• Approach them (or get a mate to if they know your face) say you want a bike,,, see what happens after that.

    A tad obvious. Next time you ride by, compliment them on their bike and mention that you're looking for something similar for whatever that bike is most suited to and ask how it rides. If they offer to sell it off the bat then job done, call cops.

    That's if you want to bother with confirming your not unreasonable suspicions.

    Incidentally, anyone see the BBC news article on bike theft. Not brilliant but a decent start.

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