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Man buys stolen bike so he can return it to the owner

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If someone offers to sell you a bike or any other goods for that matter at some ridiculous cheap price while you pass them by on the street than it is most likely that the item in question is stolen.

Most honest people would not even go there and buy such items but that’s unfortunately not always the case and stolen bikes do get sold in this way and never ever recovered by their original owner.

So we were warmed to hear of the story of a man from Portland in the United States buying such a bike from a passing seller with every intention of returning it to the original owner.

Hunch

The buyer was offered the bike, a Linus branded road bike, for $40 by a street seller. He bought the bike after noticing a sticker of one of Portland’s cycle shops on it. A hunch told him that bike had been previously stolen due to its condition.

He took the bike to the cycle shop that was mentioned on the sticker on the off-chance they had sold the bike to the original owner.

The shop in question, Clever Cycles of Portland, ran the serial number of the bike through their records and found the details of the original purchaser (and owner) including an address and phone number.

Bike reunited

A phone call later and the purchaser verified the bike was his. The bike itself had been stolen a month ago and the owner had filed a stolen bike report with the local police.

The original owner left a message on the social forum Reddit after getting the bike back:

“Why I love Portland: Someone bought my stolen Linus bicycle from a bum for $40 and returned it to Clever Cycle because it had their sticker on the frame. Thanks whoever you are!”

It goes to show that there are some honest people left in the world. Oh yes, the bike was worth $700 new.

from Going Going Bike - Auctions, Bike News, Cycle Stuff

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