A mate who has far too many bikes said that he had an old bmx he didn't want, and it was just taking up room in his shed/house so he'd left it outside for a bit, and that I could have it for free.

So I went round to pick it up, pumped the tyres up, wrenched the handlebars around a few times to free up the headset, and head off. Or at least tried to. The free wheel was completely shot, so the cranks would turn but the wheel wouldn't. It also didn't have any brakes.

I took it home anyway, deciding I might as well get the inner tubes out of it and the rear tyre (which was ok). Got home, and had a look over it, and decided that not even those bits were worth taking. Also, I decided that instead of taking it all the way to the dump to get rid of it, I would just get it nicked.

So, at about 4:30pm I leaned it against a tree outside my house, with a sign saying "BIKE FOR SALE £10".

I live in a medium sized town between Southampton and Portsmouth. My road leads to another road, but that road is a dead end, so not a lot of traffic or people go past.

So, have a guess. How long do you think it took before the first person tried to nick it, and how long do you think before it was successfully nicked?

Answers on a postcard..

3 mins?

15 minutes

It's still there.

60 seconds as in "gone in… 60 seconds"

khani has been closest so far..

12 minuites

Someone paid up?

Do tell please!

Someone paid up?

That would've been ironic.

Nah, it took an hour. I was quite lucky to see it actually, as I went upstairs to get ready to go out, and looked out my window to see two guys standing around looking at it, very suspiciously.

Watched them as they talked for a moment, then one ran up the road, and the other jumped on the bike and tried to ride away. He almost smashed his face on the handlebars because of the shot freehub lol. Looked like he shat a brick when it happened, he jumped off the bike and legged it up the road, so I opened my window and called him a rude name.

Went out, and when I came back shockingly it was still there. Was gone the next morning.

There's a story about a guy who had a desk or something that he wanted shot of.

He left it in his front garden with a sign on saying "FREE – Please take". Nobody took it.

So, he changed the sign to "Desk for sale – £5". It was nicked within a couple of hours.

Isn't there a Simpsons episode witk a similar theme? Homer wanted shot of something so Bart chained it up inthe front garden – it was gone in 30 secs!

If there's no apparent value on something, no-one will want it. As soon as any value is placed on something, someone will have it away…

I found an old Harry Quinn ladies roadster in the street once. Took it home, sorted it out, and last I heard, it was doing great service in Brighton! 😀

LOL

Bit like this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8qj4rkfINo

Does Realman have an american accent? 😆

Is that downtown Southampton?

I live in a medium sized town between Southampton and Portsmouth.

Eh? Portsmouth and Southampton are 'medium sized towns', aren't they? 😕

No, Portsmouth and Southampton are cities I thought.

Zaskar, great video lol, but not me 😀

I took an old Decathlon £75 thing up to the main road a few years ago and left it leaning against a tree with a sign on it that said "Free to anybody that wants it. For confirmation this is genuine, feel free to telephone…."
Within 10 minutes the phone rang. It was the Police telling me to move it or I would be in trouble for fly tipping! The very cheek!
When I got there a guy was having a good look at it and he was very pleased to be able to take it away.

baldSpot – Member

Isn't there a Simpsons episode witk a similar theme? Homer wanted shot of something so Bart chained it up inthe front garden – it was gone in 30 secs!

TRAMPAMPOLINE!