Bike Description
stolen from outside Manchester aquatics centre at lunchtime 19th September. Photo below is of my bike but it now has a white saddle and flat white pedals. saddle bag and small crossbar bag and front and back usb chargeable lights. First time I've put them on since last winter today and forgot to take them off! in it's place was another bike - which still had a pump and lights on it so I'm guessing that has recently been stolen as well but they found mine a better fit! Lots of cctv in the area but none of it 'very good' according to the staff there.Theft Description
left locked up with a combination lock along with lots of other bikes right outside the door of the aquatics centre.Recovery Description
Thanks to this website I got my bike back. 6 months after it was stolen. So never give up! I set up alerts on Gumtree and eBay and Shpock. First off it turned up on Gumtree but after I enquired about it, it was taken down. Later the same day, about a month after it was stolen it appeared again on Gumtree but with a different seller. He was asking £400 which was ridiculous as I'd only paid £530 for it 6 yrs ago. I am fairly certain he was 'testing' to see if I was watching for it. We phoned up but the guy said he'd had loads of interest in it and the we couldn't come and see it. He also said he was selling it for someone who owed him money. Pity we didn't record that conversation! It then disappeared off ebay again. I later saw an advert on Shpock for it that had been added before and of the eBay ads. The police had all the info from me and contacted both sites to gather info on the sellers. They had other info to add to what I gave them and applied for a search warrant which was annoyingly turned down. At this point it looked as though my bike was gone for good. Then last week, 6 months on i got an email from the second Gumtree seller via stolen-bikes.co.uk asking me to contact him. I contacted the police again, it turned up on Gumtree again, and the police said they would go round to the guys house and attempt an arrest. The good news is they did recover my bike, the not so good news is that he covered his back by saying he bought it off Gumtree and did try to reunite me with it via this website. So now he becomes the victim as he paid money for it. Yeah right! He said he would let the police know where he bought it from so they could continue their investigation on his behalf. I doubt very much that he will supply any info. Anyway at least these guys are well on the police radar now so if you are reading this M^l#x....you are being watched! So, don't give up hope, take screenshots immediately of any adverts you see as they will probably be gone within half an hour. If you do make contact with a seller, record the conversation. Always make a note of your serial number - the police said without this they stand very little chance or reuniting you with your bike. List it on this brilliant website and set up alerts on Gumtree and Shpock And don't give up hope!