Have you ever...

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Mark Andrews
Cycling is a very expensive sport indeed and I was interested to know how many of you have ever either stolen bicycle parts from a shop or stolen a bicycle before just to be able to support your interest in riding a decent bike?

That's just wrong.

I was accused of stealing a bike once . . .

When I was in college there was an abandoned bike outside my dorm for several months. When I decided to use it and checked it out, the tires and cables needed replacing and the wheels needed truing. It was in bad shape from sitting in the rain and weather.

I needed a campus beater bike so I fixed it up and rode it around for a week or two. One day I was accosted by the owner who accused me of stealing it and of course he called the police before talking to me. I gave it back and asked that he might reimburse me for the repairs I did. The cop on the scene said nothing would happen unless the guy decided to press charges, which he thought unlikely since he got his bike back and in pretty good shape.

Well the punk pressed charges anyways, which I found out in a nice letter stating there was a warrant out for my arrest for "appropriation of stolen property" when I got back from Winter break.

The pathetic thing? The guy lived in the dorm across a courtyard from mine so the abandoned bike was sitting about 30 feet from the door to his dorm. He claimed to search the area every day for weeks . . . and never saw it?!?

The Resident Fellow (Faculty member living in the dorm) of my dorm wrote a statement on my behalf as well as other residents corroborating my statement of events. My lawyer (the public defender) got the DA to drop the charges before trial. I even got to see him ream the Assistant DA who decided to move forward with the case, because of the ridiculousness of the situation.

I never did get any $$ for the repairs I did, but I did get to spend an afternoon in the holding cell with a murder suspect . . .

Moral of the story? People can be bitter and vindictive even if they get back more than they lost so make sure you have upstanding witnesses for all of your "untoward" actions!

That's a great story, drewski.

Personally, I think most bike stuff is either very affordable (like a tube) -- hardly worth stealing -- or very costly (like a wheelset or fork) -- hardly worth the moral trespass and risk of prosecution.

All moral notions aside, I don't think I have the nerves to steal anything of real value. I occasionally steal quarters from my company's stamp-buying station if I'm short bridge toll, but I've got a mental tab running (about $1.50) and I plan to pay it all back after my next bonus.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Mark Andrews
Cycling is a very expensive sport indeed and I was interested to know how many of you have ever either stolen bicycle parts from a shop or stolen a bicycle before just to be able to support your interest in riding a decent bike?

Nope. Never did. Bad for the karma and pretty stupid too. It's not an expensive sport at all either.

Tim