BIKES R 4 LIFE

[jefmcg]

What do you think this is about? It's chained up outside the Richmond (Upon Thames) Wholefoods, and has been there for a while. It seems to a flat barred bike, missing a front wheel, then chained to a Sheffield stand. It's all covered with a thick and opaque orange cloth bag (I think it's a bag) that is drawn tightly around its base. Carefully written on it is "BIKES R 4 LIFE". I'd have guessed it was viral marketing, but (at the time of posting) that precise phrase gets no hits in Google.
(edit: half an hour an Google has indexed this already, so that search now gets a result )

Any guesses what might be going on?

 

[screenman]

It's been tangoed.

 

[Moodyman]

Bikes are for life, not just Christmas?

 

[overmind]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of people steal front wheels. Is it somebody with a broken front wheel who is after a replacement or does the person sell it. How much is it really worth? Presumably, if it was top line racer it would be worth something but how about a BSO? I've seen dozens of wheels missing off these.

Also at what point is a bike chained to a bike stand fair game. If a single back wheel is D locked to a bike stand with the rest is the bike missing it is ok to cut the D lock and take it? Whose property is it?

 

[jefmcg]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of people steal front wheels. Is it somebody with a broken front wheel who is after a replacement or does the person sell it. How much is it really worth? Presumably, if it was top line racer it would be worth something but how about a BSO? I've seen dozens of wheels missing off these.

Yes, that always mystifies me. This is the most egregious example I have witness - I passed it daily at the time. Who steals a hub?

Also at what point is a bike chained to a bike stand fair game. If a single back wheel is D locked to a bike stand with the rest is the bike missing it is ok to cut the D lock and take it? Whose property is it?

It's still not yours. And not only would you be guilty of theft, but also of destroying someone's property, ie the U-lock. As it's attached to street furniture, the council can remove it. What Richmond council does it attach a laminated sign saying something to the effect "we believe this bike to be abandoned ... blah blah ... removed and disposed after this date". You could approach your council and ask them what they do with abandon bikes.

 

[Brandane]

You could approach your council and ask them what they do with abandon bikes.

Possibly the same as what the Police do with bikes that come into their custody as found property, or suspected stolen property. If the owner cannot be traced, they are sent off for auction periodically, at an independent auction house.

 

[ADarkDraconis]

It's still not yours. And not only would you be guilty of theft, but also of destroying someone's property, ie the U-lock.

So much this! Why would anything not belonging to you be 'fair game'? If you take anything not belonging to you you are a thief, same as the person who stole the first bit of the bike.

 

[Ajax Bay]

"If property is truly abandoned, it has no owner and anyone who takes it will not be liable for theft. Difficulty may arise in deciding whether property is abandoned."
How long might a bicycle be left secured in a public place (rusting away etc and maybe by then missing items) before it might reasonably be judged to be 'abandoned'? What steps could the/an authority or indeed an individual take to establish ownership? Once such steps have been taken (eg placing a notice on the seemingly abandoned BSO) and a period has expired, the BSO might reasonably be deemed abandoned and its removal and appropriation by another would not constitute theft.
In the words of JC Smith, “if property belongs to no one, it cannot be stolen. If property has been abandoned there can be no theft of it”.
It can never be theft to take goods in which no proprietary interest is subsisting at the time of the taking: the actus reus of the offence [theft] could never be made out.
The Theft Act 1968, 44 section 2(1)(c) provides that a person is not dishonest if he appropriates the property in the belief that the person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of people steal front wheels.

If you've just managed to steal a bike by undoing the QR skewer because the owner foolishly put his lock through that wheel and the stand, the easiest thing to do is steal the unsecured front wheel from another bike, probably right next to it.

 

[humboldt]

Someone locked up an old Dawes on my (small, quiet) street by the frame only and the front wheel was gone within about two days. I'm almost 100% sure it belongs to a resident or at least one of their visitors because the street is nowhere near any shops or cafes or anything you'd be casually visiting, but they just left it there for months sadly resting on its forks. I left this morning and someone's had the back wheel too. Pretty sad that they care so little about it that it's just slowly getting picked apart by the local vultures.

 

[overmind]

If you've just managed to steal a bike by undoing the QR skewer because the owner foolishly put his lock through that wheel and the stand, the easiest thing to do is steal the unsecured front wheel from another bike, probably right next to it.

That's a possibility I had not thought of. They have nicked another bike without a front wheel and they need a front wheel. QR front wheels are easy pickings for thieves. I do not generally lock my front wheel either but then I have bolt-in axles and my bike is a bit of a rat bike (although mechanically it is top-notch).

 

[Jenkins]

Bikes R 4 Life - not just that short period where your New Years Resolution to get fit lasts.

 

[ADarkDraconis]

"If property is truly abandoned, it has no owner and anyone who takes it will not be liable for theft. Difficulty may arise in deciding whether property is abandoned."
How long might a bicycle be left secured in a public place (rusting away etc and maybe by then missing items) before it might reasonably be judged to be 'abandoned'? What steps could the/an authority or indeed an individual take to establish ownership? Once such steps have been taken (eg placing a notice on the seemingly abandoned BSO) and a period has expired, the BSO might reasonably be deemed abandoned and its removal and appropriation by another would not constitute theft.
In the words of JC Smith, “if property belongs to no one, it cannot be stolen. If property has been abandoned there can be no theft of it”.
It can never be theft to take goods in which no proprietary interest is subsisting at the time of the taking: the actus reus of the offence [theft] could never be made out.
The Theft Act 1968, 44 section 2(1)(c) provides that a person is not dishonest if he appropriates the property in the belief that the person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps.

My feeling is that if someone were of a mind to abandon something in the true sense of not wanting it back and just tossing it, they wouldn't bother to lock it up. I can't help but feel that either something has befallen the owner or perhaps they were stolen and then locked back up after the joyride was finished just as a final kick or something (like an 'I'm done with it but I don't want anyone else to have it back' kinda asshat thing)?

 

[Brandane]

"If property is truly abandoned, it has no owner and anyone who takes it will not be liable for theft. Difficulty may arise in deciding whether property is abandoned."
How long might a bicycle be left secured in a public place (rusting away etc and maybe by then missing items) before it might reasonably be judged to be 'abandoned'? What steps could the/an authority or indeed an individual take to establish ownership? Once such steps have been taken (eg placing a notice on the seemingly abandoned BSO) and a period has expired, the BSO might reasonably be deemed abandoned and its removal and appropriation by another would not constitute theft.
In the words of JC Smith, “if property belongs to no one, it cannot be stolen. If property has been abandoned there can be no theft of it”.
It can never be theft to take goods in which no proprietary interest is subsisting at the time of the taking: the actus reus of the offence [theft] could never be made out.
The Theft Act 1968, 44 section 2(1)(c) provides that a person is not dishonest if he appropriates the property in the belief that the person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps.

Worth pointing out that this is the law in (presumably) England. Try this in Scotland and you will find yourself on the wrong side of the law. You're not even allowed to help yourself to anything that has obviously been abandoned such as a bike thrown in a skip.

The definition of theft in Scotland is "a crime at common law consisting of the taking or appropriating the property of another without lawful authority or the owner’s consent, with the intent to deprive the owner of that property." In reality though, it can be hard to prove the crime of theft unless you have a "complainer" (i.e. the rightful owner of the property).

 

[oldwheels]

A bicycle in a skip in Scotland belongs to whoever owns the skip. Rubbish in a bin belongs to the council even if is your bin. They can legally scrutinise the contents for letters,invoices etc to prove that business rubbish has been put into a domestic bin. This has happened and the offender had no defence in law. This was not me BTW.