little_joe
SILVER Star
Nevermind, this is a very stolen bike.
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False alarm (1 Viewer)
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little_joe
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #2
Here's the story. I stumbled upon this bike online, couldn't believe my eyes, went to check it out, and walked out with it for $993. Asking price was $1500.
Wife asked why such a great deal? is it stolen?
Bike in question is a fully custom built Unicorn Cycles titanium frame, carbon wheels & fork & seatpost, SRAM wireless shifting, disks, power meter, high end hubs, and more. I checked all of the online bike registries for the serial number and got no hits. Called my favorite local hipster bikeshop to ask if they had a customer with this bike, they did not but referred me to a boutique shop nearby I'd never heard of. Spoke with the owner of that shop, he asked questions about components and confirmed some of the garnishes: within 90 seconds, he confirmed he built it for a customer for $7000. And it had indeed been stolen, police report filed with Raleigh PD.
After some back and forth with the shop owner about how to proceed, I called the pawn shop where I got it (!!! huge red flag !!!) and notified them that it was indeed a stolen bike, and I was bringing it back and expecting a refund. Drove back up there, got my $993 back, and informed them the rightful owner would be in with the police report to retrieve the bike. Kind of painless, really. The original owner was notified by the boutique shop, all he needed to do was show up with the police report to recover it.
What an absolutely fabulous bike! I rode it for about a mile and it was so light (20 lbs at most?) and lively, riding was effortless. I'm totally bummed, but just happy the rightful owner is getting it back and that I got my money back. But now that I've had a taste - anyone wanna donate $7k to me for a fully custom bike?
Wife asked why such a great deal? is it stolen?
Bike in question is a fully custom built Unicorn Cycles titanium frame, carbon wheels & fork & seatpost, SRAM wireless shifting, disks, power meter, high end hubs, and more. I checked all of the online bike registries for the serial number and got no hits. Called my favorite local hipster bikeshop to ask if they had a customer with this bike, they did not but referred me to a boutique shop nearby I'd never heard of. Spoke with the owner of that shop, he asked questions about components and confirmed some of the garnishes: within 90 seconds, he confirmed he built it for a customer for $7000. And it had indeed been stolen, police report filed with Raleigh PD.
After some back and forth with the shop owner about how to proceed, I called the pawn shop where I got it (!!! huge red flag !!!) and notified them that it was indeed a stolen bike, and I was bringing it back and expecting a refund. Drove back up there, got my $993 back, and informed them the rightful owner would be in with the police report to retrieve the bike. Kind of painless, really. The original owner was notified by the boutique shop, all he needed to do was show up with the police report to recover it.
What an absolutely fabulous bike! I rode it for about a mile and it was so light (20 lbs at most?) and lively, riding was effortless. I'm totally bummed, but just happy the rightful owner is getting it back and that I got my money back. But now that I've had a taste - anyone wanna donate $7k to me for a fully custom bike?
Glad it was able to get back to the rightful owner. But, to bad you got a taste of the good stuff.....
As if the pawn shop didnt know it was stolen. Good on you for doing the homework to find the owner. 