The saga of my stolen bicycle
Background: Last Wednesday evening my bike was stolen from in front of my apartment. I let my guard down, the bike wasn’t locked securely, and even though I came back out to ride it 15 minutes later, it was gone. I never filed a police report because I thought it was hopeless. I’ve had several bikes stolen before so I’ve become rather desensitized to the experience.
Yesterday, at the suggestion of a co-worker, I did a quick search on craigslist for the brand-name of my bike. Lo and behold, there was a match. Posted just the day before, with photos, was my exact make and model in what the seller described as a very tall size - my bike was the tallest size available in the line. The ad seemed fishy for several reasons: 1) The asking price was $250 - much lower than the bike’s actual value ($480 new, so maybe $350-400 used). 2) The seller mis-described several features of the bike, calling it aluminum when it is actually steel, and calling the seat leather when it is in fact not. 3) The seller said he would accept RC cars, planes, or helicopters in exchange for the bike - maybe not that weird given the kinds of things that happen on craigslist but in combination with the other factors, definitely fishy.
The set-up begins: I called the seller to set-up a meeting. On the phone he told me that he was available that evening, he gave me his home address and we planned to meet after I got off work. After talking to the seller, I contacted the police and filed a report for the stolen bike. Vaguely, I was told that with a report filed, I could go to the police station in the district where the meeting was to take place and I would be able to get police assistance.
