Suspicious Mind(s)

[olimoo]

Today on my lunchbreak I saw a guy riding through downtown Toronto on an old beater bike pulling what looked like a Lapierre Zesty along beside him.

Without meaning disrespect to the guy (and feeling quite judgemental), he maybe didn’t look like he could spend the kind of money that would be required to own that bike.

I made a note of his appearance, bikes,direction etc but did nothing else. I’ve been checking local online groups/forums for Bike Stolen messages and nothing has come up…

I’m interested to know though, would any of you have done anything different?

[Ginny_Tory]

I would have done the same thing. Someone with a really nice bike probably wouldn’t let their others into disrepair, even if it’s a commuter. Then again, he might have just been transporting it for a bike crazy friend or it was a his gift to someone. You never know. I would of made a mental note in case I did see a stolen bike flyer anywhere just as you did.
It’s profiling, but statistically it works.

[Matthew Bonner]

I would of called the guy out on it also

[Devin_P]

Profiling is a common factor of life and in criminal justice. Profiling a total situation is not the same as basing a decision solely on race. I probably would’ve checked with the local police to see if any stolen bikes had been reported. The bike community is far more likely to notice something out of the ordinary (such as high end bikes where they wouldn’t normally be) than the average law enforcement officer (excluding the ones that ride of course).

[olimoo]

"cavermatthew" wrote

I would of called the guy out on it also

Someone else I spoke to asked why I didn’t chase him to the next intersection and ask him, the thought did cross my mind but as I didn’t actually see him take the bike from anywhere, just ride down the street with it, I hesitated.

I guess I could have gone down the "Nice ride, which trails do you hit?" casual questioning route, but hindsight is a wonderful thing

[gar29]

"olimoo" wrote

[quote="cavermatthew":1lozhm38]I would of called the guy out on it also

Someone else I spoke to asked why I didn’t chase him to the next intersection and ask him, the thought did cross my mind but as I didn’t actually see him take the bike from anywhere, just ride down the street with it, I hesitated.

I guess I could have gone down the "Nice ride, which trails do you hit?" casual questioning route, but hindsight is a wonderful thing[/quote:1lozhm38]
I wouldn’t have chased him down if he wasn’t obviously doing anything wrong, who’s to say it’s not his bike…. But the casual questioning might have been effective. Think about it this way, if he was in a bomber car with the expensive bike stuffed in the back seat, you probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it.

As far as pulling the bike along, he might not have a car, and not wanted to ruin the tread on his tires by riding on the street. Might be a dumb idea, just trying to think of a reason for how he was transporting it. I don’t like riding my expensive knobbies on the road….

[Author]

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