mykesbykes

I got tired of looking at the mess in the backyard today, so I went in and started cleaning up and look what I found under all the leaves!








So, while I was cleaning it all up, along comes the RCMP, and not just 1 car, and 1 officer...

Note: black suburban in background..

Instead, the master criminal that I am, have attracted 1 cruiser, 1 suburban, and even an undercover suburban? 4 officers, and 1 plain clothes...



They went through all my bikes out back (above), and then the ones out front (below), and then I told them I had a couple inside, so first they asked to see them and I brought them out, then before leaving asked me to let them search my house, which I did since I had nothing to hide (except my lack of housekeeping skills) Frankly I was alittle disturbed by them asking to, since I told them I would bring any out that I had inside...the implication that I was hiding some inside pissed me off greatly.




As a bonus, a mother and her son were just in the process of picking out a bike when the cops showed up, and promptly ran off without so much as a goodbye or see you....they aint coming back.

So, they ran 20 or so serials/discriptions and guess what? they came up with jack #@#&! when they left the left me with the impression I would be seeing them more, and I wonder if this is going to be a weekly invasion of my privacy. Sheesh cant a guy collect 92 bikes and not get the cops called on him by passing nosey rat nieghbors.

What kind of idiot would I have to be to steal almost 100 bikes and then display them along one of the busiest intersections in town? Just like my gran used to say......

Common Sense Isnt.

electrik

next the city will show up asking for your vendor permit and revenue canada will audit you.

bon chance!

mykesbykes

LOL! Merci...

Ive bought all these bikes from garage sales, thrift store, and maybe a handful of private pruchases, paid anything from 0 to 200 bucks, its taken me about 5 years to go from grass and 2 trees to a 1 foot by 10 foot strip of path surrounded by that mess, I have a number of plans for them, including a type of blue bike program, a school program called Fill The Racks, and an afterschool program called Kaps Kids, renting some at our new cruise ship terminal, opening a Lbs downtown here, I keep 14-15 bikes for family use, 2 adult x 2 each, 5 kids x 2 each.

Oh BTW this isnt the first time this has happened, they came last year when I cleaned up then, same story.. attrach a lot of negative attention my way, killed a sale, checked numbers, found nothing, no apology, just left...Sometimes I wish people could be charged or fined for false calls to RCMP.

Metzinger

Igor?

mykesbykes

who?

Metzinger

Kenk?

I-Like-To-Bike

You are right, no common sense.

Probably the same type of idiot that would be shocked, shocked that he would attract attention to himself by putting such an unusual display of weirdness/poor housekeeping/"business" in his backyard in public view.

arej00dazed

I would have to agree also. But I can feel the TC's pain also. maybe next time try a better storage solution.

mykesbykes

It wasnt like i had them hiding in the basement or under my bed, Ive been filling my backyard for 5-6 years now, and it borders on that busy street, so it shouldnt have been a surprise to anyone, nevermind Ive either built, fixed, or sold almost every bloody bike in the city for 20+ years. I didnt exactly line up all of them to be some braggy jerk, I was just cleaning it all up, pulling out 5-6 at a time and putting back the others. What the hell am I supposed to do, only clean up at night? Only own a certain number of bikes? Bring every bike I buy to the cop shop to get checked out? Is that something you guys have to do everytime you buy a bike? Phone the cops before I clean my backyard for permission to do so? What about searching my house, you guys like the idea of the cops doing a room to room search of your house?

A better solution to storing almost 100 bikes? Okey guys Im game, so...out with it, what do I do with 92 bikes that doesnt involve me sending them to you guys. I dont know why Im even having to defend myself, how about those who think so highly of themselves post pics of them giving bikes to kids groups? Fixing bikes for kids for free, and oh ya, send about 20 years worth, since thats how long Ive been doing it...

May I also remind the viewers at home that NOTHING STOLEN FOUND TWICE OUT OF ALMOST 100 bikes?!?!?

Whats so unusual about a bike mech whos been working 20+ years having lots of bikes, wtf am I supposed to collect, booble bloody heads? And I didnt display my poor housekeeping to anyone, except to the cops, and its not exactly hoarders in here, I do have 5 kids of my own and 2 adopted, nevermind the group of kids I teach bicycle maintance/repair to almost everyday that tear my backyard to heck in their excitement?

Im alittle disppointed in you guys, especially ILTB, as it seems your an old hand at this site, and Id thought youd have alittle more tact than to call someone an idiot in his own thread. You dont know me, or the whole story, and and I think your comment is next to useless, no, its worse than useless, its just plain mean and stupid...so can you do me a favour and either contribute positvely or leave me alone?

Something else ALL our grans probably said at one time or another...

If you dont have something nice to say, dont say anything at all.

Metzinger

Picture ILTB as a kind of bizarro gran.

