STOLEN BIKES?????

Swaine55

anyone ever bought anything off "bikeman" on dublin-bike.info??? not sure if it is dodgy stolen bikes????

TheJones

If bikeman is that chap selling the vintage rides then seriously doubt there stolen, he's got loads of those refurbished frames on there and has all his contact details available with pictures of each bike.

Have you spotted something in particular? e.g. the hamburglar

Swaine55

this guy...

http://www.dublin-bicycle.info/ad_bicycle-white-racer-bike-1269.html

He has so many bikes for sale, but he dosnt own a shop. how would he get so many bikes? and when i made my offer he said he would forward my number onto a peir who would then hand me the bike. sounds odd

the lil man

looks a bit dodgy.. i had my bike stolen a while ago and a few weeks later i went into a certain bike shop and seen my bike for sale. and i knew it was mine because i had my initials ingraved under a bottom piece of the frame.
the website is badly designed just from looking at the main page. wouldn't trust them. why not just go to a bike shop

km991148

the lil man wrote: »

looks a bit dodgy.. i had my bike stolen a while ago and a few weeks later i went into a certain bike shop and seen my bike for sale. and i knew it was mine because i had my initials ingraved under a bottom piece of the frame.
the website is badly designed just from looking at the main page. wouldn't trust them. why not just go to a bike shop

which bike shop? did u have evidence, a photo of the engraving? get the police involved, is resetting stolen goods a crime in ireland?

disneyonfire

I bought a very nice vintage bike from him a few months back. Ive had no problems with it. Just be aware that you'll get what you pay for. The bike I bought was in good working order and the frame was in near perfect condition, especially for its age, but you'll probably need to replace the saddle, handlebar grip e.t.c. cos they might be a bit worn. Same with buying a lot of second hand bikes really.

I know it does sound a bit dodgy having to meet up with someone else to collect the bike and I was as wary as you are about it but in fairness I met him at Stephens Green so I knew I could turn up and check him out cos I'd know who he was by the fact that he'd be holding the bike. And as it turned out he was a very friendly, approachable guy who even let me cycle the bike around the block by myself to test it out.

As for the bikes being stolen, Ive no reason to believe they are and I would highly doubt it. Surely if they were stolen he would've been caught by now judging from the amount of bikes he sells. But I would assume that due to the fact that they're all usually European make 80's bikes, of which you don't see too many here, that they're coming from abroad.

I'd say just check out the bike and if you like it buy it, if you don't, don't.

Just to add, I've no affiliation with this guy whatsoever.

Captain Havoc

Disneyonfire- I love that name

the lil man

it wasn't the shop that stole it i hope, i think whoever stole it was selling it to the shop second hand. i dont want to name the shop because it would give them a bad reputation when i actualy think it is quite a good shop.
i had the receipt of when i bought it and some code was on it which was on the bike or something. i wasn't really sure how they did it. they rang the gards and told them about what hapened and the guy in the shop had video footage of the guy who brought the bike in. he gave it to the gards and i got my bike which after waiting for about 2 hours:rolleyes:

km991148 wrote: »

which bike shop? did u have evidence, a photo of the engraving? get the police involved, is resetting stolen goods a crime in ireland?

Piercemeear

I've checked out a bike from this guy before (didn't buy it) and been in semi-regular email contact since about others. I asked him specifically about this and he said he imports them from the continent and sells them here at a profit. Which is not to say I know for a fact he's not stealing them, but I'd imagine there's a much bigger market for older bikes in the larger countries, and it's not at all unbelievable he'd be sourcing a couple of bikes a week the way he is. He also has a notice on his site saying he can try to find parts, etc if required so it kind of points to some affiliation with second-hand sellers abroad.

So I don't know for sure, but he's reasonably reassuring. Email him and ask, if he's honest he wont mind.

Eoin D

I was actually talking to a guy over in Holland who has a good friend (who has a brother who knows a guy) that sells frames and stuff. Apparently there's good money to be made in it, LOADS of old racing bikes around holland that are sold for cheap (and yet I still haven't bought one).