Where to look if your bike has been stolen

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 DanielGyi 12 Nov 2021

Hello,

Last night we had a couple of road bikes stolen, I wondered if anyone knows beyond Gumtree, Facebook marketplace, and ebay, where we might find them being sold?

Cheers
Dan

 nniff 12 Nov 2021
In reply to DanielGyi:

Local cash converters maybe

 johnt 12 Nov 2021
In reply to DanielGyi:

There is a good chance they will be broken and sold for parts - less detectable than selling a complete bike and often realises more cash for the thieves. Frames are often dumped / scrapped as they are identifiable.

 Dax H 12 Nov 2021
In reply to johnt:

Unfortunately frames are easy to deal with. £20 worth of cheap belt sander will take the numbers off and a bif of filler and a respray and your good to go.

Of course the now thin frame is dangerous but they don't care. 

2
 johnt 12 Nov 2021
In reply to Dax H:

I've no doubt some thieves may resort to removing numbers etc but it's a lot of hassle - the sum of the parts is usually greater than the whole bike. Having dealt with numerous incidents involving bike theft when i was a cop it was apparent how much money was made selling parts on eBay. 

I hope the OP gets his bike back in one piece. 

 johnt 12 Nov 2021
In reply to johnt:

Local car boot sales and markets were always popular places to find stolen bikes and i'm sure there is some sort of web based 'Stolen Bike Register' where you can report a bike stolen and provide a frame nunber / description etc. 

 LastBoyScout 12 Nov 2021
In reply to DanielGyi:

According to the police when one of my friends had some bikes stolen, try the nearest shipping container - lots of stolen bikes are apparently shipped and sold abroad.

 johnt 12 Nov 2021
In reply to LastBoyScout:

Probably in the same container as farmers quad bikes, trailers etc. 

 Dax H 12 Nov 2021
In reply to johnt:

The parts are definitely worth more than the whole, the frame is also a part though. I used to know a bike thief who would strip the bike then throw multiple frames on a bonfire to burn the paint off, quick sand and spray them with a rattle can and off to the car boot (pre ebay days) 

In reply to DanielGyi:

Sorry to hear that; bike thefts suck.

Don't expect any help from the Police. Not even if you see it being ridden around town.

3
 Dave Hewitt 12 Nov 2021
In reply to DanielGyi:

Sorry to hear about the bikes. I was once told - 25 or more years ago, admittedly - that a couple of nights each week a van containing bikes stolen in the Central Belt went south down the M74 to the Midlands or London, and the bikes were sold in some shape or form down there. And a couple of vans each week made the reverse journey, bringing southern bikes north to be sold in Scotland. A bit like how Glasgow gangsters did (and quite possibly still do) jobs for similar types in London, and vice versa.

 Baz P 13 Nov 2021
In reply to DanielGyi:

In 2020 I had a 3k electric mountain bike stolen. Police were very helpful after making a statement at police headquarters and a visit to my home. I reported it on a local cycling group on Facebook.

Three months later a guy from the group pointed me to a bike for sale in a local Cash Converters. This was my bike. Police recovered it and traced it to a guy who said that he bought it at a car boot sale. Police couldn’t do anything from there. 
So, put pictures on a local cycling site and report to police. 

 Toby_W 13 Nov 2021
In reply to DanielGyi:

Hang on and I’ll see if I can find the site I used.  It gives you a summary of all bikes listed on gumtree, eBay etc by time.  I got mine back, we’ll the frame but that was the important bit!  I found it twice, first time the eBay profile vanished along with all the other dodgy stuff for sale the second time the police (no doubt understaffed and overloaded) were fractionally better and managed to go and collect it from the buyer a month after the sale.

Best of luck

Toby

 Toby_W 13 Nov 2021
In reply to Toby_W:

Here you go

https://www.findthatbike.co.uk/

It also helps having an obsessive trait.  Don’t expect too much from the police, far from the top of the list of priorities and in the end I felt bad for wasting their resources.  All they managed in the end was to collect my bike from the buyer bring it back to the south west and I could have done that myself with all the costs put onto the thief via eBay.  Bit frustrating.  It may be different by region though.

Anyway, best of luck.  I know two or three others who got their bikes back keeping an eye out.

Toby

OP DanielGyi 13 Nov 2021
In reply to DanielGyi:

Thanks folks, will check out all your suggestions!

Predictably the police have been not super helpful, so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Fwiw I'm in the Litton, in the peak district, and we've had a bit of a crime wave this last week. It's been quite nice to see the village come together to collate evidence

 Ciro 13 Nov 2021
In reply to captain paranoia:

> Don't expect any help from the Police. Not even if you see it being ridden around town.

Not sure why you've been downvoted for this - last time I reported a bike stolen I was advised by a police officer over the phone to look on gumtree, and if I found it get a few mates together to go round and take it back as they wouldn't have time to help me out.

I was somewhat taken aback.

 Baz P 13 Nov 2021
In reply to Ciro:

Not me but probably because it was a block statement. I had nothing but praise for South York’s police. 

 e.ms355 15 Nov 2021
In reply to DanielGyi:
heard a recent story that someone went to buy a bike recently and saw it on here then they set up with the police to catch the seller. might be worth posting on here: https://stolen-bikes.co.uk/
 

sorry to hear you had bikes stolen

 mbh 15 Nov 2021
In reply to Dave Hewitt:

When a local bike shop round here was raided for the second time, the thieves were caught somewhere up the M5, heading north and far away, with a van full of bikes. They were a gang from the Midlands (so says the ever reliable Cornwall Live).


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