Stolen bike stories, continued

By Dave Abel (BBC member now in Flagstaff, AZ)

In 1996, my 1993 Trek 970 mountain bike was stolen when my apartment in Davis, CA was burglarized. (They didn't touch my commuter, a 1990 Fuji Saratoga touring bike (called "Conestoga" by my friends who had newer bikes)). Everything of value was taken, so the police came by, took fingerprints and serial numbers, and so I had a proper police report in case anything was ever recovered. I couldn't find my receipt for the bike, so I had no record of the Trek serial number.

I was upset by the experience, and I asked around at the many local shops, everyone said they had never heard of anyone ever recovering a stolen bike, and usually added something like: "your bike was probably out of town two hours after it was stolen".

That bike was a very small frame size and had a distinctive rake to the top tube. Even though I knew it was hopeless, I still glanced at every bike rack I passed. In Davis, that is a lot of bike racks. Long after I'd given up any realistic hope of seeing the bike again, about two years later, I was walking along the street on my way to a potluck, actually carrying a pot of food, and across the street and down the block, in the failing light, I looked up and saw an interesting bike with a distinctive rake to the top tube. My understanding girlfriend was used to my taking slight detours to check out promising sightings. With my pot in my hands, I crossed the street to look at yet another bike that wasn't mine. I still remember clearly the moment I recognized my old Trek. It was locked to the rack, and obviously had been sitting there for some time. I ran home, got my lock, and locked it up in case the "owner" returned for it.

I called the police who came to look at the bike with me. The serial number wasn't on the police report, so they couldn't give me the bike. Their procedure was to place a note on the bike and to leave it there for 30 days, and maybe if it weren't claimed by that time, and I found my receipt, they would revisit the problem. It didn't seem hopeful.

I managed to get a friend who owned a shop in Indianapolis to forge me a receipt with the serial number on it, in case it was the only way to get the bike back, but I'm a rule-follower, and never showed it to the police. I just waited for the 30 days to see what would happen. I even considered re-stealing it, but I'm too timid for that. Before the 30 days was up, the indulgent police agreed to meet me at the bike rack, so I could prove the bike was mine. I showed them the custom pannier's I had made, and how the hardware on the panniers had scratched the paint off the rack in just the right places. I can't remember everything I demonstrated that day, but I had a list of what I thought was compelling evidence. Nothing doing. The officer was a rule- follower, too. I had to wait for the 30 days, and then maybe something could be done, but they didn't say I'd get the bike back without a receipt.

When the day arrived, I met an officer at the bike, who turned out to be the same one to whom I'd shown all my proof of ownership. As he got out the electric grinder and a found a place to plug it in, he told me he KNEW it was my bike the first time we'd met, that it was obvious, but he just couldn't give it to me, though it made him feel bad. He told me it was so rare that anyone recovers a bike that he had wished he could have just given it to me on the spot.

File this under "Who cares" if you want, but I enjoyed thinking about this again. Thanks. I still ride the bike every day, it now has an XtraCycle on it, which I use for commuting, shopping, and taking the kids to school. Now it's too old to steal, but I still lock it up.