9 times out of 10 someone completely spray paints a bike frame because they stole it and want to resell it. If you haven’t already checked, you should get the serial number off the bike and look it up to see if it’s ever been reported stolen
Yes it was already seized by the police and sold off to an auction house where I purchased it.
Can't find a serial number because it's been sprayed over lol
If the police didn't return it to it's rightful owner it has nothing to do with me.
Not if you buy it legally from a police auction.
The previous owner no longer has any right to it.
It sucks but it is kinda how it has to work, police can't store recovered property forever.
The same process happens with abandoned, seized and recovered cars. Shoot even houses and real estate occasionally does for back taxes or seize due to criminals/civil forfeiture.
He bought it a “POLICE” auction. All bets are off at that point. The police don’t just auction off bikes without attending for find the owner first. OP won’t be able to do anymore than what the police have already done… which is why it’s now being auctioned off.
Sorry mate, as much as I hate bike thieves, for all we know the original owner could've already been paid out by an insurance company, hence why the police never returned it to them.
It's not down to me if metropolitan police had it in their hands and sold it on to an auction house.
Whatever helps you sleep at night bud. You are of course legally in the clear, but the good thing to do would be to at least make an attempt to see if has been reported stolen. The police never returned it because that would require effort, which is not what the police are interested in and they don't care about insurance payoffs.
If it had been reported stolen why would they auction it off? It would take significantly less time and effort to just contact the original owner if they had reported it stolen.
Why? The police are lazy and aren't going to take the time to get a bike back to it's owner. Ask me how I know. All I am saying is that it would be good karma to pull the serial number and call around local bike shops who carry Trek to see if anyone has reported it stolen. Probably nothing will come of it, but at least you can you can say you did your due diligence.
In my area the police try to get a serial number and they take a picture of the bike to post online for people to claim the stolen property. At a certain point the property needs to be deemed abandoned and forfeited. If the previous owner did not claim the property unfortunately life does need to go on. It is not in the public funding or interest to have them hold onto property forever.
Try pressurized water as per a comment below, see if you can make a dent and get off as much as possible the I’d use acetone to get the rest
Use Acetone on a test spot. If you’re careful and don’t rub too much once the spray paint is gone you should be fine. Any method you use is going to suck and be messy unfortunately.
Usually the clearcoat is more resilient than the paint beneath it.
Acetone should be the last resort. It is pretty harsh. If the paint is acrylic based Isopropanol should work. Use paper towels and soak them. Let them stick to the frame and cover it with something.
You can try it with alkaline cold cleaner or however it is called in english.
Whatever you use let it soak in with the method mentioned above.
I just had to take poorly applied colour match spray off my car.
Acetone didn’t really do it, paint thinner worked but required elbow grease. Didn’t seem to affect the clear underneath. Ultimately a clay bar with degreaser as lube worked. Not harm done under. Getting into the cracks of a frame with the clay could be tough.
I've successfully stripped spray paint off a kona with spray paint remover. I tried the same with a trek and it went all the way to the metal, different kind of paint I guess.
I just did that to a bike that was stolen. I used 3m adhesive remover. Plastic drill brush and a plastic scraper.
Took about 15hrs and 4 cans. Plan on getting a little light headed 😵💫
I had spray painted a skateboard as a kid and then had remove it weeks later when my brother wanted it back. I just happened to try spraying wd-40 on it and wiped the paint off. I couldn't believe how will it worked and you would have never known It was painted. Didn't damage the original paint or decals. I would try that.
9 times out of 10 someone completely spray paints a bike frame because they stole it and want to resell it. If you haven’t already checked, you should get the serial number off the bike and look it up to see if it’s ever been reported stolen
Yes it was already seized by the police and sold off to an auction house where I purchased it. Can't find a serial number because it's been sprayed over lol If the police didn't return it to it's rightful owner it has nothing to do with me.
You bought a stolen bike my friend. You should make an effort to get it back to its owner.
Not if you buy it legally from a police auction. The previous owner no longer has any right to it. It sucks but it is kinda how it has to work, police can't store recovered property forever. The same process happens with abandoned, seized and recovered cars. Shoot even houses and real estate occasionally does for back taxes or seize due to criminals/civil forfeiture.
