"Stolen" Canndonale HT at Costa Mesa Swapmeet?

[Smirnus]

Went browsing today an came across a Cannondale hardtail, lgithblue/gray with Lefty fork Mavic 223 disc wheels, hayes brakes, XTR rear Derailleur and chopped Easton riser bars.

I asked the guy selling "how much" he replied it was already sold. He didn't put off the vibe of serious enthusiast. Checked all the forums and didn't find any posts about a missing bike. Just looked very out of place there.

[station]

yeah that place is a waste land of stolen bikes / used baby bottles / car stereo face plates.

[Alex]

Is there anything you can do about it?
There has to be a way to show that it's stolen, and get it to right person.

[Smirnus]

Checked the stolen bike registry - nothing

Every kind of search on the main bike forums - nothing

Only thing to go on is that the bike is being sold by a Mexican at a swapmeet.

If it's not reported I got nothing to base suspicion besides racial stereotypes.

[mauric6943]

no comment

[Smirnus]

Something I just learned about is

Juststolen.net

and trace.com

juststolen lets you report you merch gone, and works with ebay, pawn shops and the police.

Trace lets you post descriptions of your stuff for people like me to compare and then contact police. Just need wireless broadband to complete the system.

[schleppp]

Originally Posted by Smirnus

Only thing to go on is that the bike is being sold by a Mexican at a swapmeet.

That is enough evidence for me! We all know white people don't ever steal!!

[dirtvert]

Originally Posted by Smirnus

Only thing to go on is that the bike is being sold by a Mexican at a swapmeet.

a mexican mtber? it's obviously either stolen or being used for smuggling. call in the minutemen. call the guard back from iraq. release the hounds. gimme a break...

[MuddyEdgar]

Maybe this guy was selling it for one of his kids or a friend, maybe he quit riding, maybe he was a prize winner but doesn't ride.
My parents happen to be Mexican (retired) and live in Laguna Beach and they enjoy having yard sales and selling stuff at swap meets. I had them sell 2 of my old bikes (5spot & Zaskar)

How do you know the guy was Mexican?

I know STR has a lot of Latino members...and not all Mexicans are thief's.

But it's all good. Some people will always be racist and quick to judge others.

[guero]

Originally Posted by MuddyEdgar

Maybe this guy was selling it for one of his kids or a friend, maybe he quit riding, maybe he was a prize winner but doesn't ride.
My parents happen to be Mexican (retired) and live in Laguna Beach and they enjoy having yard sales and selling stuff at swap meets. I had them sell 2 of my old bikes (5spot & Zaskar)

How do you know the guy was Mexican?

I know STR has a lot of Latino members...and not all Mexicans are thief's.

But it's all good. Some people will always be racist and quick to judge others.

werd. i see so many white tweakers selling random and most likely stolen sh*t at the swap meets & flea markets.

when are we gonna ride edgar?!?!?

[Trizz]

i think you guys are taking this out of context, lets not start a bad thread because of a comment, the main point of the thread is to see if anyone is missing or knows someone missing a bike, thats it.

[MuddyEdgar]

Originally Posted by guero

werd. i see so many white tweakers selling random and most likely stolen sh*t at the swap meets & flea markets.

when are we gonna ride edgar?!?!?

Dude let me know when you are riding. I need to put more miles on my rig.

[Smirnus]

Maybe this guy was selling it for one of his kids or a friend, maybe he quit riding, maybe he was a prize winner but doesn't ride.
My parents happen to be Mexican (retired) and live in Laguna Beach and they enjoy having yard sales and selling stuff at swap meets. I had them sell 2 of my old bikes (5spot & Zaskar)

How do you know the guy was Mexican?

I know STR has a lot of Latino members...and not all Mexicans are thief's.

But it's all good. Some people will always be racist and quick to judge others.




If it's legit then good to the seller for moving it. Consider context, you can look on the classifieds on any bike site, any zine, ebay and craigslist and expect to find high-dollar stuff even in excellent condition.

Cruising flea markets I'm looking for diamond-in-the-rough items, classic/older rigs, accessories that may not be worth setting up online auction or ad. Seeing a high-end bike looks out of place considering everything else up for sale. So this raised an eyebrow as did the Monty trials bike I saw with a big chainring swapped in, the alloy Litespeed and Masi bikes that looked a year or two old.

One would figure the original owners would try to get as high a resale as possible and be a bit more focused on who they target.

[RacinJason]

I took 2 high end Moto X bikes, Race Kart ,MTN Bike and a 3 guitars and a pa system.
All of the guitars sold. The mountain bike and bike stand sold. I had the largest crowd around my booth but I didn't sell the motorcycles,Race Kart or the PA.
I sold 5 helmets loads of new gear though ha ha .

You never know what you will find or who will be selling it.
People probably suspected something crazy at my booth. It was at Cypress collage swap meet. If you have been there you will know why my booth didn't fit in. All around me was used junk. I like look through it myself so it was fun.

I don't think the man was trying to be racist but it was a rough use of words.
The bike in question might not be stolen but if it is wouldn't it be cool if the owner got it back in one piece. I think that is what he was trying to say here.

[bighit8]

Originally Posted by RacinJason

I took 2 high end Moto X bikes, Race Kart ,MTN Bike and a 3 guitars and a pa system.
All of the guitars sold. The mountain bike and bike stand sold. I had the largest crowd around my booth but I didn't sell the motorcycles,Race Kart or the PA.
I sold 5 helmets loads of new gear though ha ha .

You never know what you will find or who will be selling it.
People probably suspected something crazy at my booth. It was at Cypress collage swap meet. If you have been there you will know why my booth didn't fit in. All around me was used junk. I like look through it myself so it was fun.

