Vintage_Cyclist

If the bike isn't yours, it's not yours to take. Doing so would make you a thief.

If the cops have an actual process to remove and safeguard the bike, that is actually the correct thing to do. Why would you not take advantage of that public service? Think of it as a Lost and Found office. Maybe it might actually help reunite the owner with his bike.

You could additionally, put a Craigslist ad up about the 'missing' 760. Maybe the owner will reply.

Two weeks on the rack; maybe the guy went on vacation for 2 weeks and will be back after labor day or maybe it was stolen by a thief and left locked on the rack for later use. Who knows?

If you're really jonesing for a 760 in LA, here's an 86 model on Craigslist at a good price

https://losangeles.craigslist.org/sg...651815920.html

smd4

Why not? And who gives you the authority to determine how long before it’s considered abandoned? You’re a wannabe thief. I hope your favorite bike gets swiped. “Someone left it in front of a cafe for 30 seconds and so I deemed it abandoned.”

What is wrong with you people, who claim to be cyclists but have no problem stealing someone else’s bike?

panzerwagon 

If you care this much about the frame, I would suggest taping shut the seat post opening, and leaving a note with your contact info and asking if the owner either wants to sell the bike, or needs help replacing the seatpost/saddle. (bag the note to keep dry)

Then I would just leave it at that. Any further would be wrong, IMHO.

Trakhak

"Lord Beaverbrook asked the lady: ‘Would you sleep with a stranger if he paid you one million pounds?’ She said she would. ‘And if be paid you five pounds?’ The irate lady fumed: ‘Five pounds. What do you think I am?’ Beaverbrook replied: ‘We’ve already established that. Now we are trying to determine the degree."

Jeff Neese

Common sense, man! 30 seconds in front of a cafe is not simply a difference of degree. When you see a bike abandoned for more than two weeks, it's obvious that nobody just dashed into any local cafe.

Regarding who has the authority to determine how long before it's considered abandoned, what did the police say about that? How long do THEY wait? Regardless, it's clear that there is a limit. Leave any bike chained to a rack long enough, and someone is going to cut it off and haul it away. If it's private property it might go in the dumpster, and if it's city property it will go to a police auction.

jetboy 

Just to say: I have taken an abandoned bike similar to this one. It was right next to a gate guard station and I waved at them as I took an angle grinder from the theater scene shop and cut the lock off, put the bike in my shoulder and walked it away. Fixed it up, rode it for a year, and then when I left the island (hawai'i) put it on the street with a big "free!" Sign in it. Some may call me a thief but people be people and life goes on. There are worse things.

Jeff Neese

And the guards and/or property owners were probably grateful. "Finally, somebody came and got that thing. At least now we don't have to deal with it."

leftthread

I had my car broken into twice in LA.

The thief probably thought they were doing me a favor liberating my favorite Kelty Mockingbird day pack with the leather bottom.

Trakhak

The next high-end bike I see that I can steal, it's mine. Stick it to the man!!!

jetboy 

I'd just say we all have our own path on these things. I run a bike co-op and we work with local authorities and they bring us the abandoned bikes rather than just dump them in the recycle bin.

But just so you know. If the cops cut that bike off- they don't put in in some nice warehouse and then auction it. They cut it and dump it in the trash. They don't have the resources to deal with these things.

So my advice? Start a co-op! Heh.

Also the general rule (may change depending upon municipalities) is 30 days. If you leave your personal item on public or private property for more than 30 days then the item is now the property of that public or private space.

bark_eater 

So if a meth head steals a bike and sells it for $5 scrap value, and I buy it from the scrap yard for $15, I'm good right?

smd4

If you don’t mind being in receipt of stolen property, then yeah.

bark_eater 

How would I know? How about any used bike? Is it ok to buy a bike at a Coop? Only from original owners that saved the receipt? Can I buy a mans bike from a woman? How about one in a dumpster? or with a free sign on it?

