Ah, looks like he has.

I don’t have a fat fork and used to run an Ardent on a P35 but now am addicted to a Knard on a Dually. A few people just don’t like the tyre rather than the size so it’s something to be aware of. Looking forward to trying the Maxxis Chronicle (sort of Ardent 29+). 29+ does raise the front a little though.

Futonrivercrossing on here says he prefers a fat front to the Knard

I did love fat front.

What happened to the girl? Did she come back for the bike? What was the story there?

I’m so hoping a love story enfolds, between Chainline & the puncture girl.
Would make a lovely ending.

Glad you got your ugly bike back dude. Yay singletrack!

Obviously we need a pic of the bike/chainline reunion…. should be on the front page.
Well done to all involved (eevn the polis) but especially to the guys in the shop. Most excellent.

It will be a happy ending if you get it back. I came across a bike i had had stolen, in a bike shop awaiting repair. Because the owner had bought it ‘in good faith’ they got to keep it. Well actually, he kindly allowed me to buy it from him at the bargain price which he bought it. Subsequently, the guy he bought it from, a builder who was clearing out some flats in which I used to live, when he took the bike, came round and refunded me the money!

I understand from someone who works in the shop that the woman and a bloke came back in to collect the bike and that he was arrested and also had a knife on him! Sounds like a nice fella! I don’t know any more but I’m sure we will find out more soon

It just gets better

Bike has been recovered and my insurers have done a U turn. I should requested written confirmation at the time of enquiry or argued it was a verbal contract.

Now they want me to pay them for it but they wont tell me how much.

So how much is a 5yr old Jones worth? Alot less than I paid I’d say given they are now a production unit in taiwan and there is a steel version to do the same job.

I do want it back but I wasn’t planning on an ad hoc purchase! What is HMRC depreciation rates on cycle to work…

Only have a short time to decide..so if they are greedy there may not be a reunion…

The insurers don’t want it so I’d offer them a couple of hundred and see what they say.

So there could be a clown ti bike for sale through some random auction house soon….?

What can an old stolen bicycle be worth? £150? You can always increse your offer.

I do want it back but I wasn’t planning on an ad hoc purchase! What is HMRC depreciation rates on cycle to work…

Don’t forget it’s been poorly maintained during the nicked-period etc etc so needs work to get back to usable standard. Feed the insurers all the bad news 🙂

PS: please can you inform your insurance company I’ll offer them £160 for it. Ta

Don’t forget it’ll definitely need de-rusting

7%!

That means my 5 is worth less than £230 🙂 hehe

haha. they were at pains to point out the Police say its in good condition..

It was more expensive than a new one now, you could build it again for £6.3k with equally good if less rare parts. Amazing how much many parts have reduced in price.

I’ll make an offer and see what they say…

True tho isn’t it unless you break it..a 5-6 yr old S works enduro I used to have that cost 5k in 2007/8 what would you pay complete for it now…£700

Just remember, they don’t want it
They’d simply send the details to a bunch of general dealers that buy stuff off them looking for the best offer.

they were at pains to point out the Police say its in good condition..

Send them the photo, it’s quite clearly bent.

Huge thanks to EBC,best of luck to Chainline and no thanks to all the knobs who posted negative and plain dumb posts (a certain persons post ticks both boxes plus a few not mentioned)

Onward & upward.

ps I wonder if there is any chance of using this stroke of good fortune to open up investigations to your other stolen bikes ❓

They are cogitating..don’t like my offer which was somewhat higher than suggested and in line with HMRC guidance, which doesn’t account for unmaintained parts..thay also won’t tell me what they do want.

Hmmm, All phone calls are recorded for my protection…”Hi, my bike has been found, but officially its yours, I would like it back, how do we proceed”……”It’s been 5 yrs sir and you are no longer insured with us, normally we would ask for a salvage contribution but in this case due to the time elapsed that’s not necessary, you can keep it…..yes we can confirm that if requested….”

1 day later…”hi, we’ve changed our mind”…understandable but very annoying. Be much easier if they told me what they want and I could say yes or no. Rather than me wondering how much they are spending with people assessing, cogitating, reviewing recovery costs, making phonec calls etc…50p cheque springs to mind!

Not being arsey about this but isn’t this the situation Hora was alluding to?

Its the property of the insurance company the minute you cash their cheque. If they want to give it away or charge for it is completely their choice.

Get the feeling that someone has realised its value is probably much much more than they presumed a ‘normal’ bike would be worth and who can blame them.

Its a pisser but it actually makes me feel good that the insurance co is looking after its & our best interests for once

ThelittlestHobo.

I don’t think so at all. I chose to tell the insurer. Its the right thing to do. They are the official owner. I said I wanted it back, whow much would that cost…What I don’t like is how they have gone about it with a change in direction and the false sense of joy coupled with this reluctance to tell me what they are looking to recover, backwards and forwards…it wouldn’t happen with a car.

