Has anyone ever recovered a stolen bike?

[porteous]

Lots of bikes get listed in the "stolen bikes" section. It would be nice to know if any at all are ever found?

Surely someone must have a success story?

 

[HLaB]

Not me personally but when I used to live in Dublin I was talking to a mate of a mate. He had his Brompton nicked :-( A year later he was cycling along a road when a Chinese bloke came by the other way on a Brompton, he thought he recognised it and turned round and followed it to a supermarket. The bloke was no where in sight but the bike was and sure enough it was his. He put a lock on it and waited for the bloke to appear, when they did he explained and the bloke returned the bike :-) I can't recall if any money changed hands though but he got his bike back, success :-)

 

[Lien Sdrawde]

Having been burgled last week (no bike taken) the police said best advice was to put 'smart water' on your valuable goods, as its one of the 1st things they scan for in an suspected stollen property.

They said its immovable and you can write your postcode on as well if you wish. We had.

My computer and 64Gb ipod were back with me in less than a day (wiped clean though).

Hope this helps someone.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Not through this forum but I saw an abandoned bike early one Saturday morning lying on pavement. I wandered over to see if it was worth keeping and recognised it as belonging to my neighbour so I phoned him up and it was his - he'd forgotten to lock his garage and some scrotes took their chance and nicked it. He was delighted to get it back and I got a very nice bottle of vino as a thank you.

 

[Davidc]

One of my colleagues did (in the '90s). Phone call from the police to tell him it had been found if he'd like to collect it.

They didn't say it had been thrown off the Orwell bridge onto the road below. The wheels were bent and the frame was cracked, and he was interviewed and had to deny that he'd done the throwing.

 

[TheDoctor]

I did. Had a bike nicked when I was 15, and found it four years later.
Got the police involved and got it back after a few weeks and a snotty solicitors letter.

The Brommie I had stolen is gone for good though...

 

[Dave Davenport]

You can get lucky.

https://www.cyclechat.net/

 

[summerdays]

From children at school, one had her bike stolen and it was found dumped 2 streets away but they had trashed the wheel, and another had her bike stolen and then recovered within a few days.

I follow (irregularly) a blog: http://www.stolenbristolbikes.com/ and occasionally its nice to see a bike re-united with its owner.

 

[Globalti]

Many years ago in Newcastle we had three bikes stolen from the cellar under the dining room where we were having Sunday dinner. Thieves came in the back gate and quietly removed all three. Two were roadsters and they were found on the Town Moor a few days later with their brakes cut; the third was my chopper lovingly made from an old baker's bike frame with the basket removed. I never got it back.

Some people on this forum will know that I found my bike, abandoned in a river presumably after being stolen. Took it to the Police who returned it to me as unclaimed a month later. My karmic reward I reckon.

 

[Ste T.]

When I was 15, many moons ago, I had my pride and joy stolen from a locked shed one sunday morning. I phoned the police with no great hopes and they said they'd log it and let me know if there was any news.
Three hours later there was a knock at the door and a young copper had my bike in a van outside. It had been found, without a scratch on it, in the road, handed in at the police station and an efficient desk sarge had put two and two together. He then asked the young sprog on duty to run it round to our house One happy kid...one box of quality street to the police mess. So it can happen, though that was in the days when police numbers where better than now.

 

[TrevorM]

Long time ago I had my Galaxy (the one in my profile picture) stolen from the basement of the building I worked in. A few months later I was taking photos at a tall ships event and saw someone with it. I took photos, waved down the next police car (actually armoured land rover as it was Belfast in the 80s) and reported it. They arrested the person, took the bike. He was convicted using my photos as evidence and I got the bike back.

 

[montage]

yes, then the police more or less let cash converters sell it anyway after I had given all my statements

 

[Stephenite]

Last week, Friday night on the way to town I found a rental bike at the tube station. It was way out of the central zone its supposed to be used in. So i took it back on the tube and put it in a rack.

This makes up for the one i lost (had stolen) earlier in the year.

Not quite what the OP was looking for, but there you go.

 

[Black Sheep]

I was mugged one night for my bike, found it two years later leant up against a wall of a house just round the corner from mine.

phoned the police, eventually got it back - they couldn't do anything to the guy as he claimed to have got it from a house that was being cleared of stuff.

had to pay £50 salvage to the insurance company (had already claimed for a new bike)

I stripped it and sold it on e-bay as it was in a bit of a state.

 

[asterix]

I bought a bike off ebay that raised my suspsicions because when I got it home and looked under the cable guide it had a different frame number to that on my receipt. Then I considered the kind of maintenance the bike had had and decided the seller had simply been too lazy to look and had made up a number.

Nevertheless, if you had a British Eagle Touristique stolen at least 7 years ago give me the frame number and I'll let you know.