Any-Hoo, the thing about victimless crime, is to do your due diligence. Wearing a "I'm a good person" T shirt, while you take something "before some other arse'ole does" is American as hell, but..... not exactly charitable, nor ethical.

My particular regular quandary at the scrap yard is affected by the fact that if I don't grab a bike, it gets crushed immediately. Its not like I can bath in some sort of positive karma of crushed bike souls...

jetboy 

If you left that bike locked to a public bike parking space for a month? It's been a nuisance and at that point the storage fees are now accrued such that it is no longer your bike. Just like if you just left your car parked downtown and walked away for a month. You expect it to still be there? A month of storage fees and towing would cost you 20k. It better be a nice car if you want it back.

Authorities have many things to worry about that are not bikes. They are happy if other people take responsibility - I have recieved and then passed on hundreds of bikes - free of charge on my.labor and teaching others to repair and care.


Sure maybe you were drunk and left your bike and don't remember where it is. Or maybe you went to jail. But this is life. Come to my co-op and I'll set you up with a new bike.
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Classtime 

I’ll keep you posted. I haven’t stolen anything but a kiss since kindergarten and I’m picking up another bike that someone doesn’t want on Friday.

tkamd73 

Yup, only a wannabe thief, a real thief would have stolen the angle grinder from the big box store, to grab the bike!
Tim

USAZorro

For the record, it's 531C.

I bought one once from CL. Thought it would be my favorite. Had it painted (it needed it). Rode it a few times. Wasn't impressed. Parted it out and sold it along. In the grand scheme of things, it's not worth risking bad karma and starting down the slippery slope to the ethical sewer for "liberating" it - even if it were a great rider.

smd4

Because in the little scenario you wrote yourself, you described the bike as initially being stolen.

bark_eater 

It was a rhetorical question and around here its more of a rural opiate crisis, and the bikes tend to have rusty chains. But don't let my unhealth fixation with daily judgement call's distract from the the one true way...

Mr. 66

Our local nonprofit bike shop was 'busted' selling a used bike a couple of years ago. They received it as a donation and the owner found it advertised. Certainly the shop had no idea of the hot merchandise, no charges were filed on the bike shop, and the owner got his bike back. There have been other times that they have recognized or suspected stolen frames, they run the numbers if there has been reported.

They check the serial numbers with the 509 project Bike Index Org, which is what I would do if I were to have been contacted after leaving note. For that matter in this 'case' I would probably run the name of the seller to see if they have a 'history' before meeting.

leftthread

Even if it’s on the curb next to the trash I still ask permission.

Someone on YT has a video where they steal their own bike in NYC to see if anyone would try to stop them. In one scene a cop rolls up on them while they’re working on the lock with an angle grinder, but it was only to yell at them to get out of the street.

MooneyBloke

I know it's fairly common to take the seat when there's a quick release, but this is a normal two hex key deal. Also, it seems odd that one would take the seat, but leave the rear wheel vulnerable to theft.

katsup

I've cut lose a bike like that once, it was missing it's wheels, which I assume why it was abandoned. I tracked it for 2 months before I eventually cut the lock and took it home. I only used the components.
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Gave a buddy the frameset.

bikingshearer 

People, this is not that complicated: It is not your bike. Let me repeat that: It. Is. Not. Your. Bike. Leave it alone or report it to the cops. Those are the acceptable options.

Look, I get the temptation. It's a nice bike that looks like it was cared for but now shows signs of being abandoned, and that is a crying shame. But that does not change the basic fact that it does not belong to you. We all learned not later than kindergarten that it is wrong to take stuff that does not belong to you. That does not change just because you really want it and you don't like how it is or is not being taken care of. Everything else, however well-intentioned, amounts to trying to rationalize what we all know about taking what does not belong to you.

Now where did I put that blasted angle grinder . . . ?

smd4

It's like no one ever saw the Andy Griffith show where Opie found an "abandoned" $50 bucks, but still did the right thing.