Have you seen this bike?

[surgtech1956]

I am on Ebay every day - I will keep a look out for it there. Could it be some 'kid' in the neighborhood who took it?

[NbyNW]

It seems like there is a growing market for small women's road bikes, which is GREAT, but I would like to see more education out there for people who are buying used bikes to know how to confirm whether a bike they are considering has or has not been reported stolen, and why they should give a d-mn.

It's not something I would have thought to do when I bought my bike, except that I asked the seller why would they sell a custom bike, unless they couldn't ride it anymore, which turned out to be the case.

We have a growing club of petite women who have had their bikes stolen in Seattle. Mine could have been taken by anyone -- kid in the neighborhood, homeless person, whatever. Someone saw an opportunity and took it. The other two cases that I'm familiar with sound more like professional jobs. Broken locks, bike parked in same place every day. In the case of the one that was stolen from the front entrance of Viriginia Mason, the thief had spent time lurking about to decide what he was going to steal, he chatted with the desk guard, and could even be seen on camera speeding away and did not leave locks behind.

I've almost got this out of my system, pretty soon I need to start thinking about a new bike!

Thanks again everyone for all of the support and encouragement --

Jocelyn

[KnottedYet]

I saw a dude riding a very expensive carbon racing bike with clipless pedals like a bat-outa-heck one evening on Boren, just up from Virginia Mason. He was wearing jeans and sneakers and a sweatshirt with a denim jacket.

I kinda didn't think it was his bike.

[NbyNW]

Knottedyet:

Any chance it might have been a light blue Cannondale? There was a 44cm R800 stolen from Virginia Mason almost two weeks ago. At least in her case, they've got video of the thief of camera.

Her craigslist stolen bike listing is expired. If she reposts somewhere else, I'll link to it.

Jocelyn

[Quillfred]

I just noted this post at the Seattle Triathlon site. Might be worth checking out.

http://www.seatri.org/community/showthread.php?t=2882

[tulip]

I just noted this post at the Seattle Triathlon site. Might be worth checking out.

http://www.seatri.org/community/showthread.php?t=2882

I must say, he sounds like he is a cyclist. Perhaps he's truly is selling this frame and keeping the parts for a future S/S coupling bike...but still worth checking out, for sure.

[mimitabby]

some bike thieves are bicyclists. Did you all read about the podiatrist who was stealing high end bikes and selling them to other bicyclists? (He commited suicide) This happened here in Washington this week.

Of course the seller might be legit. Doesn't hurt to check it out.

[VeloVT]

Just a random thought --
I have a renter's insurance policy. I was required to inventory/document jewelry, computers, electronics, etc ., and I included my bikes on the list. This way if my bike were ever stolen from my apartment (or damaged by fire, flooding, etc), I would at least get something. The deductible is not that high (I want to say $500?) so it actually would help with a new bike, and the premiums are quite low -- I think it's something like $80 a year.

Worth looking into your rental/homeowners policy (or look into getting one if you don't have one), to see if your bike might be covered, or at least if you can get your next bike covered...

[NbyNW]

Thanks everyone who has been so supportive and had so many great ideas!

One of the problems I've run into is not having my serial # written down. Well, after a bit of sleuthing, calling the original owners of my bike to get more history, the guys at R+E managed to find it in their files! They had to go back 9 years to before they had their client files computerized! How's that for service?

Jocelyn

[KnottedYet]

Knottedyet:

Any chance it might have been a light blue Cannondale? There was a 44cm R800 stolen from Virginia Mason almost two weeks ago. At least in her case, they've got video of the thief of camera.

Her craigslist stolen bike listing is expired. If she reposts somewhere else, I'll link to it.

Joceyn

No, it was a red carbon Serotta (or was it a Cervelo? I don't remember, but it was expensive brand and started with "ssss") and on the larger size.