Would you buy a stolen bike?

Dietsquirt

Hi,

Just to preface this post, i own a decent enough racer bike which i spent €800 on.

I'm looking for a 2nd hand/cheap bike that i can use to cycle in to the City Centre (Dublin) and not be afraid to leave locked up. I have a very good lock (kryptonite) but i still wouldn't leave my racer bike in town.

Blah blah blah...

I sent an email around my job last week and inquiring if anyone had a bike lying around their sheds that they'd want to offload (for a cheap enough price)

1 guy, who i don't really know said he can get me one for €100, that was really the maximum i was willing to pay. I asked him the make/model etc.. He showed me a few pictures and they look like fairly newish bikes (all Treks). I asked him where he gets them and he said he knows a guy who gets a few in every week.

They must be stolen.

Am i a scumbag for paying €100 for one of these bikes? They are a great bargain and lets face it, if they are stolen, the person isn't getting it back.

What would you do?

winston82

Bargain. Buy it.

DazMarz

I wouldn't buy a bike, period...

Chucken

They're probably reported as stolen. I'd be telling the Gardai.

HondaSami

Would you like if your bike was stolen and sold on ?

donvito99

Isn't possessing stolen goods an offence?

frozenfrozen

Tough call morally, but the bikes are already stolen, and your decision to buy or not buy won't effect this guy continuing to steal bikes... hmmmmmmmmm, you're saving the environment too.......

Judgement Day

Tip-off the gardai. What else is his friend stealing to order?

Gatling

Scum .in this day and age when people struggle to keep a roof over there heads,a bike could be a persons only way to afford to get to work, your as much a theif as the friends friends if you choose to buy it that is

o1s1n

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Tough call morally, but the bikes are already stolen, and your decision to buy or not buy won't effect this guy continuing to steal bikes... hmmmmmmmmm, you're saving the environment too.......

You are though as youre creating a demand.

No demand, no bike stealing.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Arrange to buy the bike, tip off AGS.....get your head kicked in.

mattjack

Why not sell your own bike for 800 euros then buy 8 bikes from the dodgy bloke , when he produces a pic of your own bike when it eventually gets stolen , buy it back for a 100 euros, ... and voila ......now you have nine bikes.

HondaSami

Buying goods you know is stolen is as bad as stealing them yourself imo.

Kat1170

You think he won't steal the bike back off you to sell on to someone else :rolleyes:

Vizzy

I have one that I'll sell to you for €75.
A guy on the internet told me that it is worth about €800 new.

Ihatecuddles-old

Some poor sod probably saved up to get a nice bike

Dont buy it, you'll end up getting hit by a bus or something!

LizT

Dietsquirt wrote: »

Hi,

Just to preface this post, i own a decent enough racer bike which i spent €800 on.

I'm looking for a 2nd hand/cheap bike that i can use to cycle in to the City Centre (Dublin) and not be afraid to leave locked up. I have a very good lock (kryptonite) but i still wouldn't leave my racer bike in town.

Blah blah blah...

I sent an email around my job last week and inquiring if anyone had a bike lying around their sheds that they'd want to offload (for a cheap enough price)

1 guy, who i don't really know said he can get me one for €100, that was really the maximum i was willing to pay. I asked him the make/model etc.. He showed me a few pictures and they look like fairly newish bikes (all Treks). I asked him where he gets them and he said he knows a guy who gets a few in every week.

They must be stolen.

Am i a scumbag for paying €100 for one of these bikes? They are a great bargain and lets face it, if they are stolen, the person isn't getting it back.

What would you do?

Because people are creating a demand for stolen bikes by buying them.

No demand = no supply.

Dwork

Buy the bike, but glue a thumbtack to the seat. That way you still get to go riding it, but every time, you do your penance. Consider it a "balance".

mattjack

DazMarz wrote: »

I wouldn't buy a bike, period...

Round here , we say full stop .

Dubba

What if the owner of the stolen bike actually spots you on their bike one day. Chances might be slim, but the repercussions would be bad.

NegativeCreep

No. Effort of cycling. I'd buy a stolen car if it was up for grabs though.

BidillyBo

LizT wrote: »

Because people are creating a demand for stolen bikes by buying them.

No demand = no supply.

they'd just ship them off to england or somehwhere where people do want stolen bikes, properly happens at the minute anyway

Gatling

Then again karma might play a part in the end ,buy the bargain bike cycle around the corner get hit by a stolen car or bus,
karma

Dwork

I think I know your "friend". Offer him €50, he's ridin you.

Bipolar Joe

Look on Broadsheet to see if any of the bikes look like the ones on there. They don't usually do that sort of thing, but there's some on there.

irish bloke

Buy it, you didn't steel it and you only suspect it was stolen.
Bet lots of the high moral folk on here would buy it too, but wouldn't admit it.

