Have I inadvertently won some nice kit? Please read and help!

to me it wouldnt clear my conscienous knowing i was riding around on someone elses hard earn cash and joy…why is that so hard to understand? buying them from the police auction is like ebay, they are still stolen regardless of how you build it up…

That’s not at all what you were saying though, you were berating the OP needlessly and sounding like a pillock, at no point did you say “personally that wouldn’t sit right with me” you’re accusing the OP of being an accessory to theft!

If the alternative is that the bits get chucked then well done to the OP for scoring a bargain. If the original owner contacts him perhaps he would arrange the return of the parts.

I’m gonna keep an eye on the site, looks interesting!

whenever ive looked at that sight (when my bike was nicked infact) its always been full of apollos and saracins!

If you’re not going to tell….

http://www.bumblebeeauctions.co.uk/XcAPViewItem.asp?ID=111050

barneyballbags?

*sniggers*

njee20 – Member

to me it wouldnt clear my conscienous knowing i was riding around on someone elses hard earn cash and joy…why is that so hard to understand? buying them from the police auction is like ebay, they are still stolen regardless of how you build it up…

That’s not at all what you were saying though, you were berating the OP needlessly and sounding like a pillock, at no point did you say “personally that wouldn’t sit right with me” you’re accusing the OP of being an accessory to theft!

If the alternative is that the bits get chucked then well done to the OP for scoring a bargain. If the original owner contacts him perhaps he would arrange the return of the parts.

I’m gonna keep an eye on the site, looks interesting!

yeah and it still stands, the OP has grabbed a bargain at the expense of the orginal owner (not the thief or the police)…thats why its not right to me, the only reason its now classed as legit is cos the police have sold them, it still doesnt change the fact they are stolen….if you are happy buying stolen goods (from the police or otherwise) then thats your choice, just to me i wouldnt personally….im still glad to see them off the thief and the police at least make a bit of cash to put towards hopefully catching more thieves….

Good win, no comment on the rights/ wrongs, both sides have put their cases but….

me thinks you were baiting with your opening comment

Yesterday, I was on an auction website (no, not that one!),

– else you would have named the auction site first off, wouldn’t you? 😉

Dammit, and now everyone’s seen this one.

http://www.bumblebeeauctions.co.uk/XcAPViewItem.asp?ID=111086

vinnyeh – Member
Good win, no comment on the rights/ wrongs, both sides have put their cases but….

me thinks you were baiting with your opening comment

Yesterday, I was on an auction website (no, not that one!),

– else you would have named the auction site first off, wouldn’t you?

Aye, ’tis true. It’s my fault for not naming the auction site in the first place. Still amazes me how quickly certain people jump to conclusions though.

And now that Madfly has posted the link up you can see how much I paid and why I’m rightly chuffed 🙂

I was gonna post that other auction with teh 36s too – Druidh; do you think the fuel costs for a trip to Devon in your van would cancel out any potential savings? 😆

tree-magnet – Member
Dammit, and now everyone’s seen this one.

http://www.bumblebeeauctions.co.uk/XcAPViewItem.asp?ID=111086

I was thinking of bidding on that one, but the logistics of getting down to Torquay and getting 15 bikes in the back of a van and then bringing them home without the girlfriend knowing kind of gave me a stress headache!

It’ll be a bargain for someone though.

how is it really any different from buying from the theive himself exactly?

no different at all 🙄

thomthumb – Member

how is it really any different from buying from the theive himself exactly?

no different at all

Nope, absolutely no difference.

Apart from the fact that my money will go back in to the police force, and not into funding someone’s crack habit.

Or could it be that I’m buying the stuff from THE ACTUAL POLICE, who have sat on it for at least 2 months (probably a lot longer given the amount of time and paperwork it takes for the police to do anything) before following all of the correct legal procedures and finally putting it to auction…?

I can’t see a difference either…

Apologies to Thomthumb if I’ve misunderstood the tone of his comment

I’m aware of at least one case of a theft victim spotting his bike on the Bumblebeeauctions website after he had reported it stolen and presumed it was gone for good. This was in the same area it was stolen from, and he had given a clear and accurate description to them, but for whatever reason the police hadn’t matched it to a theft report before putting it up for sale. Luckily they were able to pull the auction before the situation got even more embarassing for them.

In this case, the original owner may still be looking for his forks, or he may well be very happy with his insurance replacements. IMO it’s poor form to gloat about a bargain you got from someone else’s misfortune, but as long as you’re happy and all that…

Anyone commenting on it being stolen is an idiot.

That’s what happens to recovered stolen goods. Deal with it.

I live in newton abbot, I’m gonna ask them if i can look at it.

Mr Agreeable – Member
IMO it’s poor form to gloat about a bargain you got from someone else’s misfortune, but as long as you’re happy and all that…

To me, ‘gloating’ would infer that I had told everyone how much the stuff was worth, and made a big point of telling everyone how much I paid for it.

The fact that another STW member posted up the link to said auction so that everyone could see how much I paid isn’t my fault. For all you knew until then, I could have paid over-the-odds for it.

In my original post, I asked a couple of simple questions, because I wanted to see if anyone could shed any light on exactly what it was that I’d bought. I’d hardly call that gloating.

I’m sorry that some of you seem to think that I’m gloating, or that I’m in morally in the wrong by posting on here.

As it happens, I think I may have pointed a few more people towards the website, so much less of the kit that is listed will end up being destroyed, and hopefully now the police will get a better price for the better kit. And we all know how much the police could do with the money.

Gloating? More like a public service!!! 😆 😆 *

*That was a joke. Deal with it.

ianpinder – Member
I live in newton abbot, I’m gonna ask them if i can look at it.

