Ask HN: I was a victim of bike theft. What can I do?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7063638

by ancarda • 13 years ago

5 15 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Today I woke up to see my bike was gone. I've filed a police report giving them the frame number. I made a claim to my insurance (they declined) and I've been searching craigslist and ebay for ads posted recently.

Is there anything else someone in my position can do? I'm about to ask my neighbors if they saw anything. It happened between midnight and ~8 am.

malditojavi• 13 years ago

Well, maybe you should try with: https://racklove.com/stolen-bike-finder/

nmc• 13 years ago

Was it in a relevant geographical location?

For instance, in Amsterdam (NL) there is a well-known black market for bikes, and when a bike is stolen there is always a good chance of finding it there.

On the contrary, for example in Paris (FR), my advice would be to forget about it — people even steal the heavily-impractical public rental bikes.

General advice for your next bike: take appropriate security precautions (more insecure neighbourhood -> bigger chain), and try to have it look cheap and dirty to discourage thieves.

ancarda3• 13 years ago

I'm in the south of the UK. I'm not really sure if there's any black markets for bikes here. I've never had to deal with something like this before.

collingwood• 13 years ago

Local car boot sales, private adverts in shop windows. If you are in or near London, Brick Lane market may still be a possibility, although Wikipedia says it's not so notorious as it once was.

Consider challenging the insurer's decline of your claim, particularly if the bike was expensive.

robbiea• 13 years ago

You can also post something on reddit/r/<yourcity> if it's a large city. They can probably help you with other local resources for you to look into.

xauronx• 13 years ago

It would be worth asking your neighbors, but honestly, I would just come to terms with it. I had a motorcycle stolen a couple years ago and never heard anything back. These people are able to do this shit because they're good at it and generally do it in a "safe" (for them) way.

You could try to set up a bait bike and hope they're greedy/stupid enough to do it again.

Also, sorry for your luck.

idleworx• 13 years ago

Buy a new bike.

zumzumzum• 13 years ago

Learn to lock it up better and get a new one.

hga• 13 years ago

When I was living in Cambridge, MA during the '80s that was completely inadequate, even the best locks would still allow for the stripping of unlocked components. Everyone would carry their bikes up a stairway so it could be safe in the destination apartment.

aagha• 13 years ago

I read a story (or a post?) a while back of how a guy used TaskRabbit.com (I guess you could get a group of your friends to do the same) to go to local flea markets and scope it out.

If you find it, you might be able to either buy it back or contact the police if you had it registered.

EDIT: https://www.taskrabbit.com/oakland-sf-bay-area/t/hit-east-ba...

nakedrobot2• 13 years ago

Build a GPS tracker that is discreetly installed on your bike and launch it on Kickstarter.

Won't get this bike back, but this is a problem for millions of people out there....

ancarda3• 13 years ago

Would Tile work the same? I thought of buying one in the Summer when they're out.

gesman• 13 years ago

Thief is unlikely to be an avid bike enthusiast, and very likely he will be trying to sell it ASAP.

Monitor local classifieds ads (craigslist, kijiji, or whatever in your area) about related items. Visit "potential" thiefs. If bike found - agree on price, leave deposit. Come back to "pickup your bike" together with police officer.

All "bike recovery success" stories and "how i screwed my bike thief" stories started exactly like that.

Ask HN: I was a victim of bike theft. What can I do?

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