Heard from someone who has my stolen bike

[free4now]

Here in the Bay Area most police stations are unstaffed, meaning there's just a lobby and a telephone, and if you need police help you call a central dispatch who calls an officer over to help, usually arriving about a half hour later if at all. They can be quite lonely places.

Transit centers like train stations seem to be the most secure areas, both due to post-9/11 concerns and because they need security to keep order among the high population density, so I think that would be a better place to meet.

I got in contact with the SF bicycle coalition, and also heard from someone who has recovered two stolen bikes in the area, and they both said that this guy who claims to have my bike sounds sketchy but worth pursuing. In my travels I've had plenty of experience dealing with sketchy characters with much more cash on my person, so I'm not particularly worried about mugging. I'm big and fit enough that I'm not an easy target.

One interesting thing is that none of the half dozen people who posted "stolen" ads on craigslist responded at all to my query about whether they got any response to their ads.

My fake "Stolen" craigslist ad received a helpful response from someone who thinks they might have spotted my fake-stolen model halfway across the state, and had no interest in any further contact. It doesn't seem to be the same guy who claims to have my bike.

Anyway, it's evening and I haven't heard back after emailing this guy late last night, so I'm starting to think the most likely reality is that I'm not getting my bike back from him.

 

[tmm99]

If I were a guy who indeed bought a bike at a flee market for $400+, I don't think I would be looking at bike sales on craigslist (unless I was curious how much I could have gotten the same bike for on craigslist). If I were a guy who stole your bike hoping to see a stolen post on craigslist, I would be looking at bike stolen ads on craigslist.

If I were a guy who indeed bought a bike at a flee market for $400+, I wouldn't want to return it to you for less than $400+. (I can say this because I would never buy a bike at a flee market knowing something I am buying is probably stolen.)

Or he is a fake - a troll.

Your renter's insurance may be the best bet...

My point is if this guy is for real, he won't want to give your bike back for less than what he paid for. If he is not real (and if he hasn't already sold the bike to someone else), he will reply back to you and he will accept less than $400.

 

[haha]

I think the $460 or whatever it was is much more than he was able to fence it for, so in effect he wants to make you his fence. Most of these guys will be grifters rather than strong arm crooks, but I think if it were me I would just file my insurance report and be more careful in the future.

This is why I mostly walk. There is a guy in my building who does setups on high end bikes who is always trying to interest me in buying one. No way José, if I buy another bike it will be one that is no big deal to lose.

Ha

 

[chris2008]

If you had already filed with a insurance (?) you should have informed the insurance on the offer of the buyer.
In a similar case my company's insurance bought back the lost property to avoid the bigger loss of compensationg the value. Maybe not too late?

 

[TromboneAl]

I brought this up on the bike forum:

This is a Scam, Isn't It?

 

[TromboneAl]

So, I guess the guy never replied?

 

[Major Tom]

Do you use locking skewers on your bikes? With a set of 3 locking skewers (one on the seat post, and the other two in the front and back wheel), all you have to do is secure the frame to something with a u-lock and your bike is unlikely to go missing.

I've had 3 bikes stolen. One of them was unlocked and standing a couple of feet behind me. In the 45 seconds it took me to turn the other way and take a picture of something across the street, an amazingly swift thief came up behind me and made off with my bike. Another bike was left unlocked outside a fast food restaurant for 2 minutes. The 3rd one was locked with a cable lock (like yours).

This was all 10 years or more ago. Since then I've had locking skewer sets on all my bikes and locked them with u-locks and not had one stolen.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with this bike, by the way.

 

[BUM]

Stolen bikes are common here at the beach. Cops say many are repainted and sold on CL. I don't worry too much about it. My bike is junk. Good luck!

 

[dex]

This was all 10 years or more ago. Since then I've had locking skewer sets on all my bikes and locked them with u-locks and not had one stolen.

Do the skewer immobilize the wheel or just prevent it from being taken off?

 

[kramer]

I just researched this as I have never heard the term "locking skewer" and it appears you replace the quick release part of your wheels and seat with something that requires a key. So a locking skewer replaces the axle of your front wheel with a new axle but the quick release handle does not just bend down like before, now you need a key of some kind. Any further explanation appreciated as my understanding is vague. Also, it would seem that perhaps higher end bikes would come with something like this built-in?

OnGuard Locking Skewer Set at REI.com

Kramer

 

[free4now]

I just got back from Burning Man. I stayed a day late and there were lots of abandoned bicycles in various states of disrepair. I scrounged parts from three of them to build a frankenbike that's about the ugliest completely-spraypainted monstrosity you'll ever see. I'll remove both derailleurs so it's just a reliable single speed bike. That will be my bike that I can feel free to lock up downtown for extended periods of time, because it has hardly any value to me or the bike thieves.

I also have a nicer city bike which I've battle-tested against the downtown bike thieves over a couple of years now, leaving it locked up in city center for hours at a time. I have locking skewers on the front and seat (I have on-guard brand because of exotic fit issues, but most people would probably be best off with Pit-Locks from this competitively-priced site: Urban Bike Tech - Pitlock Locking Skewers for your bike! USA and Canada ). I use a seat leash, and wrapped many layers of tape over the bolts that clamp the post to the seat rails. I have a european style rear wheel lock similar to this one:http://austinontwowheels.org/2008/08/06/review-axa-defender-rear-wheel-lock/http://toool.nl/blackbag/images/axa.jpg which immobilizes the rear wheel and locks it onto the bike. That also comes in handy for keeping the bike from rolling around on the BART train. And in all the allen sockets I dripped wax and put in a ball bearing, so that a sharp tool and some time is needed to remove components. For locking the bike itself I use a Kryptonite Fahgeddaboudit U Lock, which is the strongest lock available, and always lock to a parking meter or something that requires a jackhammer to remove.

With my new road bike however, my plan is just to keep it inside all the time and never lock it up anywhere that I can't see it. I want to keep that one lightweight and serviceable so that I can easily change tires and such out in the country. At 20 pounds it's less than half the weight of my 45 pound city bike with lock.

I have now had three bikes stolen in San Francisco: two were locked with cable locks and left for brief amounts of time in areas that originally seemed safe, and a third was stolen from inside my car. Now if I'm going to leave my bike in my car I have a chain lock to attach it to the car seats.

Three is enough!

Oh, and yes the guy who claimed to have my bike was never heard from again, but I got a sweet insurance settlement so I'm good.

 

[dex]

The bike stealing seems perfectly made for a police sting - lock up a bike and wait for someone to steal it.

Locking skewers - would it be a good idea that they not only prevent the wheel from being removed but you have an option to lock the wheel from moving. The thief would have to carry it away.

One thing to do is to disconnect the brakes - if the thief rides away it may make stopping a challenge.

 

[TromboneAl]

One thing to do is to disconnect the brakes - if the thief rides away it may make stopping a challenge.

YouTube - Bike Thief Revenge

 

[clifp]

Glad it seemed to end reasonably well. My money was on the guy being a scammer, but not a mugger.