Buying a Stolen Bike

[Beard]

Would you buy a stolen bike especially if you knew it was stolen. Im not saying this happens on the hub, maybe it does unknowingly but given some recent events with the Santa Cruz and the Colnago sometimes these things appear on other market places and as a bike fundi... you KNOW they are being sold for way less than they worth by someone who doesnt seem 100% above board.

 

Thing is these bikes are being sold to someone just depending on their scruples. So what do you do when a R50 000 bike is being sold off at R5000... do you look the other way and just say maybe I found a bargain. Do you post it on the hub as possibly stolen if it hasn't already been listed or do you just mutter "another stolen bike" and scroll on. We all know these ads that are only on for a day or so then disappear and its not because SAPS is on the ball but rather the bike has moved on to a new owner.

 

Also what would you do if one day you had your prize bike stolen... you couldn't find it so insurance paid out. You got a new shiny bike but a few months later maybe on a group ride or at a cafe you see your old bike being ridden by somebody who got a good deal?

 

Just interested in your thoughts as clearly this seems to be happening and there is a market around for these bikes.

 

Disclaimer: I am not trying to buy a stolen bike... or sell one.

[Dadbod Racing]

If it was too much of a bargain to be a bargain, I'd post it on the hub. 

 

I had a bike stolen many moons ago, I know how it feels. I've also spoken to a guy who's been jacked and could see how it hurt him. 

 

Karma is a biiaaaatch of note. It's not worth it. 

 

I remember years ago some race think it was a Tiletoria race which started at the V&A Constantia and some kid was on a bike and all of a sudden he was surrounded by a guy and his dad claiming that this was a stolen bike he was on. Marshalls didn't want to get involved, pulled the kid out the group and the cops were called in. It wasn't pretty...

 

So in a nut shell, I wouldn't buy stolen stuff cause it's stolen! 

[MORNE]

i wouldn't buy stolen crap out of principle. i guess the issue comes in not knowing if it was.

But if the price is not indicative then there is most likely something fishy going on imo...just listen to your gut/head instead of your heart  I guess.

 

..nor would I probably do something if i have a new shiny one and see my old stolen one with a new owner, sure i'd do a double take and reminisce over the anger i felt when it was stolen, but hopefully sanity would prevail because I have something new and hopefully better now....technically if you took your old bike back you'd be participating in insurance fraud if you didnt give it to the insurance company.

 

But then again I am not a very sentimental person so it might be different to other people...or maybe if you have a VERY custom bike...and i'm not talking about a 'cookie cutter' bike with purple instead of black grips....like custom built frame kind of custom..

[DJR]

I will NOT buy anything if there is even a suspicion that it could be stolen. For no other reason than that I want to be part of the solution  , NOT part of the problem  !

[porqui]

It is a crime.

[MrJacques]

No. That's why I'm suspicious if things like smartwatches are sold without the charger, etc.

[RABUBI]

I Doubt anyone will admit they will buy...

[CharlesZ]

The stolen "cheap" market would not have been so big if we did not have riders buying these bikes. People don't really care about the wrongs in life anymore, if they can score and get better, most will do it. I know some will feel offended by saying it

 

but I don't buy any stolen or fell of the truck goods. If I don't have the money to buy it legally then I go without. Why i' m still on a 2016 road bike

[Shebeen]

Would you buy a stolen bike especially if you knew it was stolen. ......

depends.

if you're the type of guy who doesn't have any issue with

-cheating on your wife

-fiddle your taxes

-lie through your teeth

-screwing business partners

 

then you wouldn't have a problem buying stolen bikes if the deal is good. You know there's a risk it could get recovered, but that's a chance to take.

 

holy moley, I was finished with this post but then i realised DJ Trump buys stolen bikes. I KNEW it!

[Yo-Yo]

I wouldn't buy stolen bike if I even thought it was (standard answer) but I'm sure there have been bikes I've checked that are around lower end of the right price, being sold by a guy who is normal, knows his stuff that could (or could not) be stolen. 

 

I also know guys who have had their bikes stolen after sitting in the classifieds and not moving. What are the chances. 

 

I've also bought bargains that were not stolen while everyone was making threads, grabbing pitch forks and spamming the advert about it being too much of a bargain and the it had to be stolen. 

 

Most people aren't going to want to buy a stolen bike. Some are, that is why there is a market, some have even ordered the bikes they want before a ram raid and some may buy a stolen bike without ever knowing it or intending to. 

 

Now if you want to get a bargain, sleep well and gain from someones misery then just find a jozi guy with all the toys going through a divorce and get that jetski / SUP / bike / boat / windsurf at a knock down price.

 

 

[Andrew Steer]

I was bike jacked a decade back with my boss in the dark one early winter morning - some doped up imbecile and his two cronies, swinging guns around like John Wayne... we were quite happy to get away in one piece, albeit short of our two steeds and phones.

We actually found out a day later exactly where my bosses bike was sold and for how much. Carbon Bianchi, full Campy Record... 1000 South African rands!

 

If you buy stolen goods, you may as well have been holding that gun yourself.

And meetings with gun wielding idiots don't always end so well.

 

And don't come with that - if I don't buy it somebody else just will nonsense...

If it's too good to be true, walk away and sleep well at night.

Else it might well be you or a loved one looking down a gun barrel one day.

[Odinson]

A R60k bike being advertised for R6k is more often than not a 419/advance fee scam and not a stolen bike. 

 

Either way, buying stolen goods knowing it to be stolen is illegal and unethical.

 

That being said, there's a hell of a lot of okes feeding the demand for these bikes. All these stolen bikes don't just evaporate into thin air. 

[T-Bob]

A R60k bike being advertised for R6k is more often than not a 419/advance fee scam and not a stolen bike. 

 

Either way, buying stolen goods knowing it to be stolen is illegal and unethical.

 

That being said, there's a hell of a lot of okes feeding the demand for these bikes. All these stolen bikes don't just evaporate into thin air. 

 

Don't you know? They all go over the border. That's what everyone rolls out when it's time to have one of 'those' negative thread dives. For sure, people schlep bikes from here to Moz' or Bot's where there are just hordes of people riding around on Sworks, Colnagos, Pinas and more. It's like a cross between the TdF and the epic up there. Packs of them so I'm told but they must know I'm coming each time I'm up and around there because all I see are old junkers.  

[BigDL]

If you buy a stolen bike, car radio, car, boat, windsurfer or anything else, you are a prick who is as bad as the thief or hijacker that took it in the first place and you deserve the same punishment. Anyone who buys goods knowing they might be stolen should go and **** themselves. They are part of the problem.

[Beard]

People who buy this stuff often fool themselves by thinking that it probably came from someones plush garage and insurance paid them out in full... so no biggy. But as someone who has also been jacked off his bike many years ago, this is not always the case and sometime people get hurt in the process .

 

I just wish there was more that you could do beyond posting it in the stolen section and trying to raise awareness. Also in many cases unless the original owner identifies it there's no proof that it is stolen.

[bikebloke]

you dont see many stolen bikes on bikehub because real thieves arent that dumb and because most hubbers spot them and report them like a flash .

stolen bikes get sold and ridden all over- mostly in parts other than where they are taken and sold by syndicates and "i know a guy" groups and sometimes they just chop them up (who cares about a frame that cost you nothing ) and the parts/wheels are sold on ..................and some of those parts end up on bikehub .............and you all love a bargain parts/wheel upgrade dont you ?

 

yeah deal with it there are plenty of cyclists buying hot bits who say they had no idea (its friday isnt it )