A Happy Ending

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Yay, my bike is back! Here's how it was made possible, super short version:

• I posted on Craig's list again yesterday morning (my first post since I posted twice right after the bike got stolen; I was incredibly lucky with the timing)
  
• Someone emailed me after reading the post, saying they'd seen the bike at a pawnshop on South St
• I rode to said pawnshop. The bike was out for a test ride when I arrived so I waited around. When the customer finally came back, I immediately recognized my bike. It was then identified as mine in the store with the help of the serial number.

There are a few things to be said here. Now, everyone in the pawnshop was super helpful and understanding and friendly. They tried to get a hold of the person who was trying out the bike right away, they chitchatted with me while I waited, overall, they were great. But; I had to buy my bike back for $100, which is what the boss (owner?) of the pawnshop had bought it for.

After my bike had been identified, I rushed home to drop off my other bike (suggested by the pawnshop folks, I wasn't thinking clearly at the moment so off I went when I just could've grabbed both of my bikes and walked them home) and on my way back, I called a general detective to ask whether I had to pay the pawnshop or not. The detective told me I had to buy back my own bike if I wanted it back. I haven't been able to dig up any information on Pennsylvania's pawnbroking laws, so I don't know for sure whether this is true or not. It probably is though, which is absolutely outrageous. Obviously, anyone who buys stolen goods in good faith is a victim (i.e. pawnbrokers in this case) and therefore, the reasoning is that they need to be compensated if the purchased items turn out to be stolen. As a consequence, the original victim gets victimized again by being forced to pay to get their stolen items back.

While I was outside waiting for the guy who was trying out my bike to come back, the main pawnshop guy told me that even though my flyer (that I had just given to them) stated that there was a $200 reward, I'd only have to pay him $100. Did this guy ever attempt to find me, or find out whether the bike was stolen? Hell no. A simple search on Craig's list would've rendered three posts about my bike, with my information. A call to the police would've rendered my police report. Shrewd sir, very shrewd indeed.

Also, apparently the people who came in with the bike were really filthy (I was told to wash my bike with bleach). If 'filthy' people come in to your pawnshop with a high end bike that they end up selling for a hundred bucks, and you DON'T get suspicious, especially considering there's a well known used bikes store just around the corner, you're either ridiculously naive or you simply don't care what type of people or goods you do business with.

After my second visit to the pawnshop, I rode my Bianchi to the police station where I was interviewed. The pawnshop provided me with information on the seller (they are required to do so by law when stolen items are recovered) and luckily, the police was familiar with the person. Hopefully the seller will be taken into custody soon .

Now, hanging out with bike thieves, especially bike thieves on crack, is quite an ordeal, and unfortunately, my baby came back with some injuries:

Top dent probably from when the lock got popped off. The two other dents - who knows?

Seems like if you try to ride a bike while under the influence, you fall over a lot.


Apparently, someone had a problem with my derailleur. The little sucker probably gave them some 'tude, so it's understandable that they'd try to knock it off.

This is probably my favorite. What the heck happened here? Someone decided to see whether their scissors were in functional order? Maybe someone was in urgent need of something to roll a smoke with? Or did someone just decide to bite a chunk off of my bike?


This I think is a case of someone acquiring new sharp gear and getting excited to try it out.


This one's a mystery. Chemicals?

Finally, I guess these cats wanted to make my bike cooler looking by inducing some battle scars. Thanks dudes. It certainly gave my bike more character.

I had a bike shop give me an estimate of the repair costs today. I've got everything documented and hopefully, I'll hear back from the detective soon. I realize that I was incredibly lucky to recover my bike and safe to say, I will never, ever leave another bike outside over night again.

Feel free to check back here again soon; I'll post some more information on how to look for your stolen bike online and other things I did/learned during all of this that hopefully someone else might find helpful.