What to do if your bike is stolen

If I recall the law, and I'm sure others will correct me if I'm out of date (I learnt this thirty years ago), if the stolen bike is sold before you report the loss to the police then the new owner gets good title to it (unless of course he knew it was stolen). This to me would be why the police made the comment that they did.

The new owner could potentionally be charged with handling stolen goods. What you describe would be true in Germany, but not in the UK.

If an insurance payout has been made, you might need to buy the bike back from the insurance company, as it now belongs to them, but the cost for this is likely to be nominal.