DieselDan

Nothing new. Not breaking the law is suspicious behavior in a post 9/11 world.

mykesbykes

well, i for one am sorry I had to rant, I know this is a public service and I should expect all kinds, but I guess I naively thought it would be some newbie jerk not a respected vet, guess thats what stung the most, anyway....good night/morning all...lesson learned...

mykesbykes

DD = LOL.....thanks I needed that g,night

trekker pete

the first time they showed up i would be perfectly nice to them. the second time, i would tell the officer about how they had already been there and found nothing. the third time i would ask to see their f'ing warrant, or do you canucks have that whole illegal search and seizure, warrant thing in your laws? i would suspect you do.

i am generally very pro cop, but, this is ridiculous.

good job, btw, going through the trouble you do to promote cycling.

Juan Foote

Perhaps it might be a good thing for you and your neighbors if you rented a storage space, or small shed (etc) where you could store your bikes and conduct business?

That is quite a mess, and good intentions or not, I wouldn't want to have to deal with looking at all that crap every day when I come home either. It is unsightly as all, and really has a negative affect on the impression people get from your property.
Have some respect for your area there, the neighbors obviously don't want to see the mess, so rather than complain about your rights being hassled, how about considering their right not to have to see that every day and clean it up?

Arcanum

I think you might have a problem, and I don't mean the police showing up.

AdamDZ

Just add ILTB to your ignore list, he's a freaking troll without manners and with intelligence level of a house cat, he only makes inflammatory posts, never anything useful. It's best to ignore him. He usually hangs out in the A&S forum only because that's most ripe for him but, unfortunately, he sticks his ugly head into other forums whenever he sees an opportunity to flame and irritate someone.

Adam

alexvpaq

LOL somehow... It does indeed look quite weird actually XD

Garfield Cat

No Cervelo for you.

JanMM

In some communities, all those bikes and all that bike stuff in the yard could be a concern for zoning or public health agencies, especially if a neighbor or passerby alerted them to the situation.

AndrewP

Those bikes look much too clean to have been under the leaves all winter. When you buy a bike you should make a note of ser number and have police sign that its not been reported stolen.

TromboneAl

I can understand your irritation. But we should be grateful that the police are trying to do something about bicycle theft, even though they aren't doing it well.

I'll bet there are things you can do to keep this from happening in the future. For example, every time you buy a bike, enter the date, location, seller name, and serial number. You can provide those to the police when they show up. You might even develop a contact with a higher-up in the police force, explaining the situation. Next time, you can just refer the officers to that person.

hshearer

Are you paying income tax on your sales? Serious, not trying to be inflammatory, but it sounds an awful lot like you're running a business, without a permit, in a residential area, and probably not declaring your income. You could be in more trouble than your realize. Police will often spend time building a case before they act. They can't get you on theft, which would be easiest for them, but there are other options, and it sounds like your neighbours will be cheering them on (I probably would be too, if I had to look at that every day, and I LIKE bikes). It might be time to start getting your financial house in order, too. Good luck. I suggest you should get on with that give-away program you had in mind.

mykesbykes

thanks for all the good suggestions, I will of course alter my methods, I for one would hate the idea I had someones stolen ride, even unintentionally, bike theft is rampant here, prolly like anywhere else, but here it is bad...thats why I wasnt terribly angry with the cops about it, although the house search was that little bit to much, they even had me open my bathroom door for them to check when one of them walked by it and asked , Thats the bathroom right? No bikes in there right? I mean duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, ya I got 10 stolen 1980 GTs in there wtf do you think?.

health/cleaning/nieghbors concerns: Heath issues arnt a problem, even with all the junk school kids throw over the fence, I still only had a little pail of actual garbage / I was cleaning up when they showed up / I fix their bikes for free, teach their kids to ride/fix bikes, and give them their choice of bike when they are ready, believe me, Ive lived in this house for 13 years, and have an excellent relationship with them.

thanks trombone, Ill try and take what you said to heart and keep clear records for the cops, Ive always wanted to co-operate with the cops, they are just doing their job, even if their a little misdirected, Ive turned in 20-30 bikes this year alone, nevermind the bikes I found ditched, fixed them up and brought them back to their owner and skipped the cops altogether, NO CHARGE to the owner, not for parts, not for labour, nadda, I dont do it for the back slapping, I do it for the little riders, just to see their eyes light up when I come knocking with their stolen bike fixed up better than when they bought it, and they come running out, jump on and start riding...thats the good stuff...

Ive probably only sold 5 bikes all year, and charged at most 50 bucks, so, no Im not worried about taxes/government, I work on a number of officals bikes, the mayor (1960s CCM Cruiser), some council members (misc. MTBs), and a handful of cops (they like road bikes), so no surprise there, Im literally 1 of 2 bike mechs in our city, and Im a member of our city councils BAC (Bicycle Advisory Committee). and no the nieghbors all came out to voice there anger at my treatment, and you cant see the bikes from the street as I have my backyard completely fenced and locked, like I said Ive lived here 13 years straight and I have a great relationship with them...

PS: there aint leaves cuz I cleaned them, besides the there arnt alot of leaves back there all year anyway, and I compost what I can, so no there wouldnt be a lot of leaves on them, alot of bikes doesnt really make a lot of mess, they kinda just sit there until someone wants one, or I get bored and fix one...

petflunky

LOL, I'll remember this when we have a yard sale!. I've been in IT for about 12 years now, and have a small collection of stuff that happens show up. I guess I'll just sell a couple computers a year then.