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Even more awesome stolen bike recovery stories

I could get used to news weeks like this one. Story after story of recovered stolen bikes have been pouring in, including this tale from Robin who recovered two stolen bikes in one month:

2am Monday morning July 22nd my secured garage space was broken into and two of my bikes were stolen for a second time. One of the bikes was a direct replacement for a bike that was stolen from the same space in April. I had the garage reinforced with extra locks and secured the bikes inside the garage on a hefty cable lock. After hearing the news the bikes were stolen, I came home and filed a police report. I then started looking on CL just in case the thieves were dumb enough to post the bikes.


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Oddly enough I found one of the bikes that was stolen in April! I txt’ed for more info and sure enough it was my bike, they didn’t even bother to remove a dice valve steam cap on the rear wheel. We arranged to meet up at a local spot were I verified the serial numbers and identified the bike as mine. After then shade-ball guy tried to convince me multiple times the bike was not stolen, I told him I needed a receipt. He offered to meet me at the Pawn shop he “bought” the bike from, I agreed and walked away.

at this time I had a friend follow the guy around the corner where he started calling for a ride presumably. We then pulled up next to a police officer and pointed out the dirtbag. the police took the guy away in cuffs, hopefully turning up a more stolen bikes.

Now, if an getting a bike thief arrested is not enough, he goes on:

Last night [a friend] called me up with a hot tip of a sighting of the Transition down by the Ballard Fred Myer (less than a mile from my house). I booked it down to check out the situation. Shortly after I rolled up to the scumbag working on his dead red-maroon early 90’s pickup with matching cap. I walked up to the guy and shouted “Hey that’s my Bike” which he replied with “that’s bullshit I bought it” as my backup was on the phone with the police I informed Mr. Shitbag Magee he was about to have a few friends come pick him up. I took off with the bike on my car, doubled back and followed him for a little bit to see if I could get a plate number. Unfortunately I did not, the cops showed up and started searching but no luck. Word on the street is there is also a White Van with a speaker on the roof involved in recent bike thefts.

Want even more awesome recovered bike stories? Check out this afternoon’s The Conversation on KUOW (listen to recording here). Stories include a guy who got bike back after 30 years and a bad ass messenger who chased a bike thief all over downtown, including through a bus, before cops arrested the thief.


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Comments

9 responses to “Even more awesome stolen bike recovery stories”

  1. Tom

    My buddy in Boston got his $3000 road bike stolen. Within a few days, he spotted it and slowly followed the guy while on the phone with the police. The crook played dumb but my friend had his name and info on a piece of paper slid into the seat tube. Immediate arrest.

    1. I love the idea of hiding your information inside the frame somewhere. Smart thinking!

      1. Ted

        Damn, that is actually a really good idea. I am going to do that to all my bikes tonight…

  2. basketlover

    That truck camps down at the sand and gravel plant on the BG. There has been a few bikes stripped down in the last two weeks on the canal banks.

    1. Robin

      Have you been able to get a plate number on the truck? I will have to stop by and try to investigate some more.

  3. Jeff Dubrule

    Does anyone sell “title insurance” on bikes? Ideally bikes are built to last, and have resale value, but it seems the odds of buying a stolen one are pretty high.

    Any reliable way to verify that a bike/seller is legit?

    1. Jeff you can always check a bike’s serial number at http://www.stolenbicycleregistry.com/searchserial.php

  4. […] string of awesome stolen bike recovery stories is not over […]

  5. ChaCha Ala Mode

    If anyone is missing a Trek bike and another bike, I saw a white van with two bikes in it in GTown this weekend. The people in the van did not cross me as cyclist. More like crackwhore and pimp. Anyway my bf took a pic of the license plate. If you want more details email me @[email protected]

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