While they’re busy loading your bike, hop into their driver’s seat. If you’re lucky, maybe they left the keys in the ignition, free car! If not, either surprise the fuck out of them and ask “Where are we going?”, or call the law, or just beat the shit out of them, your choice.

  • m_f@discuss.onlineEnglish
    9·
    18 hours ago

    I had my bike stolen and saw someone riding it the next day. I chased him down and grabbed my bike and cops showed up and handled the situation, but it was a dumb idea because I had no idea what state of mind the guy was in and if he was carrying any weapons.

      • m_f@discuss.onlineEnglish
        1·
        3 hours ago

        It still had my bike bag on it, which moved it from “pretty sure” to “certain enough to chase that fucker down”. I was told after that the guy was well-known to the cops and had done this before but it’s hard to prove that the guy riding a new bike every day is stealing them. Something you can do is register your bike’s serial number to make it easier to tell if a bike is stolen.

      • Bigfish@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        2·
        4 hours ago

        Paint a stripe or two on your crossbar with distinctive colors. Easy to do, easy to notice & document, hard to duplicate, and hard to remove.

    • over_clox@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      14·
      22 hours ago

      Alternate idea: Lay down in the back seat, and once they get going, call emergency services and say “Help, I’ve been kidnapped!”, and try to describe their vehicle.

      How do they know how the hell you got in their car? And stick with it too, you know that thief is gonna be shitting bricks and trying to get you to shut up and get out of their car or something, go ahead and let 911 hear their bullshit.

      Note: If there’s even the slightest chance there are any cameras around, you probably shouldn’t do that, it’ll catch up with you…

  • stinky@redlemmy.comEnglish
    11·
    20 hours ago

    I caught a bike thief taking one of my roommates’ bikes from the side of our house. He dropped it and walked quickly toward the street. I chased him down and he made some excuse, “oh I thought this was my house” or something. I said, “Ok I trust you.” and let him.

    Years later I wish I had hit him

    • Delphia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      17 hours ago

      You really dont.

      At the point where he is leaving, unarmed and off the property. You’re pretty much 100% in the wrong and in this day and age catching an assault charge means you’re disadvantaged heavily for the rest of your adult life.

      You let a petty theif get away with some petty shit for your own good.

      • over_clox@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        6·
        17 hours ago

        OP here, and I hear ya.

        Still, if it was me, and I actually wanted to hurt them (if they were riding off and not loading it in their trunk as my post regards)…

        I (probably) wouldn’t hurt them directly, I’d probably jam a stick or pipe in the spokes. Like fuckit, it’s my bike, I installed all the spokes myself and can install more later if necessary. And I know my bike’s serial number by heart.

        I can’t help it if the thief busts his face on the pavement because I damaged my own property…