Ladies bicycle stolen from Salthill area - Please help!

JoeA3

Hi guys,
Not sure if this is the appropriate forum, and its a real long shot anyway, but my girlfriend's precious bike was robbed from outside our apartment tonight in Salthill, near the church of all places.
It's a Raleigh ladies bike, silver and red, with a pink bell! Has a carrier and silver mudguards.
It's her main form of transport and it has a lot of sentimental value to her, so I'm posting this in the vain hope that some good Samaritan might see it lying around abandoned by whatever muppet took it.

Thanks folks

dafunk

If it's a decent bike it'll get sprayed probably. I live around there, I'll keep an eye out. There's loads of thievery going on around here these days compared to before.

biko

Any pics of the bike?

amiable

I'll keep an eye out OP.
Hope you you get it back.
Very frustrating i'm sure

JoeA3

Afraid I don't think we do have pics, hence the long shot!

It is a fairly large and chunky-framed ladies Raleigh "road" bike, with flat handle bars, 18 (?) gears, silver and red, carrier and mudguards fitted. Large red reflector on the back of the rear carrier. And she had a little pink bell on the handlebars!

It was a decent yoke, but a few years old and realistically not worth a huge amount - but to herself, this idiot took her one form of transport and it had a lot of sentimental attachment. So annoying :mad:

Unfortunately we think she might have forgotten to lock it and my gut feeling is that it was taken for a joyride by passing kids (students?!) and may well not have been taken very far.

Gingganggooley

I hear a story like this and vigilantism becomes an appealing prospect.:mad:

what_traffic

JoeA3 wrote: »

It is a fairly large and chunky-framed ladies Raleigh "road" bike, with flat handle bars

A "road" bike is the usual term for a racing bike, i.e with dropped handlebars? Has it been converted to a hybrid with the flat handlebars or is it just a Raleigh town bike? Do you know the Raleigh name for the bike - could then search for that model online and post a link with a picture?

JoeA3

Sorry, you're right, it was more of a town/hybrid bike rather than a road bike. I'm afraid I haven't a clue of the exact model, but it looked a lot like this one here:
http://www.z-bicycles.com/cheap-bike/16546/buy-pioneer-metro-lx-ladies-hybrid-bike-15.html

JoeA3

Hi guys,

Not sure if this is good news or just damn frustrating news, but incredibly, we found the bike this morning, purely by chance as we were passing, we spotted it. Locked with a U-Lock at the bike stands outside the Bridge Mills, end of O'Brien's bridge... not too far from the cop shop :pac: It was missing its rear carrier and the chain was hanging off it. To me it looked like it was there a while.

Anyway, short of sticking a "please ring me" note on the saddle, which we did, there doesn't seem to be much else we can do, short of standing next to it all day! Unfortunately and carelessly on our part, we really don't have conclusive proof that the bike is actually hers. There's a receipt "somewhere" but I doubt that has the serial number on it or anything. The Gardai won't do anything without some form of ownership proof :mad:

So so frustrating.

Now that I think of it, I didn't even take a photo of it this morning while I was there... grrrr...

dilallio

Can you not ask the Gardai to cut the lock.
Offer to leave a cash deposit to the value of the lock.

If you are mistaken and the other person reports it stolen and produces proof of ownership, they can take your deposit to replace the lock.

JoeA3

dilallio wrote: »

Can you not ask the Gardai to cut the lock.
Offer to leave a cash deposit to the value of the lock.

If you are mistaken and the other person reports it stolen and produces proof of ownership, they can take your deposit to replace the lock.

She called into Millstreet after spotting the bike, but they weren't helpful. Without proof of ownership, what could they do? How does one prove you own a bike? I know when I bought a bike last year, I got a receipt alright but the receipt doesn't state the serial number or any really unique thing - its not like a car where there's a reg number / chassis number that's legally registered to the owner. Is there any such facility for doing that with bicycles?

I'm thinking of getting myself a lock at lunchtime and locking it myself, thereby buying some time. And leaving a proper note, saying we'll refund the cost of the lock or whatever ?

dilallio

Can you at least take the chassis no from the bike now, and check with the dealer where you bought the bike to see if they have a record of that serial number sold around the time that the bike was bought.

JoeA3

dilallio wrote: »

Can you at least take the chassis no from the bike now, and check with the dealer where you bought the bike to see if they have a record of that serial number sold around the time that the bike was bought.

Yeah, I'm going back to the "scene of the crime" shortly and will try to get as much info from it as possible, with photos. I may even lock it with my own lock, I know that's a bit iffy but this is what I'm up against!

This of course is assuming it's still there.

inisboffin

I'd lock it with my own lock, but beware they may kick a wheel in or whatever. The 2nd option is that some poor foreign student bought it cheaply, not knowing it was robbed . Best option is to chain vigil it if ye can!

kmick

Personally if I wanted the bike badly enough I would cut the lock and take it back. Its my bike end of story.