I don't think the man was trying to be racist but it was a rough use of words.
The bike in question might not be stolen but if it is wouldn't it be cool if the owner got it back in one piece. I think that is what he was trying to say here.

Great point!

[ferrit66]

(Only thing to go on is that the bike is being sold by a Mexican at a swapmeet)

Wow.

[Smirnus]

FROM MTBR: READ IT AND EAT ME!!! Hopefully no one else will ignore their instincts because common sense may not be politically correct.

6 Days Ago #1 El Caballo
Blanco
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 954


What to do when your bike is stolen: some things I've learned
EDIT: I've recovered my bike, so some combination of these things can work!

Since my recumbent is such an obvious bike, it's been sighted several times on the road to recovery. Based on this, I can offer some advice:

First, spring into action IMMEDIATELY. The longer it's out there, the less chance you have of ever seeing it again.

1) Call police and report it stolen the *second* you realize it, even if you don't have the serial number with you. The thief might still be riding or wheeling it around, and the police might see them. They'll give you a case number: call later and add the serial number to the case file. Sometimes the case officer will have email and you can send them a picture of the bike, which helps a lot. If not, print/copy one and take it down there yourself to add to the file.

2) Call local bike shops *immediately*. Don't just call the ones that deal in used bikes: thieves will sometimes take it to random places on their way to wherever. In my case, the thief walked right by the Bent Spoke (used bikes, whom I contacted right away) and walked into Tip Top (new bikes only) with a *videotape* of my bicycle, asking "how much is a bike like this worth?" I can't make this up.

3) Post a stolen bike alert in the "bikes for sale" section on Craigslist and put up physical flyers in the area where it was stolen. Offer a reward with no questions asked. Sometimes this works, especially for unusual bikes that are hard to sell, but you have to actually follow through on it. If it does work, stifle your curiosity. Just pay the tax, take your bike, get out of there, and be glad you got it back.

4) Thieves want money, fast. In the East Bay, this means they will often go to the flea market *the next morning* to sell it, usually for pennies on the dollar. Go early: they open at 7 AM and hot stuff tends to get sold in the first few hours. My bike was reportedly gone at 9 AM.

Ashby (Saturday/Sunday)
Laney (Sunday, maybe Saturday also? I get conflicting info)
Oakland Coliseum (Tuesday-Saturday)

I was told by many bike shops that Ashby and Laney were the hot spots, but I hit Ashby in both the morning and evening and I didn't see anything that looked too sketchy. Maybe it's been cleaned up, or maybe I was just there on a good day.

Laney, OTOH, was FULL of hot bikes and other merchandise. I saw probably 6-7 bicycles that were obviously stolen. It's the guys with a booth that looks like the contents of an apartment that are suspicious...when you see someone selling a DVD player, a couple car stereos, some CDs and DVDs, a cell phone, a computer, and a Tommasso with full Ultegra...

Note that the guys that buy and sell low-end bicycles are generally legit. Talk to them and ask them if they've seen your bike. Offer them a cash reward, no questions asked, and leave your *cell phone* (i.e. not your home phone where they can reverse lookup your address). The thief will usually sell a $1000 bike for about $50, so even if you have to pay off the vendor too you're coming out way ahead. If you talk to enough of these guys you will have the flea markets covered. That's how I found out what happened to my bike, though since I went to the wrong market the day it got sold I wasn't able to get it back that way.

The Coliseum evidently also has a lot of hot merch, because that's where my bike went.

5) The advice I got was "stolen property flows downhill towards the Oakland flats", and it's true: my bike was seen at MLK/Ashby on Thursday, 50th/Telegraph and 34th/West on Friday, and was probably sold at the Coliseum on Saturday morning.

6) Start trolling Craigslist and Ebay in case someone is dumb enough to post it up right away. Usually people are smarter and wait a week or two, but you have to check just in case.

Remember, if you post a reward with no questions asked, you may have to pay someone to get your own bike back in a sketchy transaction. This will rankle you, but it'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than replacing your bike.

If anyone has any good advice to add, please let me know and I'll revise.

[TooManyTacos]

Hey Smirnus, I think I got what you were saying. Unfortunately, as we all know, it's really hard to talk about race because...well, I guess people in general don't really know how to talk about it (myself included). Hopefully we'll all get better at it, and in the meantime learn to not be offended even if someone says something that could be taken the wrong way. It was pretty obvious you were trying to help someone find his/her bike, and I hope we can all continue to look out for one another, cause as a community, that's all we really have.

[bighit8]

Originally Posted by TooManyTacos

Hey Smirnus, I think I got what you were saying. Unfortunately, as we all know, it's really hard to talk about race because...well, I guess people in general don't really know how to talk about it (myself included). Hopefully we'll all get better at it, and in the meantime learn to not be offended even if someone says something that could be taken the wrong way. It was pretty obvious you were trying to help someone find his/her bike, and I hope we can all continue to look out for one another, cause as a community, that's all we really have.

You and Jason have posted with a clear head!Thanks

I took 2 high end Moto X bikes, Race Kart ,MTN Bike and a 3 guitars and a pa system.
All of the guitars sold. The mountain bike and bike stand sold. I had the largest crowd around my booth but I didn't sell the motorcycles,Race Kart or the PA.
I sold 5 helmets loads of new gear though ha ha .

You never know what you will find or who will be selling it.
People probably suspected something crazy at my booth. It was at Cypress collage swap meet. If you have been there you will know why my booth didn't fit in. All around me was used junk. I like look through it myself so it was fun.

I don't think the man was trying to be racist but it was a rough use of words.
The bike in question might not be stolen but if it is wouldn't it be cool if the owner got it back in one piece. I think that is what he was trying to say here.