Merl1n

If you buy it your fueling crime

mattjack

Gatling wrote: »

Then again karma might play a part in the end ,buy the bargain bike cycle around the corner get hit by a stolen car or bus,
karma

Karmas a load of bollix , my GP told me years ago I'd have a heart attack if I didn't stop eating junk food ,drinking to much and smoking , I laughed at the fat cunt last week, when I heard he had a banger and I'm still going stro______________

Dietsquirt

Dietsquirt wrote: »

I have a very good lock (kryptonite) but i still wouldn't leave my racer bike in town.

I don't think Superman steals bikes. He can fly like.

Carlos Orange

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Tough call morally, but the bikes are already stolen, and your decision to buy or not buy won't effect this guy continuing to steal bikes... hmmmmmmmmm, you're saving the environment too.......

There are tough moral questions. This aint one of them.

Artful_Badger

So you're afraid your nice bike is gonna get stolen so you're thinking about buying a stolen bike ?

If you do buy it you will be putting money into a scumbags pocket and encouraging him to go and steal more stuff from hard working people who pay their own way though life. Basically funding the reason you're afraid to leave your bike in town.

You would be both a scumbag and an idiot as far as I can see.

Ruudi_Mentari

I'm in the round for a nice cut price bike right now, any takers!

In all honesty though you don't want irate dad circling the block a couple if hundred times for you, nevermind gutted son. It is a big deal to them

Dietsquirt

Again i just want to clarify that i'm not 100% the bike(s) is/are stolen, i'm just presuming. A lot of mixed opinions here but seems most people think i should tell him to F off.

irish bloke

Artful_Badger wrote: »

So you're afraid your nice bike is gonna get stolen so you're thinking about buying a stolen bike ?

If you do buy it you will be putting money into a scumbags pocket and encouraging him to go and steal more stuff from hard working people who pay their own way though life. Basically funding the reason you're afraid to leave your bike in town.

You would be both a scumbag and an idiot as far as I can see.

Get a grip for god's sake....
Scumbag and idiot.. Talk about an over reaction.

Artful_Badger

irish bloke wrote: »

Get a grip for god's sake....
Scumbag and idiot.. Talk about an over reaction.

Its not an overreaction its common sense. He talking about paying some scummer for stealing a bike because he's afraid some scummer will steal his bike.

Sounds idiotic to me.

irish bloke

Dietsquirt wrote: »

Again i just want to clarify that i'm not 100% the bike(s) is/are stolen, i'm just presuming. A lot of mixed opinions here but seems most people think i should tell him to F off.

If you really worried about it (which you sound like you are), then ask him are they stolen.
If he says no then buy it, if he says yes then don't..,

Dietsquirt

Artful_Badger wrote: »

So you're afraid your nice bike is gonna get stolen so you're thinking about buying a stolen bike ?

If you do buy it you will be putting money into a scumbags pocket and encouraging him to go and steal more stuff from hard working people who pay their own way though life. Basically funding the reason you're afraid to leave your bike in town.

You would be both a scumbag and an idiot as far as I can see.

Please read my post again, i'm guessing the bike is stolen, i wanted to spend max €100 on a bike (any bike!), if it does get stolen i'll only be out of pocket 100 as opposed to 800.

Dwork

Dietsquirt wrote: »

Again i just want to clarify that i'm not 100% the bike(s) is/are stolen, i'm just presuming. A lot of mixed opinions here but seems most people think i should tell him to F off.

Those bikes were built to be ridden, they have no owner, they just exist to roll. You can't steal freedom, it belongs to the world, and a bike is freedom. Go get your bike, soldier. or stop whinging on the 'net about your moral dilemmas, personally, I'd buy the bike. I'd consider it my reward for all the stuff that's been robbed off me. What goes around comes around. This is your turn to get one in before someone robs your racer.

Artful_Badger

Dietsquirt wrote: »

Please read my post again, i'm guessing the bike is stolen, i wanted to spend max €100 on a bike (any bike!), if it does get stolen i'll only be out of pocket 100 as opposed to 800.

I think we are all operating on the presumption of the bike being stolen here because you started a thread about buying stolen bikes.

Look it, its upto you to decide if your gonna do it. You asked fr opinions and I gave mine. If you give money to a scummer for doing his scummer work then you are by proxy a scummer in my book. And paying the guys causing the problem you have in the first place doesnt sound like much of a solution to me.

Dwork

Artful_Badger wrote: »

I think we are all operating on the presumption of the bike being stolen here because you started a thread about buying stolen bikes.

