When, and is it OK, to liberate a neglected bicycle.

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This bike has been going on sixth months, hasnt moved, flat tires.
Is the owner dead?
does he/she not care about their wheels?

is it morally cool to liberate a neglected bike??

I'm no theif mind you. But this bike is kind of a beauty.....and its just going to shit outside in the elements.

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

What's the city's threshold for abandoned cars?

Oh, fuckit - just take the bike.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Monday, 7 November 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

Round here, components start to go after a week.

― Ed (dali), Monday, 7 November 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

Years ago my son rode my bike to the bottom of our road, ditched it in the underbrush and hitched into town. On his trip back he got a ride all the way to our house and forgot about my bike. I was busy with work and didn't notice it was gone. Eventually, someone took it.
MAYBE THIS IS MY BIKE!!!!!
Does it seem...sad????

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 7 November 2005 14:35 (twenty years ago)

Somebody stole my bike on Friday night. Now I have a suspect.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 7 November 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

My friend's roommate 'liberated' a thrashed bike from a parking lot and restored it with new tires, chain, everything... now it rules and it's being used regularly. So do it! Obliterate the serial #, though.

― andy --, Monday, 7 November 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

I had a bike that fell apart kinda far from home, so I locked it to a fence by a parking lot and took a cab home. And then, for various reasons (laziness, business, bike not fitting in my trunk, not being sure how to fix it on-site), I didn't really get back to collect it. Then winter came, and since I wouldn't have been riding it much anyway, I mostly forgot about it. Maybe someone liberated it; maybe the supermarket associated with that fence had it removed; maybe the city goes around junking abandoned bikes; I dunno. But I will say that when I cruised back around five months later to see if there was any chance it had survived, I was kinda bummed to see it had vanished.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:44 (twenty years ago)

yeah...id hate to swipe somebodies ride. But at the same time I hate seeing this bike just rotting.

I forgot to mention that it is locked outside an APT. So who knows.

It hasnt moved ALL summer and it really is lovely.

it appears to be locked with one of those kryptonites u can beat with w/ a pen.

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:49 (twenty years ago)

why don't you leave a semi-professional looking fake note that claims it will be removed in 14 days if not claimed & then in two weeks, snatch it up.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:54 (twenty years ago)

oh thats a pretty sweet idea.

i was thinking of leaving a note...but SEMI-PROFESSIONAL is brilliant!

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

maybe it's loved and used every day and this is merely where it's owner PARKS it everyday.. maybe it's always home and parked when YOU walk by.

ideas:

1)knock on the door of the apartment it's in front of and ask if they know anything about the bike.

2)try a couple other houses on either side of the bike and across the street

3)get the serial number from it and call the local police to see if it's registered and/or reported stolen.

― nein Socken (nein Socken), Monday, 7 November 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

it's had DOUBLE FLATS since APRIL 2005!!!!!!

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

It's hard to say. Some people hold onto shit that they can't bring themselves to get rid of. I suppose you could leave a note saying that you're interested in it. Or you could go the sneaky route & do the semi-professional thing. Either the owner has moved on or is simply waiting to move on.

― kelsey (kelstarry), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:14 (twenty years ago)

also it's a nice bike...and looks semi-newish. somebody paid, im guessing about $400 for this thing.

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

also, it's in BROOKLYN.

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

which is to say...I wouldn't leave my bike unattended for a couple hours, let alone months on end.

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

running from the cops, stealing bikes ... SELL ME DRUGS ALREADY.

― sexyDancer (sexyDancer), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

Life as a felon

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:24 (twenty years ago)

TAKE IT

― elmo (allocryptic), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

^^^^NICE!

― ddb (ddb), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:27 (twenty years ago)

my friend's friend left their granny front-basket bicycle unlocked against a lampost on Oxford St London while they went out on the piss.

came back 5 days later AND IT WAS STILL THERE!!

― john clarkson, Monday, 7 November 2005 21:42 (twenty years ago)

Anyone who cares this little about their newish bike deserves to get it lifted. TAKE IT.

― Jdubz (ex machina), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:46 (twenty years ago)

YEAH YEAH TAKE IT

― elmo (allocryptic), Monday, 7 November 2005 21:48 (twenty years ago)

Seriously, less asking us what you should do, and more snatching of bike.

