Abandoned Bikes

[1st Recline Bn]

I live in close proximity to Colorado College and was riding through the campus yesterday and noticed quite a few bikes in different stages of disrepair locked to bike racks, some with flats, missing wheels and cob-webs in the gears.
My question is; At what point is the bike abandoned and is it morally sound to cut the locks and "rescue" them?

[5.9 ANDY]

i see several of these around my base as well, have not moved in months..

i say free game if they have no signs of any sort of care in the last few months.

[biggoofy]

Its the same on new river I could probably grab 20 bike easy that have just been left.

[Filthy McChevy]

If you ask the campus police chief, it's morally sound.

[94KRAWLER]

my brother saw the same thing at college, just a ton of bikes everywhere, he asked the campus police and they gave him the ok if they looked really abandoned and didn't move

[Manning]

in the other parts of the world, public civil & environmental labor workers leave a 3-5 day notice ticket on the handle bars of the bike. if no ones moves the vehicle within that time the bike is impounded. however because if the bike was really abandoned, no one was going to retrieve it any time soon, and it would quickly be stripped of parts by underground bike builders and restorationists. remains are eventually donated to world bicycle relief-type non profit organizations.. or recycled by alloy material by the kg

[DRM]

Funny tangent story... While in Birmingham, AL a few weeks back, I saw a guy roll up on a bike to a Wal*Mart we were headed into about 10pm one night. He picked out a new bike, paid for it, then got on the new bike and took off - leaving his old one right there in front odf the store

Odd.

[vova]

Originally Posted by DRM

Funny tangent story... While in Birmingham, AL a few weeks back, I saw a guy roll up on a bike to a Wal*Mart we were headed into about 10pm one night. He picked out a new bike, paid for it, then got on the new bike and took off - leaving his old one right there in front odf the store

Odd.

It was a trade in.

[1st Recline Bn]

Campus and city PD both say, "If it sits for more than seven days its yours".
yipeee! whos got bolt cutters?

[Mike CZJ]

Originally Posted by 1st Recline Bn

Campus and city PD both say, "If it sits for more than seven days its yours".
yipeee! whos got bolt cutters?

got that in writing? cover your ass...

[The Joker]

Originally Posted by DRM

Funny tangent story... While in Birmingham, AL a few weeks back, I saw a guy roll up on a bike to a Wal*Mart we were headed into about 10pm one night. He picked out a new bike, paid for it, then got on the new bike and took off - leaving his old one right there in front odf the store

Odd.

Thats all a Walmart bike is good for, they are like bic lighters.

[rugburn]

I rebuilt these finds in college and used to ride around campus on an old Schwinn outfitted with baskets front and rear picking up piece of abandoned and neglected bikes.

Lots of late nights pedalling around loaded down with parts and the HKP bolt cutters bungey corded down to the rear rack......life was soooo easy back then

[1st Recline Bn]

Originally Posted by Mike CZJ

got that in writing? cover your ass...

I was directed to the website for C.C. and its Campus PD policy.
I found a awesome Barracuda mountain bike today with a flat and bent rim
6 days and its mine.

[LarryS]

Careful. How will you prove it has been 7 days? Good hunting.

[General Sherman]

If the actual owner reports it stolen you won't be able to use the "police said it was OK" excuse. Better leave it alone. What you or I consider abandoned might not be what the owner considers abandoned. If the campus has a policy of seven days (I've never heard of this) then let them remove the lock and wait for them to get rid of it. Most college campus's or campus police have records of serial numbers. See if you can check there records for students who've moved on. Maybe you'll get lucky. Either way, a old beat up Barrracuda isn't worth the criminal record.

[Joes89yj]

I know at Mizzou they do something similar, they post signs on bikes then if they aren't moved in a certain time they will cut the lock and end up selling them in unclaimed property auctions ever so often, these are usually the bikes "illegally parked". Also at the end of a semester all students are warned to remove their bikes or it becomes university property and then they sell those in unclaimed property auctions. To me it just seems like a ploy for the university to make extra dough...