Bike recovered but situation stinks

Listing and recovery story:

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/193546

Theft in action:

Craigslist ad:

Seller info as per victim:

Name: Kirk Gxxxxxx
Phone:             773-621-5936      
Address: xxxxxxxx, Chicago, IL
Description: white male, approx 6'0'', approx 40 YO, pony tail
(edit-- info removed-- contact me if you need it.)
My guess is that the seller hits our favorite cesspool at 41st/Ashland early and often and keeps the thieves/fences in business.
Seller gets his money, victim ends up paying buyer, no legal consequences to anyone.
Stinks to high heaven.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on November 19, 2012 at 10:33am

It's a pretty safe bet that every single person posting here is a criminal to some extent. It's not like Criminal is some distinct species. 

Bike theft is such a low-risk crime that any amount of confrontation would probably move someone along to steal a bike elsewhere. 

Chi Lowe said:

I was being hyperbolic there.  Maybe not shot.  Maybe stabbed.  Maybe you find yourself in a position where you have to fight, and you successfully defend your property, but you end up in jail for aggravated assault or worse.  Maybe the thief runs off.  Point is, you don't know until you get yourself into the situation.

In *your* non-criminal mind, if you were stealing a bike and someone shouted "stop thief" or showed up with a club, you might think twice.  But you're not a criminal.  That person stealing the bike in the picture is.  That automatically means they're not operating by the same set of rules, and that you shouldn't assume you have any sense of how they would react if confronted. 

Anyway, I'm not trying to judge.  Just shine some light on perhaps unconsidered potential outcomes.  At my age, I just try to avoid that kind of chaos.


notoriousDUG said:

I really doubt a bike thief is packing and willing to kill for a bike but even with that as a remote chance I would be willing to make them show it to me before I was willing to let them take my bike.

Permalink Reply by NYC (7.0 mi) on November 19, 2012 at 11:54am

Not saying that this Kirk dude isn't knowingly flipping stolen bikes; but take a look at the pics of the Masi in the stolen registry, and compare to the CL pics. They don't seem to me to be the same bike.

Permalink Reply by Laura on November 19, 2012 at 2:42pm

I am am not a big girl, but I would run up to someone and yell at them if I saw them stealing my bike. It is so easy to steal a bike, I really think they would just drop it and move on.  How often do shop lifters turn around and try to beat the shit out of security guards? They usually run.  I am always amazed when I hear about strangers walking by as someone is stealing a bike, and they do not do anything. I am straight shocked to hear about someone watching their own bike get stolen. 

What if it was your car, you child, your dog? I know these are not the same as a bike, but how would you react to these?

Here is a fun story about how to stop a bike thief  

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/the-bike-thief-chapter-1-its?

Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on November 19, 2012 at 2:54pm
Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on November 19, 2012 at 3:29pm

It looks like he might be trying to steal the pink bike while the "Masi" is, to my eye, completely unidentifiable.  This is one strange thread...

Permalink Reply by prof.gfr on November 19, 2012 at 7:31pm

Wow. Has Dug completed his studies of how long it takes to defeat various locks with an angle grinder? Wasn't he collecting old bike locks as some part of experiment? Looks like this took ~5 min to defeat a Krypto Evolution from the stolen bike registry report. Yikes! 

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on November 20, 2012 at 3:16am

I have not gotten any new locks lately.

I very much doubt it took 5 minutes to defeat the lock but it does take longer to defeat a lock 'in the wild' because it is harder to hold it steady.


prof.gfr said:

Wow. Has Dug completed his studies of how long it takes to defeat various locks with an angle grinder? Wasn't he collecting old bike locks as some part of experiment? Looks like this took ~5 min to defeat a Krypto Evolution from the stolen bike registry report. Yikes! 

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on November 20, 2012 at 3:24am

I wouldn't make fun of someone for watching their bike get stolen.  Some people freeze, some are anti-confrontational.

let's just say if you have never been in the situation, you may react differently the first time around.  I may react differently today than I would have a few years ago now that I've been in some situations that taught me a few things.  

I agree, some people may be wondering if the guy has a gun, knife, or friends waiting for him nearby. 

Many of us would scream, yell, make a scene, but don't put down those who won't or can't think clearly in that sort of situation. 

Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on November 20, 2012 at 6:23am

It looks like me and that NYC person are in the same boat.  I thought I understood the story, but the 'theft in action' picture threw everything off for me.  Thanks for your helpful clarification, though.  

I guess you're just such a bike theft crime fighting super savant that you can't understand how someone else might be confused about how this operation works?

;)



h' said:

The whole story is here at your fingertips, but if you'd rather just stare at the image and not read any of the text or follow the link I could see how that might be entertaining for you.

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on November 20, 2012 at 7:36am

Howard probably does more than any two people on this sight when it comes to helping recover bikes and stop theft; maybe remember that fact before you make fun of how much effort he puts into helping other people get bikes back...

Zoetrope said:

I guess you're just such a bike theft crime fighting super savant that you can't understand how someone else might be confused about how this operation works?



h' said:

The whole story is here at your fingertips, but if you'd rather just stare at the image and not read any of the text or follow the link I could see how that might be entertaining for you.

Permalink Reply by NYC (7.0 mi) on November 20, 2012 at 9:08am

Moment of naivety for me to not think of swapping out parts.

h' said:

Read the recovery description.

NYC said:

Not saying that this Kirk dude isn't knowingly flipping stolen bikes; but take a look at the pics of the Masi in the stolen registry, and compare to the CL pics. They don't seem to me to be the same bike.

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