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What's your limit to keep what you found on the road?

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What's your limit to keep what you found on the road?

Old 08-01-19, 11:59 AM
  #26  
Jim from Boston
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Originally Posted by Skipjacks
I found a wallet once. No cash but had some guy's license and credit cards and a company ID card. I put it in an envelope and mailed it back to the address on his ID.

No return address though as I didn't feel like being accused of stealing his cash when I was trying to be nice and giving him $2 worth of postage…
Originally Posted by CliffordK
I've found a few credit cards (without additional ID). I suppose I should be more proactive at returning them, but instead I just make sure they're taken out of circulation, and assume the banks will replace them.
Not to be critical, but those were rather “arm’s length” actions, especially with the license and company ID present. Whenever I can’t find my wallet, I frantically search for it. Cash is the least of my worries. Snail mail is a prolonged assurance of its whereabouts, and in the meantime the owner may have canceled the cards and reapplied for a license.

I once found a wallet with credit cards only as I recall, and I called the credit card company and informed them, to notify the owner.

Just sayin'.

Last edited by Jim from Boston; 08-01-19 at 12:40 PM. Reason: added quote by CliffordK
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Old 08-01-19, 12:07 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by denada
@DrIsotope spyderco knives are nice. 8cr isn't exactly top of the line steel, but i bet that thing still retails around $50 usd.
Given the size and the scales (they look carbon fiber), I’d say you are off by from $100 to $200.
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Old 08-01-19, 12:07 PM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
...I once found a wallet with credit cards only as I recall, and I called the credit card company and informed them, to notify the owner.

Just sayin'.
I recently posted to this General Cycling Forum thread, “Tell me about acts of heroism and kindness done by bicyclists.”:
Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
I once posted regarding good deeds that cyclists perform as a result of their nimbleness, flexibility, and accessibility is that we are the Knights Errant of the Road
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
The adjective errant (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric virtues, either in knightly duels (pas d'armes) or in some other pursuit of courtly love

Last edited by Jim from Boston; 08-01-19 at 12:11 PM.
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Old 08-01-19, 12:13 PM
  #29  
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I once found two 16 inch crescent wrenches...and they have come in handy a number of times.
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Old 08-01-19, 12:32 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by cyccommute
Given the size and the scales (they look carbon fiber), I’d say you are off by from $100 to $200.
g10, not carbon fiber. a non-anodized version of the knife is on cabela's website for $60. yeah spyderco knives get into three digits, but with blades of premium steel.

i haven't been biking for transportation long, but never found anything of value. busy watching for car doors. walking downtown to and from work, i've found a $20 bill and a baggie of clorazepate pills (they look like 30mg oxycodone, so someone probably tossed it after realizing they got had but without discovering it was an old school benzodiazepine). kept both without qualm.
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Old 08-02-19, 11:06 PM
  #31  
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I haven’t found anything yet that seemed worth returning. If I stop to check something out and it turns out to be trash, I just toss it in my basket or backpack or whatever and throw it away when I get home.

Edit: my local area seems to be pretty saturated with scrapper types. My point is that enough people are “value minded” around here that not much but trash gets left on the roadside. For some reason a lot of condoms. I guess it’s good to know people are using them at least.

Last edited by Phamilton; 08-02-19 at 11:10 PM.
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Old 08-06-19, 03:04 AM
  #32  
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I’ve dropped a Crank Brothers 19 in 1 multitool a few years ago. Last week the stupid strapless Fizik saddle bag fell off my bike. It wasn’t there when I got home. My loss I guess. I replaced it with a Lezyne bag that has Velcro straps. All in all a $40 set back.

I found a flat flat screen TV, old CRT monitor, a washing machine, and numerous tires. I let them be.
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Old 08-06-19, 03:19 AM
  #33  
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This isn't about commuting, nor even cycling, but it seems the right place for the story anyway:

A couple months ago I drove down to Virginia to adopt my mother's dog. On the drive back we stopped at a highway rest stop, where I put the dog on a leash to see if she needed to use the facilities (grass). And it turned out she did. Oy! I quickly started looking for a bit of litter with which to clean up after her. In the taller weeds there was plenty to choose from, and I grabbed a plastic shopping bag that seemed clean and intact.

But then I changed my mind, and decided instead of picking up my dog's poop, I started filling the plastic bag with all the other litter I saw. Pretty soon the bag was full and I had made a small dent in the amount of litter stuck in the weeds there. Among the empty cups and soda cans etc I also found a grubby $5 bill that I cheerfully spent a couple minutes later. I never did pick up the poop but, even so, it seemed like good karma.

