NOTE: All timestamps are in the future because WE are in the future. The care takers of Midnight Ridazz.com reserves the right to remove, edit, move or delete anything for any reason. None of the opinions expressed on these boards represent the Midnight Ridazz nor can anyone purport to speak on behalf of Midnight Ridazz.
My bike was stolen about 2 weeks ago. Cable lock was cut..
Anyways -- i've been watching craigslist in a false hope that jackass would try and sell it on craigslist, i would approach him as a buyer and go beat his teeth out. During this time (2 weeks) i've noticed one particular person selling a lot of bikes (not mine), and always changing his phone number slighty -- the area he lives in slighty... etc...
I seriously doubt that he is a thief or sell stoled bikes. He is too out there, and would ove post these ads in the past. I try not to pay attention to his ads at present time. He has seem to relax on posting the same ad 10x per day. He probably has alot of bikes in stock that he is having a hard time selling
There has been many discussion and comments about this guy on craigslist bikes for sale. Positive comments but mostly negative for his abuse of overposting.
so a few nights ago, i was approached by a small bike gang at washington + main in the fashion district while walking back home. i asked one of the guys if he's heard of midnight ridazz.
he gave a fantastic anecdote of how he + his friends experienced m.r. for the first time a week ago, and HAD to steal a few bikes because the community was too exclusive to one of their pals (Accordingly, "They didn't believe we were true Midnight Ridazz"). In fact, this dude pointed out, he was riding one of the loots: a cruiser bike.
they were riding from south central. young guys in their early 20s. one guy sported a mohawk.
Awesome eddieboy... I wasn't asking for a solution asshole. Just pointing out something that some people may care about. ZOMG NEXT TIME I NEED A BRAIN-DEAD OBVIOUS SUGGESTION, I'LL HIT YOU UP!
I've actually been to this guys house to look at a bike for a friend of mine. The siding and the two stepping stones where he takes all the pics of his bikes is at the front door. This guy does over post a lot and charges a lot for the bikes he sells but highly doubt he's shady
He lives with his his extended family/house and he's got a bunch of bikes in the home. He did leave me out w/ the bike alone for 5 min when his mom/aunt came out to call him in so I thought that was a gutsy move in itself.
"Awesome eddieboy... I wasn't asking for a solution asshole."
Dude, you're the one that used a cable-lock to secure your bike and then got it stolen, so clearly you DO need a better solution.
I notice this is your first post on this forum. If you do a search of the threads, you'll find that the vast majority of bikes stolen from ridazz either weren't locked up at all, or were locked up using cable locks.
Cable locks are kind of a running joke around here. Unfortunately, you're the latest casualty.
Having a U-lock, my real problem was not thinking I was in the type of area where a bike couldn't be left with a cable lock on a super-busy friday with tons of pedestrian traffic in a good part of town for 10-15 minutes. So i'm 'new' to the area and didn't realize these people were that bold and wanted it that bad. My post was more so pointing out someone that was selling a lot of bikes that look like they could belong to people that have unfortunately lost a bike, locked or not..
@digablesoul - ah.. that's cool, was just curious if anyone knew.. so where do all the stolen seats / lights / front wheels / bags / spokes go? =D
The reason that guy changes his info slightly for every post is that he is obviously running a business using Craigslist, which is against their terms of service. People have noticed that fact and flag his posts. Changing the info makes it (slightly) harder for them to do that.
I doubt he's selling stolen bikes (at least not knowingly). More likely he is buying cheap frames on eBay, converting them into cheesy fixies, and then selling them for what usually seem like ridiculous prices.
You know... I've wondered the same thing. I've been thinking... how would I get rid of a bike? I'd avoid CL as much as I can... even if I sold them down in OC... or even San Diego's CL... way too easy to set a trail. Maybe just hang around the local high schools and just start selling it maybe.
It's sucks that you got your bike stolen. I'd say keep looking at the OC and SD CL... I bet this is just bigger than what we think. Imagine "Gone in 60 secs" but the bike version... and there's like a chop shop and the kids that steal the bikes get their share.
Has anybody actually bought from that dude in SGV?
Aside from that one bike he was selling with a bent fork, I don't see why everybody gets so worked up. It's not actually against craigslist's Terms of Use to sell commercial products on there.
Sure, most of his bikes are more than I'd spend, but the Vuelta fixie wheelsets he's selling are actually pretty well-priced.
Now you know how much most pedestrians will do to stop a bike thief. Don't leave your bike out of sight for more than 10 minutes, if it is locked up "securely" not even 1 minute unlocked...it's almost like losing your first born child. I shed a tear for all the poor stolen bikes...
Hm, I think it used to be against their terms of service to "run a business" using Craigslist (using it as your main platform for advertising a stock of goods for sale, the way people are "professional eBayers") but, you're right, that doesn't seem to be in their terms any more. There is a question in their FAQ about that sort of thing, but then it doesn't link to an answer -- perhaps a recent policy change...?
However, it certainly is against their terms to gratuitously repost the same item for an extended period of time and I know I've seen that person list the same bikes MANY, MANY times.
However, I suspect the reason people get worked up about that guy is that his prices, while not totally ridiculous, are just high enough to be slightly offensive. Plus, the fixies he builds up often tend to be pretty damn ugly, to my eyes.
I was just at wilshire/vermont station and I saw a suspiciously short man walking a bike that's a 60 cm frame (around (for someone around 5'11)) that was white with stickers on the top tube and silver rims. I didn't get a good enough look at it to see what brand the frame was or if it was fixed.
If your bike is this bike and it got stolen today it's around the wilshire/vermont area.
I've actually talked to a guy that was trying to sell a "newly painted" fixed gear at wilshire/vermont. He was very open to tell me that his brother gets car paint and paints frames...
I asked him what size the frame was and he responded with a very confused look and then pointed at the wheels and said, "27!" then I asked him the ratio and yet again I got a confused look.
Did the guy appear to
Have an slight hispanic accent or appreance?[no offense guys!]
The other day I've seen this one short old guy at western&santa monica with red trek with areo spoke rims
And the bike appeared to be
At least 58 or up!
I was gonna roll up to him
To get a closer look on it.
But obvisouly it appreared
THAT BIKE DID NOT BELONG TO HIM!
He varies the descriptions slightly because CL won't let you make multiple, verbatim posts. You have to alter a word here and there to fool the automated screener.
-->
Ridazz Roulette!
