I work at a place that handles bikes left on buses. We get the bikes; owners call us, describe the bike, and we reunite them. Except sometimes sneaky people try to trick us and steal bikes that aren't theirs. And sometimes thieves leave nice bikes on buses as a way of ditching them, for whatever reason.
A while ago we got in a really nice mountain bike -- name-brand, top-of-the-line components, dual suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, the works. Definitely a couple thousand dollars new. Somebody called and described the bike, only the caller did a really sketchy job. He couldn't provide good enough details to definitely prove it was his bike, so we held onto it.
When we had time, we contacted the bike shop that sold it -- luckily the shop had slapped a sticker on it. Turns out the bike had been stolen; the thief had left the bike on the bus. The owner, meanwhile, contacted the bike shop to notify them.
In response to our call, the bike shop is sending an employee to pick the bike up and reunite it with its owner. I'm sure glad we held onto it and followed up with the shop. It's worth leaving those bike shop stickers on there!
