the stolen bike market

stolen bikes are everywhere. bike shops that sell used bikes must necessarily take the utmost precautions to avoid liability when purchasing used bikes off of people who walk into their shop. some collect driver's license numbers, other ID, etc. however, if you reach a certain dollar amount, you legally need a pawn license to do so.

my old shop, which sold only used bikes, had purchased bikes on 3 different occasions which turned out to be stolen. the police got involved, as did the owners in some cases, and it was not pretty. of course, none of these were bought directly from the thieves- stolen bikes typically get bought and sold a few times before ending up at a swap meet or flea market, where salvage-types buy things and resell them for a profit. this was the case for all of the aforementioned instances, and in all cases, the bikes were returned to their owner, free of charge. but the shop took a hit on the purchase price.

my current shop is a non profit. we gladly accept donations, but cannot buy bikes off people. its just a shop policy. people try to sell used bikes to us all the time- many seem legit, but some are clearly stolen.

this conversation happened today.

guy: "hey, do you guys buy used bikes?"

me : "no. many shops in the city choose not to get involved, since there are a LOT of stolen bikes floating around san francisco."

guy: "yeah, but my bike isn't stolen. . . "

me: "huh. do you think that people who try to sell stolen bikes typically mention, 'by the way, THIS BIKE IS STOLEN?'"

idiot.