So I saved up, did a bunch of research and found my first true MTB at the ripe age of 46. Well fast forward 2 months in and it was stolen out of my garage bc it was accidentally left open all night (by my wife – we're divorced now – she's dead to me 😛 ) Some scumbags just happened to be in our area trying to steal stuff (was on the ring network – we've got some videos). Anyways. So many lessons learned from the experience I wish I had known, or even thought of. Ie. throw an air tag in or on my bike someplace, lock it up even when it's just in the garage for as often as it's taken out. etc. etc.
Well, now I'm here, bike less, wondering, do I just scour the web hoping to come across it, how many weekends do I hit up flea markets, when do I decide to consider buying a replacement? Feels real bad. I guess I'm just curious what other people did. Did you go out and buy another bike shortly after (they're not cheap), did you give it a few months? Were you lucky and got it back?? I'm not holding my breath and assuming it's just gone, or some kids riding it to school someplace or something like that and I'll never see it again. I've obviously filed a police report, checking FB, Craigslist, Flea Markets, looked into Home owners insurance (which is no use bc my deductible is more than the bike). I also registed it on Bike Index and 529 Garage. I'm just out a few thousand dollars and lost on what to do next. Anyways, thanks for listening / chatting.
by maac_n_cheese
22 Comments
Call all of your local bike shops, tell them it was stolen. Lots of people will try to offload them to them before you call, then they are on the hook.
Thats a major bummer on the insurance im sorry dude that sucks. I would just keep an eye out all of the places you already are. Definitely add all the local bike shops within 100 miles as well and hopefully something will come up.
I was driving by a homeless encampment behind a dollarama and happened to see my bike laying down, so I just walked in and took it back. Now I have AirTags.
Well for starters contact the police and your home insurance. You might be partially covered if you have any sort of contents insurance.
Other than that I do feel your pain and you basically listed out three rest of the things to do. Keep an eye out on marketplace etc. Come up with a plan for your next bike and good luck my dude.
Sucks. Sorry man. I bought a used fat bike several years ago and it was stolen off my car bike rack THE NEXT DAY. Ran into a store for 10-15 minutes after a ride. Gone. I hadn’t locked a bike on top of my car in like the 15 years prior. Now. Always. The price was pretty similar to my homeowners deductible so I had to just suck it up. Riding is important to me so I started looking right away for a replacement. Police never found it – and it was a pretty distinguishable bike.
I had a friend that had a bike stolen out of their garage like that as well. They had an airtag on it and they tracked it to some guy’s house a few days later. The bike was sitting in a garage with the door open so he could see it. He called the cops and the cops said they couldn’t do anything about it, so he walked in grabbed the bike and rode away with it, while on the phone with the cops.
I bought a new one pretty soon using renters insurance because I had a reasonable deductible. I was about $400 out of pocket for a new upgraded one. No luck checking online sellers. Around here (Denver), there’s an organized crime group that takes them to Mexico, so we’re out of luck if we get a bike stolen.
But yeah always keep your bike inside a locked building out of sight. If you’re transporting it somewhere, take it with you and lock it up right outside the window of places you stop at and keep actively watching it. It sucks you have to go through this just to keep your property, but that’s the reality.
IMO, the mental effort of looking for the bike outweighs the benefit of jusl taking the L and moving on. File insurance if it’s financially beneficial.
Like, are you really going to devote time to trying to find it? If you do find it, are you going to try and buy it back to them situate a confrontation with a thief? I wouldn’t, because someone willing to steal a bike has a lower risk tolerance for violence than I am.
Showing up with the police? They likely won’t bother, and don’t, even when entire motorcycles are stolen and found at the thief’s property.
Odds are you won’t find it, and that energy could be spent finding a new bike and riding that instead.
Just take the lessons learned and prep for the future.
I filed a police report, filed a claim on my renters insurance, and moved on.
I have a couple friends who did manage to find their bikes listed for sale and get them back, but sadly they are the exception the rule.
Scoured online sites like a madman, found it on Craigslist for sale 30 miles away, set up a fake future demo with the seller, did tons of sleuthing to learn all i could about the seller, contacted that city’s local police and informed them i could prove i was the original owner (the bike had unique markings and add-ons, AND I HAD THE SERIAL NUMBER (if you don’t have this, stop what you’re doing now, find it, and record it somewhere), and the police agreed to accompany me on the demo ride! I was lucky in that the seller had turned out to be a known thorn in the police’s side, so the police sergeant posed as my sister, and instructed me to point out agreed-upon identifying marks such as accessories and scratches, before I would ride away with the bike forever…leaving her to inform the thief they’d been caught, and start the next steps ending the bike thief’s career.
I’ll repeat for those in the back row: stop what you’re doing now and write down your bike’s serial number!
Assuming you purchased it with a credit card, check if you have purchase protection coverage. Some cards cover theft for 90 days or more: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/credit-card-purchase-protection
I had mine stolen about 5-6 years ago out of my garage in broad daylight (my wife also left the door open). I went out an bought the same bike, one model year newer, and now it is locked to two other bikes and a huge table saw in my garage.
