[Closed] Stolen Bike on Facebook

I'd get it in your possession before calling the police - if that means you basically do a runner with the bike when you meet the seller or take some mates along to ensure there's no issues. Argue about who it belongs to once it's in your possession or it'll just disappear again.

Do make sure it's really yours though.

(caveat - if you had an insurance payout then just contact the police and don;t get involved).

From reading on here and other places, yes contact the Police and yes, they can be of use.
If they aren't, post back on here as there are some 'techniques' to get the police interested.

Did your insurance pay out? If so they are no longer your bikes. I'm still looking for two of mine that went eighteen months ago now though...

Thanks for the replies. Just to confirm there was no insurance payout

My son was in a similar situation a couple of years ago. He set up viewing of the bike and contacted the police, who came to the viewing and ensured he got the bike back. He then put the bike up for sale and was contacted by someone claiming it was their bike. Turns out it had been sold on and re-nicked but being the original owner my son kept his bike. I mention this because if it's a while ago your bike could have been sold a few times since

Hope you get it back safely.

Had a similar situation when I was much younger. Though the bike was stolen from me by a group of youths and I recognised two of them from school. The main one was later arrested and a court case pending. Found the bike for sale at a fraction of what I paid. Police said to buy it and claim off the thief. All went smoothly and 19 years later I still have the frame as my single speed!

From what I was told it had changed hands quite a few times.

Mine was nicked a year ago and someone contacted me on FB a few weeks later to say that it had been iffered to them as a swap (id put a page up on stolenbikes.org)

I contacted the police and the seller was known to them, my bike was quite rare at the time so was easily identificable

they raided him, recovered the bike & he got nicked!

get on teh police asap & ask them how to proceed

good luck

My mate had his bikes stolen from his garage and like you he saw it for sale on Facebook and contacted the Police, two days later the Police told him the guy said he had bought the bike and sold it on. That night my mate phoned the guy and he said he had the so he headed up to see it and parked his CR a mile away from the villains house. He walked up to the door and spoke the guys and asked for a test ride. He knew instantly it was his bike. The guy said are you just going up and down the street, mate said yes and handed him an obsolete car key. My mate got on the bike and disappeared back to his car put the bike in his car and that was that. Mate contacted the police and all they said was glad he had recovered his bike!

I had a bike stolen which then turned up on ebay in bits. I bought the wheels immediately and arranged to collect. Contacted the police to help who told me in no uncertain terms not to meet the seller/thief. They told me they would handle it so I passed on all the details including name, ebay listing, address etc. The police pissed around for over a week before going to visit the house, by which time the bike was gone. Needless to say I would do things differently if the same thing happened again...

If you do choose to try to recover the bike through the police then you'll need pretty solid proof that it's yours - proof of frame number is best but at a minimum you need photos of you with the bike showing clear distinguishing features (damage is probably best). You might know that your snowflake-laced, purple Chris King and ENVE front wheel is one of a kind but the police have no idea and the crook can say it's their bike. You have to prove it's stolen rather than them proving it's not.

I hope it works out for you.