any advice on avoiding stolen bikes

i had a bike stolen many years ago, spent £900 building it up.
after work one night all i had left was a bike chain & broken lock.
a few weeks later i was walking home when i saw my bike being ridden,
caught the lad who told me it cost him £150.
took all this to the police, and you guessed it, nothing no help.
eventually i told the police i was going to reclaim my goods at what time & date.
i got my bike back, the police did'nt even bother to show.
moral : if you want something doing properly, do it yourself.

Did the guy you bought it from know it was stolen?

BobToo":1848sxyz said:

Did the guy you bought it from know it was stolen?

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i built it up from new parts & a new frame, had all the receipts etc.
it was all bought from my local bike shop.
however the guy who was riding it knew it was stolen after i got hold of him.
but what i can say is he hung around with the local scumbags druggies etc.
i'm guessing he didn't report me so he knew it was stolen.
plus it did have my postcode stamped on the bottom bracket.

I found my Zaskar being ridden 200 yards from the local police station a year after it was stolen - I got my bike back.

i went out of my local area to buy said stolen bike dont think i would have traveled very far to knowingly buy a stolen bike as anyone else would have. My point is my other bikes were bought also in good faith also from people who seemed trustworthy thankfully they turned out to be fine but had a few months of thinking perhaps they too were stolen thankfully not. how many of you can say your bikes are 100% fine and not infact stolen too. when my bikes and laptop were eventually returned to me they were just thrown in the back of a van all clanging together although they were trash. imagine seeing your pride and joy treated in that manner. i still note people who have been so quick to criticise and judge saying they can tell without a shadow of doubt their bikes also havent been stolen at some point as i say unless you have either bought it as new or the seller can produce an original shop receipt that bike you see as your own could too have a dark history
i now know my bikes are fine do you?

i suppose in the 2nd hand market there will always be a percentage of stolen bikes.
a couple of years ago i bought a zaskar off ebay. it had the serial number ground off.
i contacted the seller, he said he bought off someone else.
no doubt in the past that zaskar was stolen.
i did report it to the police and they just told me "not to worry about it"
i would never knowingly buy or ride a bike if knew for certain it was stolen.
but with bikes over 15 years old, tracking down all the previous owners is near impossible.
unless we have a log book to go with bikes ? maybe a good idea.

I wouldn't be suprised with the police sometimes I remember getting bundled into an unmarked police car with 3 mates then taken to a fairly famous plod shop in Brum and asked if I had any affiliations with a well known terrorist organisation (back in the early 90's so you know which one).

Found out eventually what caused all the fuss but unfrotunately shit happens sometimes and it's a good story to remember with the lads I was with at the time.

Less to say I was obviously innocent but it was an interesting 8 hours of my life thats for sure.

My cousin was a copper until he died and he was no different to anyone else I've ever met

the police no longer have to apply to courts if they believe evidence is on a premises and could be sold moved or destroyed. it mearly has to be authorised by a senior officer im guessing none of you have seen any of the police programs on tv where they catch someone on the street with something they shouldnt have they will go to that persons address and see if they have anything else this is the same.
this is actually a normal response nowadays it may not have been in 1990 but it is now

if you are arrested, they don't need a warrant, but they need one to look before arresting you

are you a police officer? i think you will find they can enter your property if there is reasonable grounds to believe there is something there that shouldnt be there and this can be authorised by a senior officer and theres no need to apply to the courts. I i posted this in the hope of restoring my confidence in the secondhand bike market which it has not
HAVE FUN RIDING YOUR POTENTIALLY STOLEN BIKES KEEP LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDERS THOUGH HA HA HA