5 ms·

Much more important would be to find who they are selling these bikes to. The thieves would not be stealing the bikes if someone was not buying them up in huge

by doikor 6y ago

Much more important would be to find who they are selling these bikes to. The thieves would not be stealing the bikes if someone was not buying them up in huge numbers.

londons_explore 6y ago
They sell them for £50 a piece back to the same bikers who had their bikes stolen. I'm afraid I don't feel bad buying a bike from a dodgy guy in a street corner to replace my bike that was taken by a dodgy guy from a street corner...
- stefs 6y ago
  so where can i find those £50 carbon road bikes you are speaking of? no dodgy guy on my corner and classifieds are maybe 20% off the new price for an 8 year old bike "because i never rode it anyway". i sometimes dream about eastern european villages where everyone rides superlight fullies and aero racers.
- doikor 6y ago
  Nobody here in Finland is buying bikes (or anything for that matter) from a dodgy guy on the street corner. They are usually sold online or if more organized operation forwards to some fence who ships them to another city (or country within the EU) to be sold. Depending on the bike they can also be sold as parts. Selling really expensive racing bike can be hard but selling the frame on its own after cleaning it is not that hard. And if you are buying a 1000€ bike for 50€ you can be pretty sure it is stolen and buying stolen goods is illegal and can get you in trouble (if the police would actually be doing anything about bike theft...)
- jokethrowaway 6y ago
  That's what happens to cheap bikes, for sure. I've seen it countless times in Italy, people don't even bother buying an expensive bike, they just buy some half broken bike (usually from the same dodgy guys in the streets who steal them) because they know they will get stolen. The police doesn't even bother fighting it, they often talk to many of the immigrants and rarely do something. I know because, as a second generation immigrant from Africa, the police was always stopping me just to talk. It's kind of like bike sharing, you pay 20 euros until the next time they steal it from you. On the plus side, it's giving a livelihood to poor and desperate immigrants who can't find a job in the sad Italian economy. If it wasn't for bike theft and drug dealing, things would probably escalate to worse crimes.
novok 6y ago
Often the pattern is they get stolen by random dudes, who then pawn it off to the local bike fence gang, who then ship it far far away and either sell the parts or the bikes somewhere else. If you dont recover your bike in a day, there is a good chance it's in a city far far away. Look at this crazy story to see how international it can get: https://cyclingindustry.news/vanmoofs-pledge-to-recover-stolen-customer-bikes-leads-to-international-theft-ring-discovery/ https://cyclingindustry.news/vanmoofs-pledge-to-recover-stol...

by doikor 6y ago

Much more important would be to find who they are selling these bikes to. The thieves would not be stealing the bikes if someone was not buying them up in huge numbers.

londons_explore 6y ago

They sell them for £50 a piece back to the same bikers who had their bikes stolen. I'm afraid I don't feel bad buying a bike from a dodgy guy in a street corner to replace my bike that was taken by a dodgy guy from a street corner...

stefs 6y ago
so where can i find those £50 carbon road bikes you are speaking of? no dodgy guy on my corner and classifieds are maybe 20% off the new price for an 8 year old bike "because i never rode it anyway". i sometimes dream about eastern european villages where everyone rides superlight fullies and aero racers.
doikor 6y ago
Nobody here in Finland is buying bikes (or anything for that matter) from a dodgy guy on the street corner. They are usually sold online or if more organized operation forwards to some fence who ships them to another city (or country within the EU) to be sold. Depending on the bike they can also be sold as parts. Selling really expensive racing bike can be hard but selling the frame on its own after cleaning it is not that hard. And if you are buying a 1000€ bike for 50€ you can be pretty sure it is stolen and buying stolen goods is illegal and can get you in trouble (if the police would actually be doing anything about bike theft...)
jokethrowaway 6y ago
That's what happens to cheap bikes, for sure. I've seen it countless times in Italy, people don't even bother buying an expensive bike, they just buy some half broken bike (usually from the same dodgy guys in the streets who steal them) because they know they will get stolen. The police doesn't even bother fighting it, they often talk to many of the immigrants and rarely do something. I know because, as a second generation immigrant from Africa, the police was always stopping me just to talk. It's kind of like bike sharing, you pay 20 euros until the next time they steal it from you. On the plus side, it's giving a livelihood to poor and desperate immigrants who can't find a job in the sad Italian economy. If it wasn't for bike theft and drug dealing, things would probably escalate to worse crimes.

novok 6y ago

Often the pattern is they get stolen by random dudes, who then pawn it off to the local bike fence gang, who then ship it far far away and either sell the parts or the bikes somewhere else. If you dont recover your bike in a day, there is a good chance it's in a city far far away. Look at this crazy story to see how international it can get: https://cyclingindustry.news/vanmoofs-pledge-to-recover-stolen-customer-bikes-leads-to-international-theft-ring-discovery/ https://cyclingindustry.news/vanmoofs-pledge-to-recover-stol...