Hi all, as title says, my Orange was stolen May 2018 and I am pretty sure I have just found it for sale on pinkbike classifieds. Now looking at the photos and the sellers history he has sold parts off the bike periodically which were part of my original build.
I still have the owners card which has the frame number of the bike which I presume will prove it was mine. The bike was reported to the police at the time but I have no idea what the crime number is anymore. Now here is the tricky bit. How do I extract this information from the seller without spooking him?
go and look at it with a large group of mates?
Pinkbike photos used to preserve the meta data of the image. They may still do and the person with your bike may have left GPS location turned on so it will show where the picture is taken.
Worth checking
did you claim on insurance? If so, the bike belongs to the insurance company. Let them know and the police and then forget about it. As nice as it would be to give him a good kicking, it'll just make more hassle for you.
Not being chippy, but did you have an insurance payout for your stolen bike? If so then it doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to the insurance company.
This is not excusing the theft of the bike or that bike thieves need stringing up and flaying. Also the person selling it may not be the thief, they might have unknowingly bought a stolen bike.
True, I did have an insurance payout for the bike, I didn't even think about that, caught up in my own head. As you can imagine though it is immensely frustrating to know that someone is profiting from a bike that you built up.
As said it probably is more hassle than it is worth.
Oh it's definitely worth reporting, anything to help stem the tide is worth the effort.
Not necessarily profiting if it was stolen two years ago its likely being sold by the person who bought it from the thief. Possibly unknowingly.
I can't think many thieves steal bikes to hit the trails on.
As you can imagine though it is immensely frustrating to know that someone is profiting from a bike that you built up.
The seller might not be the thief, just the purchaser unaware from said thief and upgraded parts overtime and sold the old via PB.
If you wanna confirm, why not ask for a picture of the underside of the BB? say its because you've heard the frameis prone to rock strikes or cracking of the BB shell etc
I have already sent him a similar question @oikeith. Okay he might not be profiting but the seller has played a part. I have not been able to enjoy my dream bike build. Whether he was aware of this who knows.....
go and look at it with a large group of mates?
or
Find a wasps nest,at night cut it off and drop in to a double bin liner.
Go to the perps house,ring the bell,give the bag a big shake and throw it past them when they open the door. After the paramedics have left ,walk in and take your bike back.
Even if that owner didn't steal it he might've bought it from someone who did.
Call 111. I think this has happened before on STW, and the person in question arranged a viewing then the coppers went round with them.
Why not just ask if he bought it from new? You’ll soon know if he is full of BS. Regardless of payout I think I’d still wanna try and get it back if he had stolen it.
He might not be the thief really grinds my gears. If people didn't buy stolen goods, there would be no market for stolen goods.
My principles would get in the way of the popular advice here. I'd do what I could to get it back, even if it was then offered to the insurance company or left for police auction.
If people didn’t buy stolen goods, there would be no market for stolen goods.
Serious question, how can you know if the second hand bike or frame or fork you are buying is stolen?
Serious question, how can you know if the second hand bike or frame or fork you are buying is stolen?
You could ask the vendor for the frame or fork serial number, making it clear why you were asking. If it was known nicked they'd be evasive or block communications, any honest person with nothing to hide would gladly give you the info. I would say then you could check with the police, but I don't know what channel of communication you'd use for that and dealing with such a request would be so far down a priority list I doubt you'd get an answer.
Ask a couple of sensible questions like serial number, original receipt, is he the original owner etc. When your convinced he's the tea leaf arrange to pick it up.
Do a live Facebook video sending us all the link first then go in. Show your proof of ownership and see what he says when you pick it up and try and walk off with it.
Ps I'm joking
Tell the insurance company and the police and forget about it. They probably won't do anything. So put it to the back of your mind and move on.
Has anyone ever come across an instance when the insurance company, having been told, then did something to retrieve a stolen bike?
Just wondering...
Serious question, how can you know if the second hand bike or frame or fork you are buying is stolen?
Truth be told you won't know for sure, but a bit of due diligence on who you are buying from and not turning a blind eye when a bargain shows up won't go amiss.
