I don't know if it happened last night or this morning but anyway you look at it's gone. I had it chained to my front porch. Everything is gone, chain, everything. I would call the cops but why. This sucks. Anybody ever got a stolen bike back?
Back in 1984, my Redline Carrera and 600a both got stolen, but I tracked them down to some punk at the other end of my street. My Mongoose, stolen and never recovered. My Nishiki Ariel with limited edition paint, never recovered. I don't like your odds, sorry.
I had three stolen from my garage a few years ago. I recovered one, but have never see the other two since. Kind of a funny story. One of the guys at my LBS saw a kid riding around on My Bianchi DISS. At first, he just thought it was odd that a kid was riding a $1000.00 singlespeed with eggbeaters. I'm 6' tall and apparently the kid didn't even lower the saddle. After a second look, he recognized the bike as one of mine that was stolen and he called the cops. They busted the kid, but he claimed that he found it laying on the side of the road. He was a minor, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him. I was mostly interested in recovering the other two bikes. The cops believed his story, so I did not press charges. Sorry to hear about your ride. That sucks! Bike thieves should be treated like horse thieves were in the old west. If you have your serial number you can register your stolen bike with the National Bike Registry for 99 cents. The registration lasts for 6 months. If your bike is recovered anywhere in the US, law enforcement has access to their data base to identify the owner.
Not to sound cynical but I've always wondered if this really happens? The way I see it: (A) Looking up serial numbers and trying to find lost owners = lots of work with no reward other than emotional satisfaction. or (B) Sell the recovered bikes at unclaimed property auction and do almost no work and make a profit. I've never had a bike stolen but last couple times I called about stereo equipment being stolen out of my car the responding officers didn't care to write down the make/model of my head unit much less the serial numbers I tried to provide them with. :hate:
I tried to do the serial number thing but unless you walk into the pawn shop while the guys selling it they won't tell you anything. I hate pawn shops. That sucks though man. Was it a key lock or combo. Is it possible one of your friends borrowed it?
Sorry to hear that, Biker! It makes me nervous to leave my bike unattended, even locked, for the shortest amount of time because of low-life's like that. At least make you up some flyers like the one shown at the beginning of this thread, and let the SOB know what you think of him. http://www.twospoke.com/forum/f27/creative-missing-bike-poster-1474/ Also, maybe nhcop (you'll see his response in the above thread) can give you some advise on how to approach the situation with the police to improve your odds of getting it back.
I just keep my bike in my trunk and turn on the alarm... if I take it out I will store it in my house on some old newspapers layed out rather than lock it up... I'm just paranoid like that Then again someone else has a nice road bike chained up and no one has ever messed with it (its chained to an enormous gas line that would explode though)
Ha, I like that idea! Reminds of a guy that fried himself trying to steal copper insulation tubing from a construction site.
Murder them, or call the police at that point. I just don't see a need to bother them if I know there never going to find it.
I don't know. It probably depends on who recovers the bike and the bikes value. To increase the odds of getting it back, in addition to registering it on the NBR, I would file a police report which would include the serial number and a photo if you have one. It seems to me that a serial number check should be automatically done when the police recover a bike. That way at least people who took the time to get their serial numbers and file a police report have a chance of recovering their bike. In Maryland, theft of items $500 in value or more is a felony and carries a maximum of 15 years and a $25,000 fine.
I had my bike stolen off my second story balcony. They crawled up somehow, cut the chain and gone. Was a brand new Schwinn MTB.
