…take an abandoned bicycle?

Theres an old (circa2000 steel and rusty) trek mtb which has been left leaning unlocked on the racks near my workplace for the last seven days at least.

The seatpost and saddle have already been taken, the grips cables and one pedal is missing and whats left is pretty knacked.

I have a garage full of old bike bits and would repair the bike and use it to commute.

Whats the legal and moral best way to proceed?

legally, theft.

morally, I doubt anyone would care. The council abduct abandoned bikes and trash them around here.

Check with police it’s not been reported stolen, hand it in, no one claims it, I believe you get it back. Everything then is legal and above board.

7 days isn’t long to someone who doesn’t really care about bikes.

There’s a PITA chap who sometimes cycles to the park at my house, leaves his bike chained to fence and then buggers of for a walk and doesn’t come back for it for weeks. I’m beginning to suspect he as a few of them dotted around the city!

7 days isn’t long to someone who doesn’t really care about bikes.

+1

Don’t do it, dude. You’ll do it up, make something beautiful, ride it to work and some random will step out of the shadows, screaming… then it’s a trip to the nick for you my son.

Take it and leave a note with your phone number stating that you’ve taken it to a safe place to avoid it being stolen?

7 days is nothing.
There’s a bike outside my office window that’s been there 7 months. It’s been relieved of its brakes already (and whoever did that put the canti boss bolts back in). The notice that security guys put on it telling the owner to move it within 7 days was also removed. Has lock on it though, but not locked to anything.

Not as strange as the guy that locked a scooter with a D-lock (that cost more than the scooter, and could have left in in office anyway). Then left the D-lock locked to the bike racks for about 3 years (still there – just checked).

Take it.

APF