Bicycle Registration - will police give info about previous owners?

[sworley]

I tried searching about this topic but didn't have luck. I guess part of me is curious about some of the history of this bike but I'd hate to contact the police dept of the issuing town only to find the bike stolen or something. On the other hand, would they even share the previous owner's name with me? Has anyone tried this?

It's a pretty inconspicuous decal under the top tube but I wonder if I should just remove it and forget about all this...

 

[bricycle]

That's the chance you take... of being put under suspicion of theft, and having stolen goods.

 

[Barto]

I had that issue with a Pan Head motor, One of the Vin numbers didn't look right (the numbers 6 & 9 had a straight tails instead of curved)...I went to a Cop friend of mine to ask for help and he told me that if they indeed were fake numbers he would have to confiscate the motor and I could be arrested for possession of stolen property (bought it at a Swap meet with paper). I got a lawyer and he checked for me - number came up clean but I was quaking in my boots as this motor was just getting more expensive by the day. The weird numbers really bothered me so I ended up selling it off and building another Pan -

 

[sworley]

Thanks, guys. Sounds like it's best to just leave this a mystery then.
Certainly does not sound worth what little gain of info I'd receive, especially since I wouldn't do anything with the info anyway other than satisfying some curiosity.

 

[mrg]

I was always going to go to my local Fire station to see if the had any records ( think they were on little file cards in a metal file box ) from when they stamped #'s on the bottom of my 63/4 Stingray back in the mid 60's but figured nobody would know what I was talking about?, they would probably think I was crazy!

 

[Archie Sturmer]

I read somewhere that once there was a fire or something and all of the stolen A&S serial number information was lost(?).
It’s not like they would have just thrown the “stuff” away, with the trash, such as old photograph pictures of people and places.
A lot of cities have long done away with bicycle toy registration, because it was found more as an excuse to harass suspected ne’er do wells, rather than serving any (other) public good.
I believe that some city decals were sometimes applied or provided by bicycle dealers.

will police give info about people

Not likely, based on absence of a need to know.

 

[GTs58]

The way I understood the license situation back in 64 is YOU had to have a record of your serial number and your licence number and the City does not keep records on bicycles. Not all cities and towns are the same though. In Maricopa County your bike was tagged once, and the plate was permanent unlike Madison and other places where you had to renew every year and probably had to pay a yearly fee. If you report your stolen bike they will take down the information and that's about the only record of any numbers on the bike. After a short time they probably tossed your police report in the trash.

 

[Sven]

Just curious, why do your "spider senses" make you think it could possibly be stolen?
What kind of bike is it?

Do you have any friends in law enforcement? If you just want to find out if is stolen all they have to do is run the numbers through NCIC.

It's up to you , keep it a mystery or roll the dice. But if for some reason you have an accident or stopped and the Police run the numbers and they find out its hot.
You got a "lot of splandin to do"

 

[sworley]

Just curious, why do your "spider senses" make you think it could possibly be stolen?
What kind of bike is it?

Do you have any friends in law enforcement? If you just want to find out if is stolen all they have to do is run the numbers through NCIC.

It's up to you , keep it a mystery or roll the dice. But if for some reason you have an accident or stopped and the Police run the numbers and they find out its hot.
You got a "lot of splandin to do"

Why it may be suspect: The bike was purchased of FB Marketplace from a couple that bought out contents of old storage units, it contained many other bikes.

This bike was expensive new.

Kids/BMX bikes seem to get ripped off more frequently it feels like.

The reg sticker was issued from a pretty wealthy municipality, the bike was purchased by me in its less desirable sister town.

Reasons against it being stolen:
Original reg sticker in place
Very, very bright color was not rattlecanned over
All original parts in place

In reality though, chances are it changed hands at a garage sale or the rich folks simply wheeled it to the curb on a trash day. That’s the most plausible explanation I can think of...

It’s not that I particularly think the bike was stolen, I wanted to look up the previous owner to see if they wanted their childhood bike back but they don’t give two shakes, really.

 

[Allrounderco]

So you’d like to sell it back to the original owner if it was given up willingly, but you don’t want to see it back in its rightful place if it were stolen. Hmmm.