[CR]My response to "what gets one thrown off..?"

Well, Ken, I just went back and reviewed your original message and then read Michael's e-mail for the first time (I have trouble reading all the mail at this busy time of the year.)

Quite honestly, I see a bit of difference.

Your mail, while very sincere, had very little to do with vintage or classic bike owners. No one is his or her right mind is going to lock a collectable bike up on the street of NYC. I think your post was motivated by your outrage at people doing nothing to keep a bike from being solen in NYC (which is of course true!) But it is an EXTREME strtch to somehow find an appropriatness to posting that... Sorry.

And I am afraid you caught me at a particular peevish moment when there had been a lot of thoughtless off topic posts. And so I didn't totally kick you off, because it wasn't by any means a cardinal crime, but I just put you "in the cooler" for a brief period...

Re: Micheal's post: Yes, it centered upon a stolen guitar but the LESSON to be learned (as he points out) directly applies to trying to retrieve a stolen collectable bicycle. Big diff in my mind!

Sorry, but although I am not perfect, I try to be fair and after that, you have to just settle for whatever uneven justice I deal out....

Dale Brown Greensboro, NC USA http://www.classicrendezvous.com

-----Original Message----- From: kenbensinger@gmail.com To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 3:19 PM Subject: [CR]what gets one thrown off the list?

Dale,    Just writing to inquire as to why the below off-topic post about the  problems of bike theft is a welcome contribution to the CR list, while my  post from July 14, also about bike theft, got me kicked off the list in a  very public manner.    I know it can't be the use of the term "I know this is not on topic" or a  variant thereof, because both postings used it.    Anyhow, my 30 day suspension is up and I'm eager to participate again. It  just doesn't seem fair that I get dinged for something others do not.    My two cents.    Ken Bensinger  Brooklyn, NY    Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:32:55 -0400  From: Michael Allison <cyclo_one@verizon.net>  To: Tom Sanders <tsan7759142@sbcglobal.net>  Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org  Subject: [CR]Re: Stolen bike on ebay . . what to do  Message-ID: <4e7ed6ead9d485b53f6f6b212fe53540@verizon.net>  Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed  MIME-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v624)  Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit  Precedence: list  Message: 2      Hi Tom and list:    First, I want to offer John Jorgensen my sympathy for his loss. No  matter how long it has been, I'm sure it still stings. While in  college, my 1958 Cinelli SC, safely locked up or so I thought, was  stolen. I cried like a baby.    About six years ago I had the experience of reclaiming my stolen A. C.Â

Fairbanks Whyte Ladie 5-string banjo that was being auctioned on ebay.Â

Here's what I had to do to get it back. The instrument had been stolenÂ

ten years earlier but I had kept all the paper work: photos, original  bill of sale, insurance valuation and police report. I immediately  called the NY State police who filled the original report.    They connected me to an internet fraud unit. Of course, the police  asked me to prove that the banjo was mine. I offered all the paperworkÂ

I had but that was not enough. The banjo had a serial number that  appeared on the insurance form but that was not enough. I had to  contact an expert in Boston who made an affidavit that the serial  number was unique to only the banjo on ebay. When the police were  finally satisfied, they got a subpoena that required ebay to give themÂ

the sellers contact information.    As it turned out the seller lived only a few miles from the police andÂ

the site of the theft. They questioned the man, who showed them a billÂ

of sale from a music store that no longer existed. The police took theÂ

banjo and eventually returned it to me after a media circus. When I  showed up to claim it, they told me the seller's brother had worked atÂ

the hotel where it was stolen. The police said that the statue for  stolen property is seven years in NYS, so the department no longer hadÂ

any paper work. They said that under the law, they didn't have to takeÂ

any action. But since the seller was so close, they gave it a shot.  Moreover, the police said if the banjo had been in another  jurisdiction/state, they could only ask for a "consideration" from theÂ

other police department.    Sorry Dale, I know this is not on-topic, but it is important  information for any CR member who wants to claim a stolen bike. When IÂ

assemble a bike, I tape my personal contact info on the fork stirring 
column and put it in the BB. 
 
MIchael Allison 
New York, NY 
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