to have a ubiquitous BikeID system in a central registry of stolen bikes. It would have to be incredibly easy to check the status of a BikeID (web/email/phone/sms). It would have to have incredible traction. At that point if someone bought a bike which was tagged in the system as stolen, and didn't che…

Actually, purchasing stolen goods is illegal in most places, full stop. The reason is that it's practically impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt what somebody did or didn't know, and when. The BikeID idea is about as old as bike theft, but it's pretty difficult to enforce. If you care enough about not buying a stolen bike, the solution is simple: Ask for the original invoice. If not, you're not going to both…

> Actually, purchasing stolen goods is illegal in most places, full stop.

In my state, the statute says "such person knowing or having reasonable grounds to believe the same to have been feloniously stolen or taken".

I doubt any state makes receiving stolen goods in complete ignorance a crime. However, the stolen goods are generally recoverable by the original owner, whether or not the person receiving them purchased them in good faith.