Last edited by rhm; 08-06-19 at 03:29 AM.
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Old 08-07-19, 07:55 AM
  #34  
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Small stuff that will fit in my bags, tools, etc, I'll keep. If I feel like stopping. Found a small brass bell once that I cleaned up. The clapper is a small nut. Hang it from the handlebars in lieu of a bike bell sometimes.

Money. It depends. If you're in a store parking lot why not take it into the store and let them handle it? Out in the middle of the road, who you gonna call? Never found more than $20 on the ground.

Wallets, phones, stuff that's identifiable, absolutely call the owner or somebody who can.

That's just what I do.
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Old 08-08-19, 04:40 AM
  #35  
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Once found an enormous and heavy valve in the middle of the road. Clearly part of a fire truck, and since there was a fire station about a mile down the road I picked it up and carried it awkwardly on my lap until I got there and left it by their door (volunteer place, nobody was there).
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Old 08-08-19, 07:20 AM
  #36  
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I found some nails with my tires. Great find.
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Old 08-08-19, 07:45 AM
  #37  
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I found a block of solid metal the other day. Of course I put it in my bag to investigate later. Well it turns out to be rather unusual, it's aluminum, a full 0.5" thick, 4.5" long, 3" wide, with one hole through it. Scratched up like a bunch of cars have driven over it, but that's just surface damage.



What do I want this for? Well, I have no idea. But I'm sure I'll use it, probably make something interesting out of it Possibly even a bike part.
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Last edited by rhm; 08-08-19 at 11:35 AM.
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Old 08-08-19, 10:29 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by rhm
I found a block of solid metalthe other day... What do I want this for? Well, I have no idea. But I'm sure I'll use it, probably make something interesting out of it Possibly even a bike part.
My fool brain took five seconds trying to figure out if I'd ever heard of a material called metalthe. Don't make any bike parts! That stuff is the devil. Does it seem like an especially harsh billet? Aren't you worried about the fatigue limit?
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Old 08-09-19, 10:14 AM
  #39  
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I will pick up anything of use or value. I subscribe to the "finder's keepers" philosophy
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Old 08-09-19, 05:33 PM
  #40  
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Last spring, I slipped on a patch of ice, fell and hit the back of my head hard enough that I broke the back of my helmet. On that piece was attached my tail light. Didn't notice until I stopped another 30 minutes later. When I commuted back on my way home, I tried to look for the light but it was gone. Yes, I lost it but it would have been nice to recover it. So, I leave stuff where they are, who knows if the person who lost it will try to recover it...
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Old 08-10-19, 10:53 PM
  #41  
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As most above, wallets, credit cards, ID documents, cell phones, I do my best to find the owner and return them. Anything else is fair game, except if I have any clue about who could have lost it. However, over the years I have found and lost many things on the road, so there's some kind of balance I guess.
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Old 08-12-19, 04:11 AM
  #42  
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The only thing I ever thought to return were the two cellphones I found on two separate occasions, and both times I arranged a meeting place. When some cash was blowing in the wind I picked it up and kept riding. Tools and things I would only pick up if they were useful but mostly they're not. But most items don't have any identification of the owner so why would anyone think to try to return them. I would return a wallet if there was ID. I found one once but not while riding and it was more trouble than it was worth to return it.
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Old 08-13-19, 01:40 AM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by rhm
When I find wallets, I do my best to return them to the owner. In one case that meant riding about ten miles out of my way; I was out for a ride and didn't intend to go that way, but no big deal. Another wallet was clearly way out of my way, so I dropped the whole thing in a USPS mailbox and let someone else deal with it.

I've found several drivers licenses, sometimes with other cards, the detritus of looted wallets. I usually am able to contact the owner and mail them back. The people who get their cards back are always really thankful, offering rewards that I decline, and so on. I always feel funny about this, because the wallet has been stolen and they have no way of knowing that I'm not the one who stole it. But no one has ever suggested I was.

I found a perfectly good cell phone last year. I kept it in my office, charged it periodically, waiting for it to ring. I figured when it rang I'd answer and then I could find its owner by talking to whoever was calling. No one ever called. I eventually gave up, tossed the SIM card and wiped the memory clean, and now use it as a music player or GPS and similar things that I don't want clogging up my actual phone.