Report it to the Police
They have your details so they should be able to get the crime number from that
Even though the insurance has paid out its worth doing
A friend had his bike stolen from work, his insurance company paid out with days after he gave them a crime number, he then went and bought a brand new bike
A week after that someone within the company had spoke to some people they knew who knew people who know dodgy/druggy people who nick bikes, a few days later said bike was returned to where it was stolen!!!
My friend being the stand up guy informed the insurance company and police that the bike had been found and where he should return it to as he had bought a new one
The insurance company said they have no way of dealing with the bike and told him to just keep it and the police closed the crime number case
Has anyone ever come across an instance when the insurance company, having been told, then did something to retrieve a stolen bike?
Police recovered my bike in Liverpool a yr after it was stolen, I'm.in aberdeen. They sent it to me, I informed insurance co that I have your bike what do you want me to do with it. After much deliberation they told me just keep it.
Had a similar thing happen just after the last footy world cup.
2 bikes plus tools etc stolen from van after riding one night (outside the house) when i`d had a few beers and forgotton about them.
Mate saw one advertised on gumtree less than two weeks later, confirmed it was mine by tyres/ changed forks/ rear chain guard etc.
SO i contacted buyer and arranged to buy it, I convinced him that i was from somewhere else and asked to meet at services so he wasnt suspicious. Once the meet up was arranged I contacted the Police to get them to attend and then it got messy, becuase it was from Portishead the local coppers wouldnt go to Michealwood services. The regional bods werent interested and eventually I got some Glos cops to agree to turn up at the time.
So day of the "buy" I call police to confirm times etc only to be told "you will have to ring 999 once he arrives"
By now im almost given up on the police, so I go along with plenty of "assistance" just in case it kicks off.
Guy gets out of his car and we shake hands before he proceeds to put front wheel in backwards. I point out his error and after its sorted I get a quick test ride around the car park. Obviously I pas the bike straight to my help and its inside a van before 30 secs has passed. Seller tries to brazen it out and when I point out its mine and he couldnt have owned it 2 years he starts to get a bit agressive. We basically face him down, so he gets in his car saying hes gonna call the police. I tell him they are already on the way so we can resolve it all shortly and with that he drives off immediately.
When the police finally get interested (after I posted on club group chat with some coppers on it) they go and raid his house etc. Unfortunately by the time they actually acted they found nothing else in the guys home.
Turns out he was a very well known thief with tons of previous. I went all the way through the court process to Crown Court. He pleaded not guilty right through until I had been in attendance as a witness for 2 days whereby he changed to a guilty plea.
Guy got 8 months prison for his trouble.
SO persevere and dont let it go, sometimes the bad people get what they deserve.
Oh and the best bit is the video we got of him getting into his car and driving away as we keep trying to stall him, always makes me smile 🙂
My Insurance company hadnt even paid out by time I got that bike back but they didnt seem at all bothered that I had saved them a couple of grand.
Something along the lines of frozen sausages and his lawn.
Get it back
Tell insurance co it has been recovered
They will tell you to keep it most likely
Win win
Serious question, how can you know if the second hand bike or frame or fork you are buying is stolen?
I've just sold a 14 year old frame. In the bottom of the box, I put the original warranty/service booklet. Reckon I have receipts or some sort of evidence for pretty much all my cycling stuff over the last 20 years.
SO persevere and dont let it go, sometimes the bad people get what they deserve.
Big respect from me. Well done that man
Has anyone ever come across an instance when the insurance company, having been told, then did something to retrieve a stolen bike?
When all is said and done, insurance companies "like" bike thieves, or at least depend on them for a big chunk of their business, that's the irony of it. So I imagine they put **** all effort into that side of things.
I’ve never really thought about it like that before @thegeneralist but you’re absolutely right. Insurance companies collect more than they pay and wouldn’t have a business if things were at no risk of being stolen.
I’ve had plenty of bikes stolen over the years. One particularly painful loss was 2 S-Works chained together in the garage. Both frames built up with a very specific set of parts. Spotted some of the parts on gumtree the day after and called the police who were not even remotely interested in the information. Do they think that bike thieves steal one bike and they’re done? The chance of getting someone who’s prolific must surely have been enough to get them off their fat asses. But I’m not bitter, 12 years later, no.