stolen bike - know where bikes are hocked in hood?
wonder if anyone has any idea where stolen bikes from the neighborhood get flogged in brooklyn.
My bike was stolen last night outside my building on St. Marks and Vanderbuilt. It was an older bike with sentimental value and it was locked though the lock wasn't great. I'm guessing it was stolen for quick cash.
Are there any bike shops that buy second hand bikes in the area where it could turn up? pawn shops? just got here a few months ago.
I have reported it to police.
My bike was stolen last night outside my building on St. Marks and Vanderbuilt. It was an older bike with sentimental value and it was locked though the lock wasn't great. I'm guessing it was stolen for quick cash.
Are there any bike shops that buy second hand bikes in the area where it could turn up? pawn shops? just got here a few months ago.
I have reported it to police.
Comments
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Good question. The people at Bicycle Station are pretty knowledgable - I would go by and ask them if they know how the criminal element operate around here. Also, at least one Bicycle Station employee frequents this board, so maybe they can share some insight.
Coming soon: I get criticized for referring to people who steal bikes to make money as "criminals." -
After two bikes were stolen in front of my apartment building, we learned our lesson: Keep the bikes inside at night! May be a hassle, but it's worth it.
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dailyheights wrote: at least one Bicycle Station employee frequents this board, so maybe they can share some insight.
pass along the color/make/style of the bikes and we'll keep our eyes peeled at bicycle station... even with <1% odds itll turn up (most people dont fence stolen goods in the same neighborhood they swiped em from) its still worth a try... and hey, its happened before!dailyheights wrote: Coming soon: I get criticized for referring to people who steal bikes to make money as "criminals."
...dude, theyre criminals of the worst kind! one step worse, even, than the crackhead who stole the stereo from my car this past february :x -
what are u gonna do if you see your bike for sale in a bike store, which you're not, confront the seller. Good luck. Hope you only get the shit beat out of you.
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Anonymous wrote: what are u gonna do if you see your bike for sale in a bike store, which you're not, confront the seller. Good luck. Hope you only get the shit beat out of you.
1. buy it back? thats the easiest, least strife-filled way to get it back.
2. spread the word so that the owner calls the cops if they see it come in?
most ppl that run/work at bike shops take bike theft really seriously and dont deal in stolen bikes. additionally, they usually will go out of their way to assist getting a stolen ride back to its rightful owner, even if this only means keeping their eye out.
ive heard of many victims of theft spreading the word so well (via online forums and mailing-lists of likeminded riders, etc) that someone they spread the word to sees the bike being ridden and either a) calls the cops b) gives chase, ensures its a theft, and beats the thief down and gets the bike back.
incidentally, if you approach someone on a stolen bike (who has bought it after being resold or whatever) theyre probably going to be pretty sympathetic and either sell it back to you or at least let you know the source, so you can take it up with them and charge them with dealing in stolen property if necessary.
god help the person who ever steals/resells my bike. i can guarantee you that it shall be them who's shit gets beat out. :twisted: -
Spreading the word definitely helps - ask any NYC bike messenger. My husband was a bike messenger for 15 years and had two bikes stolen. By putting the word out he got both bikes back. (When one guy told the cop "hey I bought it for $10 from a crackhead" the cop replied "$10 is pretty cheap to learn your lesson huh?" as he handed the bike back to my husband)
I know at one time you could have your bike registered with the NYPD - they put a series of numbers on the bottom part of the bike (out of view). If your bike was stolen and then found and the person in possession of it says it is his - all the police have to do is check the number and you will have your bike returned to you on the spot. I had this happen to me when I was a teenager. -
Random anecdote: when I lived in the East Village in the late '90s, my roommates and I were woken one night at 3am by our doorbell ringing very repeatedly. As three groggy women, we weren't really going to open it, but it was the police who were really frantic to see some guy, so we let 'em in and explained that he didn't live there anymore. (One of my roommates was friends with the previous tenants and knew where they were.) We were all freaked out that they were looking for this guy, but it turned out that they just wanted to return his motorbike to him, which had been stolen more than a year earlier. They were REALLY eager to return it, I guess. Bizarre.
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DO U REALLY THINK THAT SOMEONE IS GOING TO STEAL A BIKE AND NOT CHANGE THE COLOR, SWITCH HANDLE BARS, SELL IN A DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOOD. SO OF YOU PEOPLE ARE SO LOST. TRY NOT TO GET YOURSELVES HURT WHILE YOU SPEND A FEW YEARS IN BROOKLYN BEFORE YOU GET SICK OF THE NOISE AND JOYS OF THE CITY AND MOVE TO THE SUBURBS
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KJK wrote: DO U REALLY THINK THAT SOMEONE IS GOING TO STEAL A BIKE AND NOT CHANGE THE COLOR, SWITCH HANDLE BARS, SELL IN A DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOOD. SO OF YOU PEOPLE ARE SO LOST. TRY NOT TO GET YOURSELVES HURT WHILE YOU SPEND A FEW YEARS IN BROOKLYN BEFORE YOU GET SICK OF THE NOISE AND JOYS OF THE CITY AND MOVE TO THE SUBURBS
why do people insist on using all caps, bad grammar, and over-opinionated bullshit? 8) -
TO GET A POINT ACROSS. THESE ARE NOT OPINIONS THEY ARE FACTS YOU YUPPY.
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kjk wrote: TO GET A POINT ACROSS. THESE ARE NOT OPINIONS THEY ARE FACTS YOU YUPPY.
hahahahaha, i am so not a yuppie. waste your pithy insults on someone who deserves them.
also: all caps makes you look ignorant and loudmouthed, but apparently you are, so i guess it fits, eh?