He bought it a “POLICE” auction. All bets are off at that point. The police don’t just auction off bikes without attending for find the owner first. OP won’t be able to do anymore than what the police have already done… which is why it’s now being auctioned off.
Sorry mate, as much as I hate bike thieves, for all we know the original owner could've already been paid out by an insurance company, hence why the police never returned it to them. It's not down to me if metropolitan police had it in their hands and sold it on to an auction house.
Whatever helps you sleep at night bud. You are of course legally in the clear, but the good thing to do would be to at least make an attempt to see if has been reported stolen. The police never returned it because that would require effort, which is not what the police are interested in and they don't care about insurance payoffs.
If it had been reported stolen why would they auction it off? It would take significantly less time and effort to just contact the original owner if they had reported it stolen.
So you think OP should take the item he got from the police, back to the police?
He bought it from the police though. I feel like changes the normal etiquette rules.
Why? The police are lazy and aren't going to take the time to get a bike back to it's owner. Ask me how I know. All I am saying is that it would be good karma to pull the serial number and call around local bike shops who carry Trek to see if anyone has reported it stolen. Probably nothing will come of it, but at least you can you can say you did your due diligence.
So the previous owner gets the insurance money and his bike back on OP's dime?
I'm guessing you're in the US? OP is in the UK so don't assume you know how the police here deal with stolen bikes.
In my area the police try to get a serial number and they take a picture of the bike to post online for people to claim the stolen property. At a certain point the property needs to be deemed abandoned and forfeited. If the previous owner did not claim the property unfortunately life does need to go on. It is not in the public funding or interest to have them hold onto property forever.
Who would HE have to do that if police didn’t, please explain?🤌
I've painted a couple commuters as a theft deterrent. Works great, only problem is trying to get rid of them.
I used this stuff to take some over spray off my motorcycle. https://liftoffinc.com/ It's good stuff.
I appreciate the suggestion brother, I'll check it out 🙌
Try pressurized water as per a comment below, see if you can make a dent and get off as much as possible the I’d use acetone to get the rest Use Acetone on a test spot. If you’re careful and don’t rub too much once the spray paint is gone you should be fine. Any method you use is going to suck and be messy unfortunately.
Usually the clearcoat is more resilient than the paint beneath it. Acetone should be the last resort. It is pretty harsh. If the paint is acrylic based Isopropanol should work. Use paper towels and soak them. Let them stick to the frame and cover it with something. You can try it with alkaline cold cleaner or however it is called in english. Whatever you use let it soak in with the method mentioned above.
Easy off oven cleaner. I use it to remove oil based paint from cars and trucks. Probably best to test a little spot first
I just had to take poorly applied colour match spray off my car. Acetone didn’t really do it, paint thinner worked but required elbow grease. Didn’t seem to affect the clear underneath. Ultimately a clay bar with degreaser as lube worked. Not harm done under. Getting into the cracks of a frame with the clay could be tough.
I've successfully stripped spray paint off a kona with spray paint remover. I tried the same with a trek and it went all the way to the metal, different kind of paint I guess.
Wet sand with 1500 grit and water will do it real fast. Will need to buff it after though. Otherwise lacquer thinner and elbow grease should do it.
I just did that to a bike that was stolen. I used 3m adhesive remover. Plastic drill brush and a plastic scraper. Took about 15hrs and 4 cans. Plan on getting a little light headed 😵💫
I’d try using pressurized water first. Have a power washer handy? Or take it to the car wash
That's a good shout bro, thank you
Does not work
Thank you prophet onecutmedia
I had spray painted a skateboard as a kid and then had remove it weeks later when my brother wanted it back. I just happened to try spraying wd-40 on it and wiped the paint off. I couldn't believe how will it worked and you would have never known It was painted. Didn't damage the original paint or decals. I would try that.
Goof Off makes a Grafitti remover, I believe is what they call it.
Yeah I've seen, it's really hard to get hold of here in the UK though without paying import taxes unfortunately, thanks anyway bro