Heres my story:
http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=83157&d=1223322746
About 3 months ago, by brothers 2008 Brodie Romulus (cyclocross) and my dads Giant Cypress were stolen form our garage. This whole bike ordeal is what got me into bikes this year, as we needed to temporarily find an “old” bike for my brother to commute with. We went halvsies and got a vintage Torpado and im now hooked etc etc… and now im constantly looking for bikes on craigslist.
Right… so last week im looking for some C&V on craigslist (montreal) and i see a post of what is the stolen bike (dark blue, same model same everything!)! Some Douchbag idiot posted it there for 700$ (pff… even more then what we paied for it since it was a demo). Says it was bought 4 years ago for 1050$ -not even close buddy… it didnt exist 4 years ago and never cost that mucht. Right away, pure bull****. Location of seller: 15 min bike ride from my house. the bike can almost be IDed my brothers just looking at unique parts: BBB bottle holder, BBB handle bar stem (shorter then original), black brodie decals (only on that specific demo), toe clips. got in touch via craigslist email. for reply 3 days later with address and #. same day called and went to see it with a friend. The guy there was old … 50’s, gray hair 5"7’ glasses. I tried the bike and right away i knew. so clear… no doubts -thats it. went around the corner and confirmed with screws i put in personally to repair a loose toe clip s.t bolts do not match. came back and asked the guy “where did you get this bike?”. He replies: “im selling it for an old friend of mine whose not good with the internet” and adds “it not ‘hot’, if you know what i mean”. Im thinking at this point BULL**** but i say calmly: “ok. ok im taking it.” and “im gonna get some cash at the ATM”.
We get into the car and call the police. (we have a police report/ case number). They come with a cruiser within 10 mins and meet us at a street corner nearby. we tell em the story… get the story right and go pay the guy a visit. Littles does he know… our thief, expecting to see two dudes with 700 cash at his door, finds himself in front of two huge cops. LOL
the cops come back around after a half hour with the bike in the back seat and we must go to the department to file in our declaration (why is it my brothers bike,… what happened, what did i do, what was said… etc.). The police will call within 2 weeks to release the bike. They believe its ours but have to have an investigator sign it off. However… the bike now legally belongs to the insurance company since we have claimed the theft of two bikes and replaced them. Still… we had to pay the deductible and the matter now became personal to catch the thief.
Worst case… the insurance company auctions it off…
or if it turns out the thief bought it in good faith from someone… then its his. montreal by-laws…meh.
the man that was “selling” the bike for an old friend turns out was very cooperative (said the cops). His story holds true… that he is selling for an old friend that is not good with the internet. Thats what he told me and my firend before the cops showed up… and thats what he apparently told the cops when they went over there. These particular cops were very young… maybe not even older then me (24). They were funny… and were cool to talk to… and gave me a glimpse of what went on with the guy. One of the cops feelings was that this guy wasn’t the thief. The man then went on to give the cops the name of the guy he is selling it for. And from now on its up to the investigater to continue with this lead. Keeping in mind that there were two bikes stolen!
So as for the current owner (an older man not good with the internet), if he bought this bike from someone else ‘in good faith’ he will still be the owner. not the insurance. period. And that would suck.
I just wanna catch the ****ers, thats all. I dont really care about the bikes … they have been replaced. Its just the deductible that was a little ****ty.
And originally… the thiefs broke into the garage… and then also into the car that was in the garage… took the bikes… a digital camera in the car… the GPS>… and my dads passport (working visa). The latter three were recoverd a week later in the corner of the lawn… where one would only find himself there if he was mowing the lawn. and thats what happened. Super Sketch… and thats why we think they were teenagers that stole the stuff… getting freaked out by the gps maybe… and taking off with the bikes and later ditching them somewhere… where perhaps a person “found” them.
thats what i still think happened.