Victims of bike theft should: -File a police report, no matter what.
-Phone/fax all local bike shops. Provide your contact information, description, serial number and police report number. If the person on the phone seems less than interested in dealing with you in this capacity, print up a flyer and bring it to the shop, ask the mechanics to keep an eye out for it. -If you bought the bike at a local shop, point this out to the shop in question. -Check craigslist for your bike as well as other bikes built of a smattering of components - are any of those components among those that may have been on your bike? It is not uncommon for somewhat organized thieves to steal several bikes and then mix up the parts to cover help their tracks. -It's true that many organized thieves steal bikes from one city and then truck the bikes to another city where they can more safely sell them. In that case, you are much less likely to ever see your bike again but that is no reason not to pursue the aforementioned steps. All cyclists should consider the following options to improve their chances of recovering their bikes in the event that they are stolen: -Copy down the serial numbers of all of your bikes, no matter the monetary value. -Register your bike with your city. In addition to slightly improving your chances of recovery, most cities keep statistics of registered bikes and, in most cases, this information helps to improve matter some by making cyclists look that much more prominent. -Consider removing your tires and tubes and using a black sharpie or silver paint marker, write the following on your rim strip: "This bike was stolen from [your name & phone number here]." or, less severely: "Property of [insert name and number here]." When bringing your bike in for repair, don't forget to mention the existence of this note to your mechanic. And remember to address this issue should you ever sell or lend the bicycle to anyone. This method may seem silly or even extreme but I've gotten several high-end bikes back to their rightful owners, and seen it happen as many times, due to such methods. -Finally, buy a *good* lock and be smart about where you lock up your bike, what you lock it to, how long you leave it there, and how often you park in the same spot. -Martin --- Clint Freund <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Here's a picture of the bicycle. > > > Sorry if some of you get duplicates of this email... > > My bike was stolen this morning, from my front > porch. Yeah, I probably > should have locked it. I tend to trust in humankind, > my bad. > > Bike responds to the name Tuffet. > > Metallic medium blue Schwinn > Fixed, single-speed road bike > Probably from the 80s, steel frame > Chrome fork > No huge "Schwinn" logos, except red front badge > Red chainring > Faded white handlebar tape .. handlbars > Red front brake cable > 700c wheelset, not anything special > Toe clip pedals > Little things that may have been picked off, like > "One Less Car" > sticker, multiple Madison and Pittsburgh alleycat > spokecards, > FreeWheel spokecard, feather on the brake cable, > blue stars on the > rear spokes, and Madison registration sticker under > the bottom bracket > > If I ever loved a material possession, it would be > Tuffet. She was the > first bike I built up from parts. We've gone on many > adventures, > through scenic Yellowstone, up and down the steep > hills of Pittsburgh, > racing the streets of Madison, to work and back > every day. I love > her, and I miss her. > > Please call 608-242-4636 or email > [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you see my > dearest Tuffet. > > Thank you, > ~ Sarahtops > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
