"on my "other " bike forum...."

you're seeing another forum? we're jealous...just kidding ;-)

"a guy has a great/sad tale about his bike being stolen. One of a kind paint job too. Six months later he sees the guy and follows him home. I forget what happened after that, IIRC a non violent confrontation of some sort and he got the bike back!!!"

I'm glad he go his bike back! And good for him keeping things nonviolent.

The cop I reported the theft to said often your bike turns up, either you see it, it returned via lost/stollen property, they "joy ride" and ditch it and it's returned if you have any id on the bike, and the national bike registry

If I saw someone riding my bike I would do the same thing that's follow them, call the cops. But they'd have to hope that the cops came quickly, I'm not sure the confrontation would be non-violent, this person broke into my house! (see cross training/other sports thread for 20+ years of martial arts training)

A coworker who rides said a thief broke into his house, there were 4 bikes; 2 expensive Italian road bikes and 2 dirt-cheap mountain bikes. The thief took a mountain bike and ignored the road bikes. Mountain bikes are easier for them to sell but in my case harder to get at, he took the easy way