Links for 2012-08-31
What Happens to Stolen Bicycles?
‘Bike thievery is essentially a risk-free crime. If you were a criminal, that might just strike your fancy. If Goldman Sachs didn’t have more profitable market inefficencies to exploit, they might be out there arbitraging stolen bikes.’ Good summary, and I suspect a lot applies in Dublin too — flea markets and vanloads of stolen bikes being sent to other cities for reselling.
Tom Cleary said,
September 22, 2012 @ 6:15 pm
Unless there’s a “mass collection” at a Student Union etc. they get abandoned near where the thief lives, the neighbours report it, it gets collected by the Police, they keep it for 3 months, then it goes to auction, gets bought by 2nd hand dealers, then sold to students. It’s a life cycle thing. If it’s a Muddy Fox, or similar, then there’s a sub-plot about insurance claims. Und zo weiter. ;-)
Justin said,
September 24, 2012 @ 9:51 pm
Oh good, there’s a chance I’ll get my bike back then!
Tom Cleary said,
October 1, 2012 @ 4:34 pm
Usually, as long as you reported it stolen and have your post code engraved below the pedal bracket or you’re prepared to buy it back from a 2nd hand dealer. If it’s a REALLY nice bike, you might get the frame ( all the bits get stripped for spares ) or it’s in a container on it’s way to a “bargain bikes” store overseas, where the found property registers aren’t correlated.