You are reading a single comment by @SlimCharles and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
Previous owner has got in touch... Bloke appears genuine and clearly isn't the person I purchased the bike from originally. He apparently reported bike stolen to the police but did not register it as stolen on bike register. I suppose whether he reported it as stolen or not on BR doesn't really change the fact it was stolen at the end of the day. I suggested that if he can provide evidence of it I'll give him back the bike minus the parts (so basically frame, forks, stem and handlebars). He's instead suggested, given it's not really the same bike, I pay him £50 and call it quits.
SlimCharles
Scilly.Suffolk
This.
If he didn't report the theft at the time, I wouldn't be so quick to hand it over.
Apart from aggi's point, because of the time elapsed it'll be much harder for you to recover what you paid for the bike from the previous seller.
Equally, it's bollocks that someone could do their due diligence (ie check with Bike Register that it's not stolen) and buy a bike, only to have taken off them some time down the line because the original owner couldn't be bothered to report it.
I'd tell him he can have it back if he refunds you what you paid for it (his fault you bought a stolen bike), plus an amount for your labour in maintaining it, minus new parts (adjusted for original parts that were removed).