Stolen bikes

It's generally not a good idea to buy stolen goods, even with the honourable intention of returning them to the owner. There have been some cases in which people have done this, sometimes at the owner's request, and the bikes have been returned to the owners, but at the end of the day the thief will have got what they wanted, the owner or the buyer will be out of pocket, and often it proves impossible to trace the owner. The police will also potentially not be able to catch the thief in possession of the stolen bike. Obviously, you can't always take a stand on principle, and in some cases the owner will be desperate enough to pay money to get their bike back, but generally you should avoid the temptation. Report such incidents to the Cycle Task Force instead (contact details here) so that they can carry on building up a picture, e.g. they might get three reports of this bloke trying to sell to people in that spot and try to catch him in the act.

I see your point. More needs to be done to solve the root of the problem but if my bike was stolen and somebody in my situation last night, had their suspicions, bought the bike, posted on here and it somehow made it back to me, i'd be happy to pay the £40 to get it back.

I appreciate the good intention but most stolen bikes don't make it home