What kind of lock is it?

JoeA3

Thanks guys,

Well I went back and fortunately it was still there, so I put my own new D-Lock onto it. It may not prevent it from going missing again, but if it will make it a bit more difficult to take!

Also got the serial number, so I can see if I can chase a few avenues with that before taking drastic measures... I am aware that some poor student may have bought it innocently enough, and to be honest I suspect that may well be the case. But it wasn't her bike to buy, so I intend to get it back one way or the other!

DRakE

was it locked in the first place?

JoeA3

DRakE wrote: »

was it locked in the first place?

nope, unfortunately it wasn't (and probably the only time she ever forgot to - she was rushing :mad:). There was a lock on it, probably wound around the rear carrier and the saddle - which might explain why the carrier is now missing.

inisboffin

Just thinking, it is in no way illegal to lock your own bike, which you just did. Did you leave a note on there saying to contact Mill St? If it was an unsuspecting Buyer, they'll do that and maybe it'll lead to the thief being caught. If not, maybe the thief will not want to leave their own lock, and will unlock it! Good luck!

edit: my friend just spotted your note op, fair play!

Bobeagleburger

If I was certain that it was my bike I'd be smashing that other lock tbh.

I would have to be 100% certain though

JoeA3

inisboffin wrote: »

Just thinking, it is in no way illegal to lock your own bike, which you just did. Did you leave a note on there saying to contact Mill St? If it was an unsuspecting Buyer, they'll do that and maybe it'll lead to the thief being caught. If not, maybe the thief will not want to leave their own lock, and will unlock it! Good luck!

edit: my friend just spotted your note op, fair play!

Yes, left a note!!
Also, it was there at 8am this morning... with the chain hanging off... I suspect it was there at least overnight, maybe longer, which would suggest the thief or its new unsuspecting owner hasn't missed it much.

And yes, it most definitely is her bike! Even I recognised it at first glance - distinctive marks, scratches, etc.

inisboffin

I notice the bike is gone now. Did you get it sorted OP?

arnelv

JoeA3 wrote: »

Hi guys,

Not sure if this is good news or just damn frustrating news, but incredibly, we found the bike this morning, purely by chance as we were passing, we spotted it. Locked with a U-Lock at the bike stands outside the Bridge Mills, end of O'Brien's bridge... not too far from the cop shop :pac: It was missing its rear carrier and the chain was hanging off it. To me it looked like it was there a while.

Anyway, short of sticking a "please ring me" note on the saddle, which we did, there doesn't seem to be much else we can do, short of standing next to it all day! Unfortunately and carelessly on our part, we really don't have conclusive proof that the bike is actually hers. There's a receipt "somewhere" but I doubt that has the serial number on it or anything. The Gardai won't do anything without some form of ownership proof :mad:

So so frustrating.

Now that I think of it, I didn't even take a photo of it this morning while I was there... grrrr...

If you loose your receipt, you could try going in to your credit card or laser card statements and trace and submit this to the bicycle shop where you got it. They could dig their files and check its chasis no. Good luck.

JoeA3

Hey folks,
Yes, we got it sorted
We were certain the bike was ours, we had proof of serial number from the original shop, so off we went yesterday evening with my car jack and 5 mins later bike was returned to it's rightful owner !
I reckon it was been ridden by a fella (the thief I expect) - saddle was raised up to the max - on a ladies bike!

the keen edge

Great news. I doubt many stolen bikes find there way back to their rightful owners.

I must asked why you seemed so hesitant about cutting the lock on it?

I thought you were very, shall we say polite leaving the bike behind you after spotting it, and with a note!.

If it was my bike there's no way I would of left without it, lock or no lock.

JoeA3

Haha yeah, maybe a bit polite alright! I suppose it occurred to us that the bike may have been sold on, so we were giving the thief/new "owner" an opportunity to make everyone's lives easier and remove their lock with their key!
But as I said in earlier posts, the bike appeared to have been left there at least overnight and the culprit didn't seem to be in a hurry to get it back, so we took matters into our own hands.

the keen edge wrote: »

Great news. I doubt many stolen bikes find there way back to their rightful owners.

I must asked why you seemed so hesitant about cutting the lock on it?

I thought you were very, shall we say polite leaving the bike behind you after spotting it, and with a note!.

If it was my bike there's no way I would of left without it, lock or no lock.

arnelv

Good news that you get your bike back, bad news my brother from Tyrelstown lost his black mountain bike, a boys bike and flicker scooter. The two bikes were locked together and they carted it away together, plus a flicker. Apparently a neighbor forgot to lock the back door of the apartment flat that afternoon...Times are really bad, in broad daylight thieves will dare take them..