Success story from Brick Lane Market - A play in three acts

Kids? Half the people who've posted are 40 or more. They would be flattered; were they not being patronised.

should definitely be flattered

The idea of waiting until the bike is bought, then approaching and explaining it is stolen is basically the only safe option if you go down yourself. I would not approach the gangs because they are quite happy to kick the living fuck out of you.
By no means is this going to stop the thefts, as the bikes are still being bought and demand is still there. But if you want your bike back quickly then this is really your only option, unless you want to leave it to the police who admit they wont investigate the theft for 3 to 4 weeks.

Gotta add that my cousin went and asked one of the sellers at the end of the day (with me making myself scarce as they'd seen me hanging around all day) and he informed us of a location with a number of fixed gears for sale. If you've had anything specific stolen in the last few days/week, message me and I'll pass it onto him to keep and eye out for when he goes down to look for mine.

i appreciated that no one really wants some serious confrontation when getting their bike back but at the end of the day if you go for this whole approaching the seller after he's bought the bike then the thief has still won.