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kjk wrote: TO GET A POINT ACROSS. THESE ARE NOT OPINIONS THEY ARE FACTS YOU YUPPY.
KJK - I have lived in Bklyn all my life and from what I have seen over my 30 plus years here is that people who steal a bike sell it right away usually within the same neighborhood or close by. A lot of times it is some druggie or crackhead looking to make a quick buck.
Most of the times they don't cover with paint but with the inflatable rubber from inside the tires.
Oh yeah thanks for calling me a Yuppie - I didn't know I was young enough or made enough money to be called that.
Good luck with all your issues -
stacey wrote: Good luck with all your issues
stacey: i think we have the first official DH troll! woo! yay!
:shock: -
Subject: On registering your bike with the NYPD.
I tried three times to register my bike at the local precinct before giving up. The last two times, I called in advance to find out when the officer who registers the bikes would be there. The person was never there, and none of the other officers bothered, just letting me sit there for over an hour with my bike. Grr. -
I don't know where they're hocked, but I did see a kid methodically filing all the paint off of a bike frame in the front yard of 156 or 158 Underhill this afternoon (forgot which).
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I'm sure to be banished to the suburbs for asking such a naive question, but ... do people file paint off of bikes to conceal stolen property, or to achieve a certain look?
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He was going to repaint it- he had a can of paint next to the bike, but hadn't gotten to that part yet. I suppose it could have been his bike, but I think that most people repainting their own bikes would probably take a little more care with it, and repaint it with spraypaint, not a brush.
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Subject: Common Sense
Its not smart to leave your bikes chained to trees in an area where some people are strapped for cash or are simply looking to cause you some grief. While my bike is like an albotross (i know this word is misspelled---and i don't care) in my apt., I keep it there because I don't want it to get stolen. Leaving your bike outdoors overnight is asking for trouble...use some common sense and bring your bicycle inside....
A few years ago, I bought a beautiful Redline mountain bike from a guy on the street for $50. Before I purchased the bike, we took it to a bike store for appraisal. At the time, I had just graduated from college and $50 felt just like $500. The man working at the store told me the bike was worth about $400. I gladly handed over my $50 and rode away feeling as if I'd gotten a great deal. A few months later, "bikeseller" came dropped by my apartment asked permission to ride my bike to his mom's house in BedStuy. She was in the midst of a medical emergency, he said. I hadn't ridden the bike in months and gladly obliged. I never saw the bikeseller or the bike again. Karma is an MF...he probably sold the bike to someone else for $200 bucks... -
Carnivore wrote: He was going to repaint it- he had a can of paint next to the bike, but hadn't gotten to that part yet. I suppose it could have been his bike, but I think that most people repainting their own bikes would probably take a little more care with it, and repaint it with spraypaint, not a brush.
Possibly I am the laziest person ever, but wouldn't it be easier to just walk everywhere rather than acquire a bicycle (by whatever means) and then meticulously refinish it? Teenagers do the darnedest things. -
Yeah and it was likely stolen in the first place. No bike seller would sell something worth $500 for $50 if it indeed was worth that and legit.
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daveb wrote: Yeah and it was likely stolen in the first place. No bike seller would sell something worth $500 for $50 if it indeed was worth that and legit.
I think RBG recognized that. Hence the karma comment. -
Subject: Re: On registering your bike with the NYPD.
JamesonVandy wrote: I tried three times to register my bike at the local precinct before giving up. The last two times, I called in advance to find out when the officer who registers the bikes would be there. The person was never there, and none of the other officers bothered, just letting me sit there for over an hour with my bike. Grr.
I was going to try and do this soon, hopefully with better luck...though i'm not getting my hopes too high!
our precinct told me that officer laura is in charge of bike registration and is in the office mornings from 9-12, but you need an appointment.
- m.d -
Subject: Re: On registering your bike with the NYPD.
fivealive wrote: [quote=JamesonVandy]I tried three times to register my bike at the local precinct before giving up. The last two times, I called in advance to find out when the officer who registers the bikes would be there. The person was never there, and none of the other officers bothered, just letting me sit there for over an hour with my bike. Grr.
I was going to try and do this soon, hopefully with better luck...though i'm not getting my hopes too high!
our precinct told me that officer laura is in charge of bike registration and is in the office mornings from 9-12, but you need an appointment.
- m.d
Appointment? That's seriously lame. Good luck. Let us know how it pans out. -
I saw a bike registration table in Prospect Park a few weekends ago.
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hmm i wonder if i could buy my bike back from the theives
. lol if we could find where they are selling them. my idiot brother got mines stolen. blah he left it outside. -
I just thought I would dust off this long dormant thread, now that it is bike theft season again.
Here's a video of a guy that steals a bike by parking a crappy bike next to a nice bike.
http://crownheights.info/crime/386850/video-300am-bicycle-theft-captured-on-video/
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The technique likely gives him an excuse in the event the owner comes upon him in the 1 min it takes to steal the bike.
...at 3 AM.
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A perfect example of why you DO NOT lock your bike up overnight on the street. This guy seems to be a pro.
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my bike was stolen from inside my building (unlocked), and they resold it to someone on franklin avenue.
Chances are they will resell it to someone in the neighborhood, and not change bike color, handles etc. -
Bikeshare can't come south of Atlantic soon enough-- bikes stored outdoors at the ready that you don't need to worry about.
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