Andy_K 

My father-in-law worked as a bike messenger in San Francisco in the 1930's. One time, he was telling me about it and he said that if you got a flat tire you'd just find another bike with a good tire, take that and leave yours. He said that's just the way people did things. I'm not sure that was as universal as he claimed.

zedda

This sounds to me like the seller was in companionship with the guy who intercepted you in the bus. IMO highly unlikely that the friend of the owner happen to have photos and proof of the bike ownership of his friend with him, much likelier he was somehow following you on the bus to reclaim the bike. In other words, I'm afraid you got scammed...

dweenk

Several years ago I found a Schwinn Cimarron (sans wheels) partially submerged in a creek near our home. I picked it up and brought it home and called the police to see if it had been reported as stolen. An officer came to look at the bike and said the database was down. He advised me to trash it.
I was not about to toss it, so I put it in my shed after cleaning it up a bit. A couple of hours later I got a call-back from the police. The bike had been stolen and reported, so the owner got everything but the wheels back.

bark_eater 

Cheeky Anarchist....

philpeugeot 

Funny that you say that, when I told my classmates and professor about this they said the exact same thing! That said, I still don't think they were in cahoots together, and that I was just really unlucky. The bus just happened to run alongside a bike shop where the owner's friend worked at, and it just so happened that they were closing right as the bus was passing by. I think a lot of things coincided that day, and my judgement was clouded by my greed when I knew it was too good to be true. Well, you live and you learn (mostly).

brixxton

A gang of tweakers used to hang on the corner of Shattuck and University in Berkeley just down from the now closed Missing Link.
One sunny day I fell asleep in the grass on campus. I woke to find my beloved Bianchi no longer by my side. They also got my combination lock stupidly open to the code. I visited those tweakers more than once over the next few days letting them know that I would remove the hands of whoever took my bike. About a week later I found it locked in the rack outside the BART, my combination still worked and I have it to this day.

retswerb

I think I'd tend to agree. Possession being 9/10 of the law and all, a scam that allows you to get onto a bus with it is pretty risky on their part. Plus presumably they had no way to know you were going to ride away on the bus vs putting it on a bike rack on a car and being long gone.

Chuck M 

I have not bought a stolen bike. But I have missed out on one that I thought was hot that sold while I was checking with a friend that works for the local police department. As I mentioned the last time a thread like this started, I was basically told they wouldn't investigate if it was. I'm glad there is a police department somewhere that gives a damn.

easyupbug 

I have found dumped bikes on our property and being known as the bike guy in our rural community near Tucson neighbors have dropped them off to me. Never found a stolen bike data base or police dept. to be helpful. As Albrt said above in Tucson you know if you loose a nice bike down here to check Phoenix sales for your bike. Apparently there are crews doing this sort of thing.

Mr. 66

I'm certain the Dawes covered in black electrical tape was stolen, like 50 years ago. I bought it from the used bike store. It had a driver's license engraved on it next to the serial. There was no record of the # it was before the age of computer records, let alone bike index serial numbers

Yep, I sold it to. The buyer asked if it was stolen. I told him yeah probably lol

The Golden Boy 

Not at all!

They could be carried!

JulesCW 

In the early 1980s I worked at a bike shop in MD --we'd regularly get deliveries of bikes and the bikes in boxes would sit for a bit on the sidewalk outside the mechanics' area (fully visible from the shop) for a bit until we found time/space to put them away. One day someone in a pickup slowed down, passenger jumped out, grabbed a bike in a box, tossed it into the truck, and they drove off. Bummer! One stolen bike.

Imagine my stunned surprise when a couple of weeks later a guy shows up and asks if we assemble bikes -- I say, "yep". He brings the box to the side entrance -- I look at the box, and realize it's the same one stolen earlier from us -- even had our address label on the box! I said something to the guy and he tried to grab the box and run, but I sprawled myself on top of the box and shouted -- a couple of other guys cane out of the shop and the "customer" ran away... without the bike in a box!

We always wondered what the story was -- it was hard to imagine someone could be stupid enough to bring a bike they knew was stolen to the shop it was stolen from to be assembled... but we'll never know

That was a fun day!

Polaris OBark

I was in our local REI a month or two ago, idly looking at a few bikes. One was a Salsa I think, but it had a bunch of non-standard parts on it. My impression was that it was a bit of an upgrade, and about that time the sales person happened by, and told me the story. Briefly, it was a similar sort of thing. The thief had taken the bike for a parking-lot test-ride and didn't return it. Months later, the bike with upgraded components comes back, brought in by the original thief, who wanted help putting on new bar tape. Unfortunately, I had the impression that they let the thief go without the bike, and without pressing charges. (It is catch and release here anyway.)

So, yes, some people really are that stupid. Or smart.

SurferRosa

Bring back the gibbeting cage!

bikingshearer 

By an African swallow, sure, but not by a European swallow. That's my point . . . .

oneclick 

Yes several if police auctions count, but yes in another way perhaps - had one stolen, posted lots of signs and told all the streetfolk, got a phone call and met and bought it back for the reward I'd offered.

Probably helped that that was a recognzable bike, a Moulton F frame, but the Brooks Pro on it never came back.

The Golden Boy 

Oh yeah, I agree with that.

GTBruiser

My Schwinn Cimarron was stolen in 1994. Eleven years later I found it listed on Craigslist in a city 3 states from my home. I purchased it from a really nice guy that got it from his local co-op as a project to be completed. So, I actually bought the same bike twice!