I was riding to work last Saturday, taking a different way, enjoying the sunshine. I looked to my right, and I was just about to pass two guys, one on a skateboard pushing a white GT mountain bike and the other on an black single-speed IRO Highlander.
I smiled and nodded to the guy on the black IRO Highlander. I like IRO frames. They are practical and don't cost an arm and a leg. He smiled back. I noticed the Wheelgirl sticker on the top tube. Cool. Thanks for the support, I thought. Then my brain remembered that I had helped to build that bike, and it was for a girl who had told me several weeks ago it was stolen while locked up at the BART!
In that I have been watching a bunch of action adventure movies, while I wait for the time to change and the days to get longer, I pulled in front of the guys, took out my cellphone, and let them know, with a smile, that they could start walking, or we could all have a conversation with the police. "How do you know it is stolen?" they asked. I pointed to the Wheelgirl work t-shirt I was wearing and the sticker on the bike. "We built that bike for a girl, and she told us it was stolen at the BART" "But we bought it from a guy at the BART," they answered. Lesson learned: Don't buy bikes at the BART from people you don't know. If you want to gamble with your money, go to Las Vegas.
They both knew the jig was up. And to their credit, they gave up the bike without a fight or a harsh word. One guy was in his twenties, and one guy was at least in his thirties. The bike was pretty trashed, but after a tune up, some new cables, housing, brake pads, pedals, and a polish she is looking like a sweet single-speed ride again. (Read after the jump, urban cyclists, to see if you can answer the U lock riddle.)
Photos taken by Wheelgirl. This is the bike right after it was recovered from an adventure as stolen property.
The girl who owns the bike told me that she had locked the bike with a new Kryptonite lock, and the lock was still there after the bike was stolen. The lock was closed, both pieces were locked together, and it was fully functioning. It wasn't cut, mangled, or broken? If you have had this wacky lock thing happen with a newer U lock that was made after 2006, put up a post, and let me know how bike thieves are performing this trick. (This was not an older U lock that you could open with a pen.) This is the second time I have heard of a bike being stolen without the Kryptonite U lock being damaged in any way.