Look it, its upto you to decide if your gonna do it. You asked fr opinions and I gave mine. If you give money to a scummer for doing his scummer work then you are by proxy a scummer in my book. And paying the guys causing the problem you have in the first place doesnt sound like much of a solution to me.

Scummers have to live as well. If there were no scummers, there'd be no bike-lock shops, no Gardai, no Eircom Homewatch, no Bouncers and no locksmiths. I think we all need to give thanks for scummers. Scummers create a HELL of a lot of work for a lot of people. I for one am grateful for scummers. Just think how much unemployment there'd be without scummers.

Tom_Cruise

Can you send me on the details sounds like a good deal

kona

Dietsquirt wrote: »

Hi,

Just to preface this post, i own a decent enough racer bike which i spent €800 on.

I'm looking for a 2nd hand/cheap bike that i can use to cycle in to the City Centre (Dublin) and not be afraid to leave locked up. I have a very good lock (kryptonite) but i still wouldn't leave my racer bike in town.

Blah blah blah...

I sent an email around my job last week and inquiring if anyone had a bike lying around their sheds that they'd want to offload (for a cheap enough price)

1 guy, who i don't really know said he can get me one for €100, that was really the maximum i was willing to pay. I asked him the make/model etc.. He showed me a few pictures and they look like fairly newish bikes (all Treks). I asked him where he gets them and he said he knows a guy who gets a few in every week.

They must be stolen.

Am i a scumbag for paying €100 for one of these bikes? They are a great bargain and lets face it, if they are stolen, the person isn't getting it back.

What would you do?

If you buy that I hope you get both stolen.

Dietsquirt

kona wrote: »

If you buy that I hope you get both stolen.

Liam Neeson would come get me.

The_Gatsby

I've got a friend in college who lives in inner city Dublin. He knows people who do the whole bike robbing thing and apparently most of the stolen bikes are ones left in apartment building stairwells, unlocked. The young lads just wait for someone to open the door, walk in and walk out with the bike.

It's likely that these stolen bikes were left out by utter idiots who didn't value them enough to lock them up in the first place. Not that I'm advocating the purchase of stolen goods of course

spankysue

I wouldn't buy a stolen bike OP but I'd download one if I could :pac:

IceFjoem

I'm curious as to whether there's a website where victims of bike theft can post up pictures and maybe the serial numbers of their frames so that people can crosscheck bikes before buying them, and even alert the owners. With the poweful means of communication these days it's something owners and genuine buyers could almost police themselves. If not there should be IMO. F*ck the scumbags!

Artful_Badger

Dwork wrote: »

Scummers have to live as well. If there were no scummers, there'd be no bike-lock shops, no Gardai, no Eircom Homewatch, no Bouncers and no locksmiths. I think we all need to give thanks for scummers. Scummers create a HELL of a lot of work for a lot of people. I for one am grateful for scummers. Just think how much unemployment there'd be without scummers.

No what they do is redirect time and energy that could be spent on things of benefit into trying to stop them from wrecking things for everyone else. They wont get no thanks from me, only scorn, disdain and the occasional inaudible insult if I see them out and about.

Keep_Her_Lit

Dietsquirt wrote: »

Am i a scumbag for paying €100 for one of these bikes?

If your gut feeling is that the bike is stolen and you go ahead and purchase anyway, then yes, without a doubt.

lets face it, if they are stolen, the person isn't getting it back.

Don't be so sure. Unless the bike was stolen a long way from where you intend to use it, you never know when the rightful owner might be waiting for you when you stroll back to "your" bike someday.

Look, in all probability you're going to take the easiest, cheapest path, regardless of any opinions you read here. And in the bigger scheme of things it won't make much difference. But just remember that decision the next time you get screwed over by some selfish pr1ck or somebody helps themselves to the contents of your other half's bag/wallet or breaks into your parents' home. The way you feel on such an occasion is probably the way the rightful owner of your bicycle felt the day it was stolen from them, to be sold to someone like you.

Peetrik

Buying a bike you know is stolen makes you a selfish ar$ehole, you are well aware of this already OP, you wouldn't have asked otherwise.

Stop looking for reasons to justify it to yourself. If you do it, your a díckhead. End of.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Tell him to get you a bike then when he produces the bike take the serial number (it's stamped in to bottom bracket/pedal spindle) and tell him your ringing the guards to check it hasn't been stolen. When your dodgey work mate gets all nervous and making excuses offer him €20 and tell him you'll pay him next week...then don't.

birchtree

My old rust affected bike got stolen from Drumcondra Rd. last night, from a front of a pub, in front of security camera.
Will I spend €400 or more on a new bike? No.
Will I buy a stolen bike for €50 or less? Yes.
When you're strapped for money, it's that simple.