Worst. Bike thief. Ever.

February 14, 2013 12:56 PM

What to do with an abandoned, probably stolen, bike?

Asking for a friend here. She came home a few weeks ago to find a bike in her driveway. It has a lock through the front tire and frame. From the looks of things, someone stole the bike, couldn't get the lock off, and left it there on her property. It is an otherwise nice bike that she has been weirdly saddled with.

She sent an email on her neighborhood listserv, no response. She contacted the police, they couldn't really do anything about it.

What should she do with the bike? She doesn't want the bike, she just doesn't know what to do with it.

This is in Washington, DC.

posted by troika to grab bag (20 answers total)

Could she put a "FOUND: BIKE" on craigslist? The owner might see that, and if not the owner, someone who claims to be the owner; she could then give the bike to that person.
posted by Greg Nog at 1:00 PM on February 14 [4 favorites]

Has she posted it on Craigslist for the owner to come forward?

Otherwise, what's she trying to achieve? If she wants to be rid of it, she can throw it out, or just leave it on the street. It's not the proverbial "baby on the doorstep"--it's someone else's shit that got dumped on her property. She doesn't really owe anyone any undertakings.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:02 PM on February 14

yep, definitely post a pic on a craigslist. i'm in the market for a bike and have been trolling the dc craigslist boards a lot and have seen a couple like that. a lot of stolen bike owners will also peek on craigslist to see if their bike is listed for sale.

she could easily find out who the owner is because they would (hopefully) still have a key to the lock.
posted by kerning at 1:02 PM on February 14 [5 favorites]

I would post to Craigslist that they found a bike on [insert date] and if anyone wanted to claim it they must tell you the brand of the bike/color/model number/etc. I would assume if someone were to claim the bike they would have the key to the lock.
posted by littlesq at 1:04 PM on February 14 [3 favorites]

You can contact DDOT, they will tag the bike and remove it.
posted by florencetnoa at 1:04 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

ALSO - if the owner doesn't come forward, she could donate the bike to phoenix bikes in arlington. they have local youth help fix up donated bikes and then resell them.
posted by kerning at 1:06 PM on February 14 [2 favorites]

Sorry, I fail at links, but its the District Dept of Transportation. http://ddot.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/
posted by florencetnoa at 1:06 PM on February 14

If there are any bike shops in her area she could get in touch with them and let them know. The bike shop near me occasionally posts such info on their Facebook/Twitter feed. They also have a bulletin board in the shop with flyers too.
posted by macadamiaranch at 1:17 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Here's the ad on Craigslist:

Cinderella Bike: Clearly stolen bike left in my driveway with the lock in place. If you have the key that unlocks the bike, then Prince Charming, you may take it away.

If no takers. Donate it to a charity.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:20 PM on February 14 [5 favorites]

Contact people in the cycling community in DC, as well as post it on craigslist. I'm not too familiar with them (but ask me about the cycling community in Boston, YAY!) but try:
http://washcycle.typepad.com/

and

http://dcfixed.com/

What kind of bike is it? If it's fixed gear there's a good chance the people on the fixed gear DC forums would recognize it.
posted by carmel at 1:21 PM on February 14

Why won't the police help you? I found a bike similarly in Oct. and they came and picked it up, said if nobody reported it stolen and came to claim it, they would put it in one of their auctions in the spring.
posted by mannequito at 1:33 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Call the police? They maintain records of stolen property. I know lots of people who've had bikes returned by the cops. Speaking of which, is it registered or the frame inscribed?
posted by fshgrl at 1:34 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Check on bhance's Stolen bikes registry?
posted by zamboni at 1:40 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

I understand wanting to reunite the bike with its rightful owner, but I would not want to entertain a bunch of craigslist weirdos coming out to my house, pretending to have the key. An ad without a picture asking for a detailed description, maybe.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:53 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

If you don't want to deal with craigslist weirdos personally, lock the bike through the existing lock to something not on your property. Put a photo and the address on craigslist so that the person with the key can come get it themselves. Go back in a week to get your lock.
posted by thatone at 2:07 PM on February 14 [3 favorites]

Take the seat off and look in the seat post for contact info. A lot of bike owners do that in case of theft.
posted by DoubleLune at 2:17 PM on February 14 [5 favorites]

Find the serial number on the bottom of the frame, where the pedals connect. Search for it here.
posted by alexei at 2:51 PM on February 14 [2 favorites]

A friend had a very positive experience with the DC police when her bike was stolen ... I think talking to your local precinct is worthwhile.
posted by NikitaNikita at 8:46 PM on February 14

Expanding on Zamboni and Alexei's comment: you can search the listings of reported stolen bikes by city/state/zip/brand/serial number etc right here: http://stolenbicycleregistry.com/search.php

Alsoif you want to PM me the bike details I can run a more thorough search for you.

(thx zamboni and alexei!)
posted by bhance at 7:54 AM on February 15

As others say, I would try the police again.

One of the most popular local bicycling bloggers is at TheWashCycle - he will probably be glad to help publicize. You could also post details on /r/bikedc/ and /r/washingtondc.
posted by exogenous at 9:19 AM on February 15