Nahuel_B58

I won't play the part of the always fair guy. I never bought a bike with documents except for a 2013 GT Palomar, the other bikes were just 1990's so it's understandeable the lack of documents. I buy every single bike i see in good price. If they ride ok they come home with me. If they look suspicious i part them out and sell the frame to a junkyard. I don't think that is ok but as i said, i'm gonna be honest. The rule when a bike is suspicious is : NEVER RIDE IT ON PUBLIC. And if the bike is suspicious and someone recognizes it when i put parts on sale (did not happen yet to me) i would hand it over to the owner i think.

nomadmax 

My bikes have a picture of me (with the bike) in a plastic bag stuffed down in the seat tube. Anybody who has one of mine is a 5mm allen wrench from a beat down.

TriBiker19 

Yes. This is a thread going through a couple of the groups I'm in. There's a new Trek (or maybe a Felt?) picture with description on several craiglists across the country. The bike is a "steal" at 1/5 of the original price. But each one is the same picture and the same sketchy description. A couple of people have attempted to buy it (I know someone in PA and someone else in WI both jumped on the ad) but the scammer wasn't able to give enough information about the bike so they eventually pulled out of the deal before losing money.

JaccoW

The thing with pricing around here is that there is hardly such a thing as suspicious pricing. Bikes are a commodity here and there are plenty of examples of bikes that would go for hundreds of dollars in the US that would be $50-100 in the Netherlands. Sometimes not even that if the paint is in bad condition or the bike has been used as a commuter or "stationsfiets" as they call it around here.

John E

I had a related, but happy and benign, version of that experience. I was riding the Schwinn mountain bike instead one of the road bikes because of inclement weather when I encountered another cyclist, who was on a road bike. I told him, "This is my foul weather bike," and he replied, "Yeah, I know -- I sold it to you." I hadn't recognized him under the helmet. I told him I was still happy with the purchase.

gomango

Yes, probably me.

I deleted my Flickr account for the most part.

A few stray pics and that's about it.

Show and tell is over for me.

I just didn't want to play the game anymore.

Koyote

In grad school, I had a roommate whose bike was stolen. He came home that day and ranted and raved about the "dirty Mexican" who'd probably stolen his bike. I gritted my teeth.

A while later, he comes home one day and runs an idea past me: on his (now walking) commute each day, he passed a bike rack next to a campus building, and there was a bike that had not been touched in a couple months. Roommate assumed it was abandoned, and he wanted to cut off the lock and start riding it. He asked my opinion, and I told him that (1) perhaps the owner was out-of-town or injured and hence not currently using the bike, and (2) even it was abandoned, it was the job of campus police to remove it and sell it at auction. Roommate listened to me, then the next day he "liberated" the bike. I gritted my teeth.

A couple months later, roommate came home late from school, chuckling. Told me that, when leaving his building, he got to his bike (locked in a campus rack) and there, waiting for him, was a campus cop and the bike's owner - who had just returned from his long research trip. Roommate got arrested. I gritted my teeth and smiled inwardly..

RobbieTunes

It was Grady.

However, I've had my Pedal room bikes offered for sale on eBay and CL. Not by me. I always wondered how that went.

Years ago, I bought an Ironman from Las Vegas, never sent, never delivered, the scammer had 2 bikes for sale, strung buyers along. I reported same, got all but $50 back.

Several USMC buds work security in Vegas, so I sent them the email address, PayPal info, all I could about the scammer. They got the $50 back via his Russian girlfriend, used her email address he'd somehow forgotten and used. I told them to gamble it. No doubt they drank it. Fine with me.

myisland

Does documenting the frame serial number help us?

Mad Honk 

Yes and no! Yes in that you can ID the bike, and no if the Popo's won't investigate it. Having a frame id number is your insurance that it is indeed yours, but few cops or insurance claims adjusters will look for it in any database. The best bet is knowing that your home owners policy will cover theft of a high end bike. After suffering a storage fire from arson, my adjuster came and saw the carnage and then asked me to identify by bike and value what the damages were. After we hit the maximum $11,000 of my coverage he was satisfied, but unhappy. But not as unhappy as I was because the real damage was close to $20,000. But I have moved on and am now re-gaining my bikes one at a time. My advice is to make sure you have some sort of insurance coverage for the loss of a good bike. Smiles, MH

UKFan4Sure

If it's your bike, prove it to MY satisfaction, or to the POLICE's satisfaction. If it is YOUR bike, I don't mind you having it back. I don't however, want to be a sucker for a con game.

Moe Zhoost

My understanding is that the charge of "receiving stolen property" requires some knowledge that the bike was gotten through theft. Since we've all seen "deals" that clearly smack of a stolen bike, either because of price, condition, or sketchiness of seller, I would guess that a buyer could be threatened quite easily with the criminal charge. I reckon that's where "good faith" comes in and we, as buyers, steer clear of an iffy sale.

dedhed

I put my business card in every right hand handlebar

Ballenxj

This is true. I can account within reason, where all of my second hand bikes came from. My Diamond Back came from a legit rebuilder, and I met him at his house. My Mongoose from a member here (pyratenomad), and met him at his house. My latest collection of bikes came from a friend, and picked them up at his house. I don't do shady back alley deals, and certainly not if I suspect they might have been stolen.

SimplySycles1

Many, maybe even 50 years ago i was a young child with two older brothers and brand new xmas present Schwinn. Used it everyday to go to the playground, market and all that stuff. I go to the garage one day and it is gone!! I tell my oldest brother who goes out to the garage and finds his toolset gone, he was a dirt bike rider.

I am crying and he is mad as hell, but a couple of days later we both get over it. A week or two later i am sitting in the living room watching cartoons after school, i look out the picture window and there are a couple of tough looking kids riding my bike. I run and tell my brother, he runs across the street and pulls the kid off the bike and throws him to the ground, demanding his tools or else.

The thief is laying on the ground and pale white and my brother "questions" him about the tools and bike. He convinced my brother he bought the bike at the playground and it was obvious he did not have the tool box with him. My brother gave him a warning to bring the tools back or never come back on this street.

I got my bike back and never saw that kid again.

trooper2899

If you're satisfied that its stolen and the "claimant" is the lawful owner, U have to return it, its "stolen property", If it was reported stolen with a serial # it should be entered into a data base and still "active" by the agency that took the original report.

Lemond1985

"Thou Shalt Not Covet" would be my reasoning here, for returning it.

bgolda

I feel like giving them your phone number and telling them to pursue legal action is probably the best middle ground. The other question, is how many hands it passed through since it was stolen?