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A dutch women told me once a story, where she but a used bike in Amsterdam and the heroin addict who sold it to her, threaten her to steal it again, if she does
by lucioperca 2y ago
A dutch women told me once a story, where she but a used bike in Amsterdam and the heroin addict who sold it to her, threaten her to steal it again, if she does not use a heavy lock.
- passwordoops 2y agoWhen I moved to the Netherlands my boss told me to never spend more than 20 euro on a bike because it will get stolen. I didn't listen, and lo and behold two weeks in my 75 euro bike and the 35 euro heavy duty lock disappeared
- themaninthedark 2y agoThat is rather sad to hear.
- notyoutube 2y agoI'm skeptical: * Where do you buy a ≤20 euro bike? * Most people on the street have bikes that look to be at least 200 euros new, from what I can tell.
- henriquecm8 2y agoThey didn't mention the year of the story, it could've happened a couple of decades ago.
- yolo3000 2y agoI've never done it, but you buy it from the thief (junkie) directly. So it could be that you find them by word of mouth, like you would use to buy drugs when they were illegal. But you can also buy a second hand bike very cheaply, some are even free (just an example: https://www.marktplaats.nl/v/fietsen-en-brommers/fietsen-heren-herenfietsen/m2098666103-herenfiets https://www.marktplaats.nl/v/fietsen-en-brommers/fietsen-her...). New bikes are usually more than 200 euros, dutch brands are 500 euros and up
- passwordoops 2y agoThis was 2010-ish and I found one on Marktplaats. Might be going for 40 or 50 now with inflation. People selling them on the street also had for cheap, but these were most definitely stolen.
- ben_w 2y agoLast time I bought a bike for £20 even second-hand, the Euro had not yet been introduced. Even in 2011, when I made the mistake of spending £90 for a new bike… well, the pedals came off while riding it due to metal fatigue. Adjusting for inflation*, I'd expect similar build quality from a bike that "only" cost €200 today. * hard to do when there is also a currency switch, especially when the exchange rate has changed so much
- jandrese 2y agoPresumably from the bike thieves. There's a glut in the stolen bike market so the price competition is fierce.
- antisthenes 2y agoIt seems like that that point the bike thieves are just a bike rental company. You get the bike for < 20 Euro and then, presumably, at some point in the future it gets stolen again, but you already got 20 Euros worth of use out of it.
- CodeWriter23 2y ago"Discount Variable Duration" rental program.
- rafale 2y agoEfficient market hypothesis proven.
- swader999 2y agoPolice unclaimed bike auctions maybe.
- Thorrez 2y agoDoes the Netherlands have a law against knowingly buying stolen property?
- devoutsalsa 2y agoEvery place in the world does probably. But how would you prove an unmarked, cheap bike was stolen?
- Propelloni 2y agoYou wouldn't but nowadays no bike is unmarked, even the cheap ones.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoCan’t you trivially deface an identifier?
- NicoJuicy 2y agoIn Belgium, it's a hard to remove sticker on a consistent place with a qr code. It would take work to remove it cleanly and/or cost money/time to paint over it. So it's less attractive. Ps. You'll still need to take care of your 10 k. Bike ofc. Ps. 2 : engraving isn't done anymore since bike frames got smaller.
- lukan 2y agoHow would you know a marked bike was stolen? Does the police offer a public listing of all the stolen bikes? (I do not think so, but this probably would make sense)
- dghughes 2y agoIf you can't and the owner can and if you are caught then you are liable.
- Thorrez 2y agoIf the seller threatens to "steal it again".