If they told me straight we could have sorted it one way or the other and a decision could be made quickly and easily. and I wouldn’t potentially waste any more time and emotional energy doing what I have been doing, liaising with police etc, during my work day, in the evenings providing information, trying to arrange recovery etc. or said fine keep it and move on..my time is money, just like theirs and since I work for myself, probably a lot more so. Not just my time EBC have been fantastic in liaising with me.

Whatever happens I am grateful to EBC. A little network has been uncovered as a result of the recovery so thats also good.

I hope the insurers are sensible about it I will buy it back, that’s what I’d like, but not at an any cost…

See … dealing with the jobworth bureaucrats can be more headache than simply recovering the bike.

🙄

Does that mean you are storing their property for them? I’d pay a solicitor a few quid to write to them and say you will be charging them to store, and insure their property while they make their mind up and will subtract the costs from any amount they look to recover.

I hope it works out for you. Love my Jones and it’s not even a proper full on melty one.

What a thread! Hope it all works out ok CL 😀

Its the property of the insurance company the minute you cash their cheque. If they want to give it away or charge for it is completely their choice.

hmm. yes. however…
‘the bike i insured with you turned up. do you want it back or do you want to dispose of it to me? after all, i paid a premium, and you placed a bet that it wouldn’t go missing. it did, you lost, you paid. now, here we are. where would you like it sent, and how are you going to have it shipped? how will that be paid for? how will you store it? how will you dispose of it?’
insurance companies have offices, not workshops and storage. they’re just a means of extracting money from people, and pray on our fear of loosing our stuff. they’re not really any different to bookmakers, and they don’t often loose.
certainly, if i ever got a car nicked, i’d never want it back. probably would think the same about a bike, TBH.

Hmmm, so both responses accept the bike belongs to the insurer. Chain line doesn’t like the fact the company have changed direction in their dealings but simple fact remains they are correctly protecting their interests. If they put it on eBay I think we can safely say it would fetch more.

Really can’t work out what point del is trying to make.

Great news it’s turned up. Great news you want it back. What’s the hurry other than to hope they make a mistake and hand it over too cheap?

Really can’t work out what point del is trying to make.

I suspect that if you raised Del’s points with the insurance company they might become more accommodating.
I wonder what would happen if you started to charge them for handling and storing their property?

on the other hand chainline. perhaps someone at the insurance co also rides bikes and would prefer the bike for himself ?

I got the feeling that the police had it ?

If chainline has the bike then I’d let the insurers do the chasing now an offer is made.

perhaps someone at the insurance co also rides bikes and would prefer the bike for himself ?

But why would you ride a Jones?

Joking aside, I’d write to them and make things formal. Either way you will know where you stand sharpish. It’s a 5k bike right? £50-£100 on a solicitor’s letter is worth it for your peace of mind.

Assuming chainline has possession of the bike I think I’d do what Del suggests and put everything in writing:

– Confirmation you are in possession of the bike (and perhaps how you came about it)
– Your offer to buy it from them
– A daily rate for storage (equivalent to Lock n Store) and insurance (supplied by a competitor) costs.
– Perhaps a bill for the period to date.

Ask them how they’d like to proceed and suggest that if they don’t respond with a workable solution before the unpaid storage/insurance costs meet/exceed your offer then you will assume the bike is yours.

What’s the latest?

Hope there’s a happy ending.

Perhaps the insurance company might be more accommodating if it realised all the positive publicity it could generate for itself via this thread!

Bike is in police possession awaiting them arranging to release it from property, to confirm its mine etc It doesn’t seem to be the fastest process.

Police are still liaising with me in terms of arranging pickup. Which I wont be doing until the insurance confirm what they want to do. They said they had been in touch with the police but you could have fooled me.
Police have been very good letting me know what’s going on, unlike the ex insurers who promised to call back following a review of my my offer but so far haven’t. No I haven’t chased them.

I was never going to offer them a big number, why would I knowing they will want to squeeze the max out of it and be hoping I offer more than their minimum so they are quids in.

Like I said, if they tell me what they want we can figure out if I can afford it/am willing to pay it and get on with it. In the meantime I’m not going to take a day off work and fetch it for them!

Lets be honest here if you had a bike nicked, wrote it off as gone and five years late someone said “we’ve found it you can have it back for a couple of grand” you’d probably have to go and check your bank account since the odds are you’ve replaced it and the wife might get peevish, especially since you’ve no clue how its ben treated other than its got exactly the same parts fitted and been in the possession of people of dubious reputation who cant even fix a puncture”

If it doesn’t work out it will be a great shame for most concerned in terms of publicity etc. I will live however, just like I have the last 5 years!