Tools and loose cash, those I just pocket. Yes, two crisp $100 bills I found on the street in NYC, and they went straight into my wallet. As I stopped, I was simultaneously thinking "I hope no one is watching" and "I hope the guy who dropped this sees me and flags me down." Well, no one flagged me down, and I kept the cash.
I lost my wallet last week (fell out of my backpack) either on a MUP or right off it. I was hoping someone like you would find it but hours later they were exhausting my transit card. I'm still trying to file a police report to see if the rest of it, less the cash and transit card, makes it to the police. I found out it's basically impossible to file a report on line in Atlanta due to computer "glitches." I guess that's how they can claim crime is going down.
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Old 08-13-19, 01:49 AM
  #44  
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I've been riding past a stainless steel fork in the road for months. There used to be a matching spoon a few feet away but that disappeared a few weeks ago. The fork looks worse every time I ride by, it must have been run over hundreds of times by now. After reading this thread, if it's still there tomorrow I'll pick it up and dispose of it properly.
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Old 08-13-19, 02:45 AM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by audiomagnate
I lost my wallet last week (fell out of my backpack) either on a MUP or right off it. I was hoping someone like you would find it but hours later they were exhausting my transit card. I'm still trying to file a police report to see if the rest of it, less the cash and transit card, makes it to the police.

I found out it's basically impossible to file a report on line in Atlanta due to computer "glitches." I guess that's how they can claim crime is going down.
Thanks for that cautionary tale, @audiomagnate. I once lost a small bag with some important items, mainly spare eyeglasses, on my Boston commute. There was no ID, but a name and contact information of a fellow Bike Forums subscriber with whom I had ridden.

She sent me a PM from New Jersey, and directed me to the finder, and I retrieved it from a gracious resident on that route. I left a dozen donuts on their porch the next day.

There was a thread of a similar nature on the General Cycling Forum, “Keys fell out of saddle bag”
Originally Posted by waterfish_21
So the other day I lost my keys! My bontrager saddle bag developed a rip in the zipper. I was not careful upon putting my keys/wallet/ and tools inside it and after my 30 mile loop when I got home my keys were missing.

My wallet and bike allens where still in there (barely hanging on!) Has this happened to anyone else? And are there any other ways to secure these items inside a saddle bag. I ride with my headphones on 60-90% of the time so I didn't hear the keys falling off, not sure if I would of anyways.
Originally Posted by unterhausen
I'm still emotionally scarred from the time I lost my keys in 1989, so I feel your pain. The last 5 saddlebags I have owned have a clip for keys
Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
Did we really need the headphone discussion on this thread? Would the OP have heard his wallet drop too without headphones, say over the sounds of traffic and wind noise?

This thread for me reinforces my “pre-ride" and “post stop" checklists to make sure all my bags and pockets are zippered shut.

Last edited by Jim from Boston; 08-13-19 at 04:07 AM.
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Old 08-13-19, 06:45 AM
  #46  
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With the two cellphones I've picked up I met one guy at the bar at Wolfgang's Steakhouse and he graciously offered to buy the round, but I turned him down as we had planned the dinner there anyway. He lived maybe 10 blocks away and was more than happy to meet there. I met the other guy at a Starbucks and he handed me a gift card which I accepted and gave to my Starbucks addicted daughter.
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Old 08-13-19, 07:09 AM
  #47  
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Even just gloves the owner might be back around looking for them, so picking them up would be theft. I picked up a blinkie one time - it was only a few days until it slipped off my bike also, which I took to be a karmic message that it is not right action.

Money, if I ever found any without something else identifiable with it, I think I would keep because it's basically lost regardless. I'd probably wait around for someone to come looking for it though.
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Old 08-13-19, 03:58 PM
  #48  
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My limit is very low. I'll stop to pick up a quarter every time, but a lone penny never. I've picked up tons of gloves and hats and tools. I have a Ballast Point hooded zip-up sweatshirt that I found on the side of a MTB trail which I love, since it is half sun-bleached and has a couple holes and looks really cool and grubby. I have a bright yellow tech T that I found on the side of the road (somebody riding/running shirtless and dropped it?) that I brought home and added to my commuting-wear rotation. I've found a pair of low-top converse all-stars that I brought home for my son, they fit him and he loves them.

I've found a number of water bottles, but I've got enough (too many!) bottles at home I raised my bar for keeping those. I'm basically only interested in Camelbak Podium bottles nowadays.

I've found and returned 2 or 3 cell phones. I found a tablet with a broken screen, it was able to power up but not really able to display anything. And a smashed iPhone that I kept around for the potential of giving the battery to somebody that could use it. Those two might still be somewhere in the junk pile on my garage workbench.
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Old 08-13-19, 04:00 PM
  #49  
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Originally Posted by DrIsotope

wow, spyderco, I'm jealous! I've found a folding boxcutter before, but that's probably a $100-200 knife. A little beat up cosmetically, but I bet the mechanism is in perfect shape, and the blade is super high quality steel that holds a great edge.
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