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> stolen and found in Africa That was unexpected. How do they end up in Africa? Sounds like there is an interesting story there. I can see teenagers stealing t

by rdtsc 9y ago

> stolen and found in Africa That was unexpected. How do they end up in Africa? Sounds like there is an interesting story there. I can see teenagers stealing them, throwing them from a roof, vandalizing them, but how in the world do they have the dedication to ship them to a different continent. I guess it could be "a challenge" to impress their peers.

kiliankoe 9y ago
Same idea as stealing them in Germany and selling them further east. You're not going to find buyers locally, and shipping a lot of stolen bikes to somewhere where you can offload them for cheap is probably a somewhat viable business.
- deleted 9y ago
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Joeri 9y ago
There was a very broadly reported crane theft a while ago in belgium. It was odd because nobody in western europe would buy a stolen crane. It turns out construction machines are often stolen and sold in africa where nobody checks the paperwork. Probably the same story applies to these bikes.
Torwald 9y ago
If that was unexpected to you, I'll take it you don't know France very well. People send stuff back to Africa all the time. I can't say anything about the bike (obviously), but I can tell you what an African friend of mine does for a living; in the middle of Europe. He sends stuff back to Africa. What he does is he rents out a container on a ship and then collects the payload in small units. I advertises in the African community (mainly Togo) and sells small amount of space on that container. People want to send stuff to their relatives on the continent all the time. I hope my mildly related anecdote was helpful.
- nitrogen 9y ago
  In inland southern California there is (or was, last time I was there) a Polynesian community that's established enough for similar container-shipping companies to arise to send things to their families still on the islands.
donttrack 9y ago
Was in Paris last year. I thought I was in Africa..

by rdtsc 9y ago

kiliankoe 9y ago

Same idea as stealing them in Germany and selling them further east. You're not going to find buyers locally, and shipping a lot of stolen bikes to somewhere where you can offload them for cheap is probably a somewhat viable business.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

Joeri 9y ago

There was a very broadly reported crane theft a while ago in belgium. It was odd because nobody in western europe would buy a stolen crane. It turns out construction machines are often stolen and sold in africa where nobody checks the paperwork. Probably the same story applies to these bikes.

Torwald 9y ago

If that was unexpected to you, I'll take it you don't know France very well. People send stuff back to Africa all the time. I can't say anything about the bike (obviously), but I can tell you what an African friend of mine does for a living; in the middle of Europe. He sends stuff back to Africa. What he does is he rents out a container on a ship and then collects the payload in small units. I advertises in the African community (mainly Togo) and sells small amount of space on that container. People want to send stuff to their relatives on the continent all the time. I hope my mildly related anecdote was helpful.

nitrogen 9y ago
In inland southern California there is (or was, last time I was there) a Polynesian community that's established enough for similar container-shipping companies to arise to send things to their families still on the islands.

donttrack 9y ago

Was in Paris last year. I thought I was in Africa..