So so sorry to hear this. Having our bike stolen is devastating, as you’ve pointed out… it’s the main relationship in our lives above all others… my wife also knows this. 😉
Some of this advice is, of course, too little too late, at this point.
1. Did your register with a service like Garage 529 that sends out alerts over it’s network? Trigger that. (EDIT: I see you did… missed it on the first read).
2. Most LBS don’t really deal with used bikes but if you are in a big enough city, check used bike shops, check CraigsList, Kijiji, etc.
3. File a police report. They won’t do anything BUT occasionally they get their hands on a bunch of stolen bikes and you WILL receive a call if that’s the case. I got two bikes back this way.
4. Buy separate insurance. Sometimes you can add a bike rider your homeowners policy to lower your deductible and raise the insured amount to cover your bike. BUT, most insurance companies will allow you to buy an insurance policy on your bike. Replacement value on my bike is $16K. (I know… it’s worth more than my car). It costs me less than $500CAD per year to be fully insured. That’s if it’s stolen from my home, or my hotel room, or I’m rear ended, or if I ride it off a cliff. Anything. (I even confirmed that when I flew with it to Mexico that it was still covered completely – which I got in writing before I left). If your bike is a fraction of the cost of my bike, the policy will be a fraction of my cost. The peace of mind it brings you is absolutely worth it.
5. Air tags plural. I have two air tags IN my bike. One is easier to find, and the other is concealed with the speaker disabled. You can get air valves for your tires that hold AirTags, you can get attachments for inside the headset, you can put an obvious one in plain view under your seat. For about $100 you can load up the bike with AirTags. But disable the speaker in the best hidden one.
6. My wife is injured right now from biking so her bike(s) (eBike and an acoustic) are locked together in the garage. It’s not impossible, but I’m not going to make it easy for any thieves.
I’ve owned about 10 good MTBs in my life, and had 4 of them stolen. 2 of them were found by the police and returned to me because I filled out the police report. My wife has lost only 1 and it was gone for good. The other two were NOT insured outside of basic homeowners policy which was not enough to replace them. I can’t stress enough how much sleep at night the right insurance policy will buy you. Best investment you’ll ever get.
Swear a bit, report to police, go on kijiji and marketplace to look for it.
Then buy a new bike.
Someone local to me had his gravel bike stolen, so I checked on MArketplace, adjusting the search radius to 300 miles. I found it listed for sale in NY, 4 hours after it was stoeln in DC. Sadly, the seller got spooked and deleted the listing.
Make sure you have pictures of you with your bike. But even if you don’t
Put the word out online, local instagrams, friends etc.
If you or someone spots your bike ideally bring a friend and just take it back. Most people know its stolen and won’t put up a fight.
If they make a fuss tell them you are calling the cops and they can be here or not when they show but that the bike is not leaving.
Failing that I’ve had friends retrieve bikes with knives/guns and pepper spray. You use the pepper spray but make sure the weapon is very visible before you do.
Add it to bikeindex.org fyi
Had my Trek stolen twice. First time I saw her ride it past my parents house on it, chased her in my car stole it back. Second time it was stolen and dumped in field, found it walking my dog 2 months later.
Yelling and maybe a little crying followed by insurance claim. New bike lives in the basement instead of the garage.
Garage door is programed to close itself and alert me if left open for more than 5 minutes(all the bikes can’t live inside, just the most important).
I still have a couple alerts that I get notifications on 2 years later. I know my bike is gone forever but it’s hard to give up completely.
Claimed in my home and contents insurance and bought another one.
Look for it!! I found my stolen bike the same day it was stolen, maybe only 8 hours had passed so it was close to my apartment. Homeless guy chilling on it at a gas station. After a brief physical altercation I had the bike back. Bring a gun
Good luck, hopefully it’s found. If you get it back or get another, get an AirTag and put it somewhere that isn’t noticeable or easily removed. They make bottle cage mounts for airtags, I’ve also seen fork/stem mounting.
If you have any regular/weekend farmers market, community garage sales, flea markets, or swap meets. I would highly recommend you visit those locations. That can be a very common spot for stolen bikes to be sold at.
I had a gravel bike stolen in October of 2024. Put posts on my local Facebook groups and scoured second hand sites, but no luck. Considered it gone. It was my least used bike so I just kind of let it go. Fast forward 3 months later some random kind soul messages me on Facebook with a picture asking if this is my bike. They somehow spotted it in a pawn shop post of a bunch of bikes for sale. With a friend’s help we tracked it down to the pawn shop and then to a local bike shop that had bought it from the pawn shop.
With help from some local folks who knew the bike shop owner, I was able to get him to give it back to me at no cost. Never thought I would see it again, and still my least used bike, but just goes to show that all is not lost.
That being said, I would still buy another bike. I never have less than two mountain bikes. N+1