A friend's bike stolen yesterday, its now up on Gumtree....

[Mububban]

Glad to hear at least one stolen bike story had a positive end result!

[RetroPilot]

Ownership can be readily proved. But petty thieves like this cut and run. They aren't going to go to the police and they aren't about to go Rambo on people. (I've seen a 22 year old skinny female stand up to a older male shoplifter before. It just makes sense to bolt.)

Almost the opposite applies for thieves that are wannabe gangsters out to impress their friend and show how tough they are. Often making a buck isn't their goal it is about showing off to their friends. And if you can kick somebody's teeth in then you get bonus points.

obviously 'steaming " style shopliftings lately have many times become aggravated when owners/security, or even police, confront offenders...especially with offenders from a certain group and also even more likely when shopkeepers/clerks are then of 2 certain groups in particular.
What you say about gang dynamics certainly tends to be involved, in that case.

[AUbicycles]

I think there is no harm mentioning how the 'lady friend' was able to initiate action. I am interested to know if it was sufficient to report it to the police and leave it at that?

In some scenarios mentioned on the forums in the past, owners have struggled to get police to take action to recover and why some owners considering taking it into their own hands to attempt to recover their property.

[human909]

I largely haven't added much because reasons alluded to others earlier. Also, I still haven't caught up for a coffee for the full low down so don't have the complete picture.

I think there is no harm mentioning how the 'lady friend' was able to initiate action. I am interested to know if it was sufficient to report it to the police and leave it at that?

Yes. I was shocked at the speed and the readiness of the police. A police report was made soon after it was stolen and I believe CCTV footage was supplied to them. (I saw a copy anyway.) A guy from the BikeVault was involve and I suspect that this might have something to do with it.

https://www.bikevault.com.au/home/about

WHO WE ARE
A dedicated small team of avid bike riders and former police, who are skilled, driven and passionate about delivering positive change!

[human909]

Also here a write up on BikeVault: (I would have posted it earlier but only noticed it now!)

https://www.bikevault.com.au/news/artic ... -that-fast

Stolen Saturday and Recovered Sunday, wish they were all that fast!
November 06, 2018 By Brad Kellas Recovered Bikes

Bike theft is driven by greed and the black market trade of stolen bikes! Counter the black market trade and we can win the bike theft war!
This bike was stolen in Brunswick on Saturday 3/11/2018 and advertised for sale on Gumtree within a couple of hours. As a result of some fancy footwork by a Stolen Bike Spotter, the Bike Vault Team and more than a few police, the bike was recovered in less than 24 hours and three males were arrested!

Top job by the Victoria Police!

IT IS ALWAYS NICE TO RECEIVE A COMPLIMENT
Victims kind words: I am so unbelievably grateful to Bike Vault for restoring my beloved road bike to me. My bike is my most prized possession, and I was a total mess when it was stolen, running up and down Sydney Road like a woman possessed. After listing it on Bike Vault, I was alerted pretty much immediately after it was listed on Gumtree, and then it was recovered within 24 hours by the police. The Bike Vault team worked (on a Sunday, mind you) tirelessly with the police to recover it, and was incredibly responsive and knowledgeable. I really think the guys at Bike Vault are heroes. If there was a bike superhero, it would be called Bike Vault ?? Now I have purchased an ID kit so hopefully it will never ever happens again!

[RetroPilot]

Actually there was a related sort of case regarding Craig's List a couple of years back? It was in maybe North-West part of US...the thieves tried to be a bit cleverer about it, and were stealing bikes in one area or state, then exchanging them with bikes stolen at the opposite end or neighboring state, how the bikes were being physically moved back and forth I can't remember, but the point was that bikes not be advertised in same area of CLs that they had been stolen in, in that way they would not come up in local search results . It was only a matter of time before someone searching for their bike cast the net wider and got the required hit on it, and was willing to go the extra distance for satisfaction, and they did..

and this owner located his bike added in CL,was certain that it was his,
and like the OP example in UK, set up a buyer "inspection" to confront the thief..

I think that case is actually up in YT, because he vid-cammed the whole encounter, then stuck it on YT..was good click-bait...
Maybe it has already been threaded here back then..anyway, it turned into a bit of an ACA story vid, was quite amusing.

[10speedsemiracer]

Actually there was a related sort of case regarding Craig's List a couple of years back? It was in maybe North-West part of US...the thieves tried to be a bit cleverer about it, and were stealing bikes in one area or state, then exchanging them with bikes stolen at the opposite end or neighboring state, how the bikes were being physically moved back and forth I can't remember, but the point was that bikes not be advertised in same area of CLs that they had been stolen in, in that way they would not come up in local search results . It was only a matter of time before someone searching for their bike cast the net wider and got the required hit on it, and was willing to go the extra distance for satisfaction, and they did..

and this owner located his bike added in CL,was certain that it was his,
and like the OP example in UK, set up a buyer "inspection" to confront the thief..

I think that case is actually up in YT, because he vid-cammed the whole encounter, then stuck it on YT..was good click-bait...
Maybe it has already been threaded here back then..anyway, it turned into a bit of an ACA story vid, was quite amusing.

There have been a bunch of similar scenarios, my favourite being this young lady who found her bike advertised on Craigslist the next morning, set up a meet, and test rode it, and just kept on test riding it....



Or this this example in Washington : https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/c ... shingtondc

[RetroPilot]

what a grinner..