Stolen Bike Registry - do this when your bike gets stolen

"With all the stolen bike posts lately (and no one thinking "I wonder if there's something under Useful Links for this."), I think it's well past time to make a sticky about the Stolen Bike Registry"

- Tank-Ridin' Ryan

Well said Ryan.

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/

Done and done.

And sticky too.

Cheers - Lee Diamond

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 30, 2012 at 1:32pm

I find nothing fun about it. He called 911 4 times, was told each time that police had been sent, and waited over an hour; he approached off duty police who were presumably working security at Swap O Rama and was told by them that they couldn't help because they were not in uniform. He did everything right-- had a friend there, had proof of ownership with him, and ultimately had to risk his safety to get his bike back. I find this depressing as hell, almost overshadowing the fact of the owner/bike reuinion.

And for the record, I'm not going to crap up people's "happy" Cyclist-Steals-Own-Bike-Back threads, but each and every such story makes me cringe, and anyone who sees anything positive about any of them is clearly not interested in the big picture.

Steven Vance said:

That's a fun story: "I throw my bike over a 10 ft fence [friend] catches it, throws it in his car. I jump the fence, rip my pants but get in the car successfully and ride off!"

h' said:

Thanks for compiling that, and sorry the CSBR has been such an ongoing disappointment to you.

FYI today's recovery story:

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/193531

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Permalink Reply by 1s20gdv3auw5h on October 2, 2012 at 9:33am

Had my bike stolen. Without identifiers/serial numbers and photo, there is no getting the bike back.
:(

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 2, 2012 at 1:01pm

People do get their bikes back without these things.

Domenica Cresap said:

Had my bike stolen. Without identifiers/serial numbers and photo, there is no getting the bike back.
:(

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Permalink Reply by Joe Willis on October 13, 2012 at 2:21pm

Who is missing a Gunnar??

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/3336355047.html

Picked this up at the flea market to flip, but someone ground off the serial numbers (I didn't look!)
So if your interested it's 50 cm about a medium size
Great condition!
Nice parts:
rolf vector wheels
shimano 105 flight deck components.
bontrager mix.
Or prove it's your bike and you can buy it back for what I paid $400
See pics...Need it gone...
First $400
as is where is
Text preferred 708-253-5914

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 13, 2012 at 4:46pm

Frikkin' scumbag. If I had more time I'd try to facilitate a police sting on this guy's azz.

Joe Willis said:

Who is missing a Gunnar??

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bik/3336355047.html

Picked this up at the flea market to flip, but someone ground off the serial numbers (I didn't look!)
So if your interested it's 50 cm about a medium size
Great condition!
Nice parts:
rolf vector wheels
shimano 105 flight deck components.
bontrager mix.
Or prove it's your bike and you can buy it back for what I paid $400
See pics...Need it gone...
First $400
as is where is
Text preferred 708-253-5914

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Joe Willis on October 13, 2012 at 7:52pm

This guy just seems shady, I put his phone number in CL and came up with this.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=11&subAreaID=&...

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Permalink Reply by Jason W on October 15, 2012 at 5:12pm

Anyone have any info pertaining to this place?

http://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/11irr6/was_your_bike_stole...

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 15, 2012 at 6:11pm

While I don't see any reason to doubt the veracity of the Reddit posting, I'll note that occasionally I've suggested that mid/far north side theft victims lake a look there, and have not had any find their bikes there, and more than one has noted that the people there were "nice" and "helpful." Apologies to those who can't stand to hear anything about this place that's not negative.

Cameron Puetz said:

That shop has come up before and has been described as incompetent at best, and probably a fencing operation.

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/andersonville-bikes-fitnes...

Jason said:

Anyone have any info pertaining to this place?

http://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/11irr6/was_your_bike_stole...

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 15, 2012 at 6:35pm

Have received firsthand confirmation from victim and pointed him towards this discussion so I have even less reason to doubt the veracity of the reddit posting...

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Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on October 15, 2012 at 7:07pm

Well that is the shop that kicked me out for trying to check the serial numbers on their bikes vs. the stolen bike registry one day...

h' said:

While I don't see any reason to doubt the veracity of the Reddit posting, I'll note that occasionally I've suggested that mid/far north side theft victims lake a look there, and have not had any find their bikes there, and more than one has noted that the people there were "nice" and "helpful." Apologies to those who can't stand to hear anything about this place that's not negative.

Cameron Puetz said:

That shop has come up before and has been described as incompetent at best, and probably a fencing operation.

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/andersonville-bikes-fitnes...

Jason said:

Anyone have any info pertaining to this place?

http://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/11irr6/was_your_bike_stole...

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Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on October 15, 2012 at 7:23pm

"Hey, uh... I'm some guy or something and uh.. can I poke around your store for serial numbers on your bikes for a while after I accuse you of nefarious activity? No?! What the heck, dude. So not cool, bro."

notoriousDUG said: