Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Where do stolen bikes go?

news.mit.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 307 posts

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#211

Post by toast0 »

blamazon wrote: post #207
toast0 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At my old house, a renter across the street was part of a bike theft ring. Stolen bikes would come in and out, sometimes with different pieces. I imagine your bike was stolen by someone, maybe fixed up, maybe sold as-is for cheap and then fixed up by the new possesor, who may not have known it was stolen, just cheap.

I choose to believe in an idealistic liberator of machine souls with a procrastinatory flair for bike restoration :)

That's fair. It's not theft when it was clearly abandoned and the intent is to help the machine satisfy its calling.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#212

Post by mattlondon »

grecy wrote: post #95
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…

> basically steal it back This brings up an interesting legal question. Is it illegal to steal back your own property? Even if you trespass onto private property to do so, the person would have to get the Police involved to do anything about that, at which time you can say "Sure, I'll take the trespassing charge, and while we're here I'm leaving with all of my property".

IANAL but I don't think you can "steal" your own property.

You might need to do something else though - e.g. trespass or cut someone else's lock etc. You are on my shaky ground then I think.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#213

Post by gambiting »

guywithahat wrote: post #122
gambiting wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that didn't get you in any trouble?

Why should it? You can conceal carry (or open carry, for that matter) in Texas, and you'd be a lunatic to follow a criminal anywhere to get your property back. Heck I conceal carried when I got my last used car, because there's no way I'm bringing ten grand to get a car from a guy I met on craigslist with no backup

Why shouldn't it? If I rang the police and said "I'm about to commit violence against someone else" you can bet I'd be arrested. Why doesn't the same rule apply here? Carrying a weapon being or not being legal has no bearing on this at all.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#214

Post by hgomersall »

pprotas wrote: post #203
InCityDreams wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your opinion being based on...?

This brand is known for bikes that break very quickly. The bikes are good, but don’t last. They are very expensive and the replacement parts are too. The VanMoof or Tweakers forums are filled with users talking about the repairs the did this week to their bike, or that they send their bike back since it broke the week they bought it.

Without knowing anything about VanMoof, I'm always (more than I'd ideally like) doing some repairs on whichever bike I'm generally riding. Same for our car, which barely gets driven at all. It seems mechanical stuff needs repairing. Maybe VanMoof riders talk about it more in the forum. Most companies don't offer that...?

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#215

Post by mattlondon »

denton-scratch wrote: post #30

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…

Next time tell them "ok thanks no worries - I'll just take a gun with me to go get it on my own then".

You'll have officers there pretty sharpish :)

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#216

Post by swarnie »

genuinefupa wrote: post #208
grecy wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> basically steal it back This brings up an interesting legal question. Is it illegal to steal back your own property? Even if you trespass onto private property to do so, the person would have to get the Police involved to do anything about that, at which time you can say "Sure, I'll take the trespassing charge, and while we're here I'm leaving with all of my property".

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.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#217

Post by Lio »

One of the reasons I bought a Brompton folding bike is so that I can take it with me instead of leaving it locked up.

I’ve had funny looks from bored security guards but so far it’s always worked.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#218

Post by [deleted] »

latency-guy2 wrote: post #209
mycall wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it unethical to buy a "cheap" replacement bicycle if your previous one was stolen?

No? What are you trying to get at? I assume there's something you have on your mind that I'm missing to understand why there would be any type of moral quandary here.

[deleted]

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#219

Post by adastra22 »

ozim wrote: post #80
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 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?

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#220

Post by adastra22 »

noodleman wrote: post #129
dahart wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cops really don’t give a shit about theft unless it’s from a business. My only experience with police and bike theft is the opposite; they police were helpful and recovered my bike. When I first called them they even suggested that I make initial contact with the thief and they’d be there to support the sting, which surprised me a lot! I found the bike a couple of weeks after it was stolen when the thief posted it…

This is almost certainly a UK specific experience. The police here have a track record of treating people who report crimes with disdain.

That is, sadly, a rather universal experience.
Post reply on HN