It’d be well worth a look Ian. Looks like a nice little bike.

MoseyMTB – Member
Anyone commenting on it being stolen is an idiot.

That’s what happens to recovered stolen goods. Deal with it.

Amen to that.

*high five*
🙂

if its on bumblebee then there’s nothing they would have liked more than to identify the original owner, reunite them with their property and charge the person found with them for theft/handling.

I’ve had a look on Bumblebee a few times, its often low-value stuff and you have to collect but there are often bargains and I’m sure there is a market in buying their bulk sales, cleaning up and re-selling the best stuff on here or ebay. Last time I looked (a while ago) there was a huge collection of rear shocks (double figures), some decent quality, going for about 30 quid. And you have to look through the photos to find the good stuff piled up amongst the tat.

Congrats to the OP. Mr Agreeable, I would bet the call handler who originally took his bike details mis-typed it into the crime database. I have tried to identify recovered goods searching our force database and found Berg House jackets, and Bompton folding bikes listed.

So 2 points,
1) if you ever have to call the police to report stolen goods (and you’ll be talking to a civilian call handler in a big centre working to the same pressures as any call centre) spell any names and get them read back to you and

2) use http://www.immobilise.com to register your kit (if your bike turns up in a different force area this is the nearest thing to a national stolen property register).

I don’t really understand why the police can’t spot the high value kit…is it really all the same to them? Not surprising things don’t get back to their owners.

I don’t really understand why the police can’t spot the high value kit…is it really all the same to them? Not surprising things don’t get back to their owners.

A bike is a bike is a bike. You only have to look at the raised eyebrows from “the general public” when they find out how much proper niche kit costs. How many times have you heard the phrase “you can buy a car for that?!”

Some police are like some members of the public, they won’t have a clue about bikes (or hi-fi gear or ….) Some are very clued up (some post on here!)
Some people would question why a hi fi costs £5000 when you can get one in Currys for £100. Same with bikes, you can go to Halfords and pay £100 for a full sus or you can go to [insert niche brand of choice] and pay £6000.

My mother wouldn’t know the difference between a road bike and a full sus… 😉

Apologies to Thomthumb if I’ve misunderstood the tone of his comment

i was being sarcastic, no worries. 😀

i am a bit put out that you actually managed to find something decent on bumble bee though. when i was a poor student i actually put in a lot of time (probably 15hrs a week at one point) to searching ebay and bumblebee for cheap bikes to buy. (got my first road bike for £15) there was NEVER anything good on bumblebee.

as an aside it is quite clear from that site that there is a problem with stolen bikes. there are half as many stolen bikes on there as everything else put together!!

im glad its actually from a police auction – however it doesnt make it any better that those are still stolen items, may now officially be legit, but some poor bugger may well be without their 900 quid forks and not have replaced them, yet you manage to grab a bargain, how is it really any different from buying from the theive himself exactly? (other than you can have peace of mind you cant get done for it)

Are you a complete idiot?

clearly i am yes! anything to go against the grain of the stw forumites!

happy stolen trails OP 😆

if its on bumblebee then there’s nothing they would have liked more than to identify the original owner

what about what happened to me then?

bikes stolen.
clear and accurate descriptions given to the police
regularly phoned to ask if they had any news
gave up after about 8 months
a couple of months later my GF spots someone walking through town with what appeared to be my bike.
after approaching them and chatting with them it actually turned out not to be mine, but the same frame, in the same size.

the even more remarkable thing is that they had just been to pick it up from the police station where it had been sitting for the past 4 months, the police had called them and said they had a couple of bikes vaguely matching their description and would they like to come and check it out.

when they went to look at it they said, no that’s not mine, but the other one of the exact same model and size behind it in the pile is!

so at this point I thought:

1> why didn’t the police phone me as well?
2> i’ll phone them and hopefully that other bike is mine

so I phoned them, got bounced around with people refusing to let me come and look at it because it has to work the other way around, ie: they have to match the description I give and then call me to stop random people coming up and just pointing at bikes they like sayin “thats mine”

sounded reasonable so gave the description again. Didn’t hear anything so started chasing by phone again.
Never got anywhere… eventually gave up hope another 4 months

To this day I still think they had one of my bikes there and its probably either still there or got sold on by now.

So basically I don’t have much faith in their ability to re-unite owners with their bikes….

clearly i am yes! anything to go against the grain of the stw forumites!
happy stolen trails OP [/B] 😆

And the smiley does nothing to deviate from the twattishness of that last statement.

You might not mean literally mean “bin it” but if you are intending to please have a look for a cycle charity or something who’d probably be glad for any bike stuff, Claud Butler or not 😉

I know of one in Leeds but sadly that sounds like it’s miles from you. Be nice if something else good came out of it as well as you getting a bargain.

happy stolen trails OP

What is that supposed to mean?

did you ever actually disclose how much you paid for them?

willfaz – Member
did you ever actually disclose how much you paid for them?

I paid £280.50 for the whole lot – Fox Forks, Hope Brakes, Hope(?) wheel, Thomson Stem, Easton Carbon Bars, both of the frames and the rest of the kit in the picture. Obviously it’s worth a lot more and my intention was to sell some of it and make a little bit of money in order to fund another bike build.

And to all those who slated me before – don’t worry, I’ll be 100% honest in my description and I’ll let people know exactly where I bought them from. If people are that put out that I managed to buy something for next to nothing, and then tried to sell it to make a little bit of money, then they don’t have to buy it!

Sounds like you got a bargain. The people moaning about stolen goods are wrong – would it be better that those forks went in a skip? They’ve been stolen, and obviously they’re not going to go back to their original owner, they might as well go to a good home.