apg

Hey all,

This bike's been locked up outside my cafe for the past six plus months, never moved. It's chain is rusting out, and it's slowly dying. I'm wondering:

. When is it considered okay to leave a note to offer to buy it, or do people just remove them? That seems rough, but not sure of etiquette in this case.
. Is it a PX10? I see the Nervar lugs, it's got the Stronglight cranks, Mafac Racer brakes. I can't find a reynolds sticker though.

Thoughts?

T-Mar

No, it''s not a PX10. It's either a PA10 or a PR10. It appears to have the Stronglight cotterless crankset of a PR10 but I don't see any evidence of a Reynolds 531 decal. It could a PR10 with a missing Reynolds decal or a PA10 with an upgraded crankset. The only way to tell for sure would be to measure the diameter of the seat post, which will determine if it has a Reynolds 531 seat tube.

avzay66

I would ask around in the cafe if they have ever seen the owner of the bike. If it is parked outside, chances are the person frequented the establishment. I would say that leaving the note is ok, but just taking it would qualify as bike theft.

Lazarus Short

My PX-10 has very different head lugs than the bike in the photo.

bobbycorno

PX10's came with a couple different styles of lugs over the years. The plain lugs, just like those on the PR10 in the picture, came on the scene in the early-mid 70's IIRC. Prior to that PX10s had Nervex Pro lugs.

SP
OC, OR

Bikedued

I would be willing to say it's not going to sit there much longer, as the city will probably cut the lock and get rid of it. Finding the owner may be a wild goose chase, as any number of things could have happened. Lost their job and apt, left town, hit by a car, the possibilities are endless. I do wish you luck, and hope you get in contact with them. Six months is looooong time to leave a bike locked up unused. I bet they're long gone, by one means or another.,,,,BD

One idea that may work??? Hit up the closest bike shop, and see if they know the person? That's not a usual bike so it may strike a cord in a mechanics brain. I know I could fix a bike once, and it could come in two years later and I would remember it.

Lascauxcaveman 

Six months? Having never moved? I don't care if it's a PX10, a Huffy or a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost; if you feel like taking that thing home with you, go ahead and save the impound boys some trouble.

To them, its just scrap metal.

howsteepisit

Taking that which does not belong to you is theft. ITs locked in place, you would be stealing the bike.

Scooper

This. It's never OK to appropriate for your own use a locked bike or anything else that doesn't belong to you.

WickedThump

Report it to the cops as abandoned. They'll take it and hold it and if nobody claims it, it's yours, legally.

bikemig 

Not theft if it has been abandoned. The bike has been locked up for six months.

howsteepisit

And you get to judge how long an owner can leave something before you can take it as abandoned. Perhaps the owner has an extended illness or has been sent out of town for work. I'm sure that there in something in the local codes a to when something is abandoned. However the best approach would be to let the police determine when it should be removed as abandoned. Just saying its been 6 months, thats long enough for me, I'll take it is theft. By the way, I think that leaving a bike out overnight constitutes abandonment, so where did you say you parked your bike?

apg

That's why I was asking! Thanks for info.

oddjob2

I realize there are laws, but do you think NYPD's finest really give a rat's A$$ about a neglected rusting bike? They're more interested in recovering stolen iPhones. Plus, they don't allow cars to be parked/stored on the street in the same location for more than a few days, are bikes different?

It's probably more of a Sanitation Dept. issue. After six months, I would remove the bike, put a weatherproof sign up for contact info if someone is missing bike. If no one contacts you after two months..........................

Lascauxcaveman 

In some perfect world, maybe. In our town the cops don't even have abandoned property auctions on things like bikes anymore. It all goes straight to the junkyard.

That's why I would have no compunction against helping them keep our streets free of derelict vehicles. I've never scavenged an abandoned bicycle in that manner, but really, six months?

howsteepisit

To those of you who would steal the bike ... How long is long enough? Y'all are trying to justify taking what does not belong to you. More power to ya.

oddjob2

I had a similar situation. A woman's Schwinn World Sport was chained to a no parking sign on my ROW. It sat there most of the winter and the early part of the spring. Once the grass started to grow, I removed it and hung it in my garage for more than a few months. No persons came by to inquire and no police either. I never considered it stealing and I recall giving the bike to the Rotary Club, which runs a thrift store.

The Univ of Michigan and City of Ann Arbor does the same thing. They tag bikes during the summer chained on racks, poles, etc. If the tag is still there after so many weeks, the bike gets removed. Otherwise, they'd run out of rack space with abandoned bikes strewn about the common areas and designated bike racks.

It's recycling!

Bjforrestal

It's not a px 10, maybe a uo8. Id need to look closer at the pics. Px 10s have chrome on half of the chain stays.

oddjob2

The peugeot experts have weighed in already.

Bjforrestal

The peugeot experts have weighed in already.[/QUOTE]

Letting this one go. Just putting an observation that was not brought up about the chrome.

3alarmer

I watched the same thing happen to a Raleigh Sports 3 speed in Davis over a period of a few years.

It was my size and it pained me deeply..................If it's truly abandoned the note does no good.

Still not the best idea to appropriate it, though...........bad karma. I interpret your sentence to mean
you are worried that people just remove the notes, I don't think you are talking about taking the bike.