― Mingus Dew (Mingus Dew), Monday, 7 November 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

I'm more amazed a bike's stayed in one spot in Brooklyn that long.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 7 November 2005 23:29 (twenty years ago)

maybe it is a BAIT BIKE!?!!?!

― Jdubz (ex machina), Monday, 7 November 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

my brother used to do this all the time on his college campus. the u-cops would put little tags on the bike saying that it was going to be towed. he'd remove the tag a day before it was supposed to be removed and then wait a while. if it got another tag, he'd put on his goggles, bring out his dremel tool w/ extension cord and make a big show like "HEY EVERYONE MAKE SURE YOU SEE ME SEEING YOU KNOW IM CUTTING THIS LOCK,"
and then just take the bike. as long as you don't do it furtively, i doubt anyone will fuck with you.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Monday, 7 November 2005 23:37 (twenty years ago)

Tell some kid you'll give him $20 if he brings you the bike. THen it's a victimless crime! And the kid learns some life skills.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 00:02 (twenty years ago)

my mate newcastle andy left a bike chained to a lamppost in tollcross, edinburgh, for a week, having lost the key.

by day two, someone had bent the wheels.

by day four, someone had ripped the seat.

by day six, some utter funster had poured a tin of white paint over it.

on day seven, when he found the key and went back to collect it, he discovered someone had sawn through the chain and nicked it.

laugh? i thought i'd never stop.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 00:06 (twenty years ago)

My father cut the lock on a bike that had been sitting there for about FOUR YEARS, with dust all over it, tires flat, needed brakes, etc. It needed work all over. He put it together again and gave it back to me, but I kept it around hoping someone would ask for it...no. Good thing, too, because it was a better bike than the one I had, which kept 'mysteriously' coming apart as I was riding it in the fucking street, one time sliding down one of the busiest streets in town and ending up with a bruise on my legs, so I guess the 'liberation' saved my life, because that damned bike never fell apart.

― log cabin, Tuesday, 8 November 2005 00:22 (twenty years ago)

my mate newcastle andy left a bike chained to a lamppost in tollcross, edinburgh, for a week, having lost the key.

You know, Tollcross is actually quite a nice part of town. For some reason it has a slightly dodgy reputation.

(actually, I know why: it's because all the student guides that freshers get given say "ooh, Tollcross, really dodgy at night." So they end up being scared of it for, um, their first term)

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 08:32 (twenty years ago)

bike karma is a unique thing.. consider yourself warned. and cutting a lock is stil theft

have fun with your new bike

― nein Socken (nein Socken), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 09:39 (twenty years ago)

If you ask me, anyone who steals a bike should be flayed alive and shot out of a fucking cannon with a carrot up their arse. Having said that, if you do feel compelled to remove it for safe-keeping during the owner's apparent absence, at least leave 'em a note with a hotmail address or something so they can get it back if they want to.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 10:52 (twenty years ago)

my mate newcastle andy left a bike chained to a lamppost in tollcross, edinburgh, for a week, having lost the key.
.............

laugh? i thought i'd never stop.

this is my FEAR. i only have one key for my D lock. if you hate me and want to make me suffer, this is how.

― emsk ( emsk), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 11:02 (twenty years ago)

ooh, Tollcross, really dodgy at night

only because i used to live there :)

actually: i didn't, my then girlfriend did. but i spent all my time there. i fucking loved it. it's changed loads now; it seems to be full of big gleaming offices. boo.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

I laughed when I saw the billboard for the big new office/apartment development on Fountainbridge, describing it as a "waterfront location". Waterfront location? It's a canal basin, and a pretty small one at that.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

bike karma is a unique thing.. consider yourself warned. and cutting a lock is stil theft
have fun with your new bike
-- nein Socken (sometimes_...), November 8th, 2005. (later)

I AM A FIRM BELEIVER IN BIKE KARMA. I AM ALSO A FIRM BELIEVER IN TREATING YR BIKE RIGHT.

THIS BIKE IS NEGLECTED. AND HAS BEEN FOR MONTHS....IF IT WERE ON A MORE CROWDED ST. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DESTROYED AGES AGO.

MY QUESTION IS: SNATCH THE WHOLE THING AND GIVE IT A GOOD HOME...OR LET IT SLOWLY GET IT'S PARTS NICKED, LIKE GRIMLY POINTED OUT UP THREAD.

― ddb (ddb), Tuesday, 8 November 2005 13:39 (twenty years ago)

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