Friday, September 21, 2007

Busted...

A guy walks into a bike shop and needs some work done on his bicycle. He doesn't really know what's wrong with it and isn't well versed in the names of the bicycle components. Nothing too surprising here, a shop must see this numerous times weekly if not daily. But this guy had an Independent Fabrication Deluxe with a SID fork and full XTR components and he didn't know what a derailleur was. He couldn't explain why or how the derailleur hanger was bent. I bet bells are ringing in your head, huh?

Well, Mr Bike Shop Manager takes the bike, gets the guy's name and number and tells him the bike will be fixed in a few days, just as smooth as as silk. A few phone calls later, Mr Bike Shop Manager knows who the original owner was from Independent Fabrication, lets the local police department know that there is a possible stolen bike in his shop, AND finds out there is a stolen bike report from 2002 from the owner's hometown.

The two police departments coordinate their response and have Mr. Bike Shop Manager call the guy to tell him his bike is fixed and he needs to pick it up that afternoon. It seems this guy has some warrants out on him and he is known to be a "runner" by the local police so they have two K-9 units stationed and another set of officers in the shop for the guy's return. Upon return to the bike shop to pick up his bike, the guy is confronted by the police and makes a sound decision not to run. He is handcuffed and taken away.

The Independent Fabrication bike was stolen in 2002 and it looked like it hadn't been ridden much since then. It was missing its original wheels and had a bent hanger but other than that, it is in good condition. Hopefully this bike will rejoin its original owner to ride singletrack off into the sunset.

Bike Owner, Bike Shop, Police - 1
bike thief - 0

2 Comments:

Blogger gwadzilla said...

well...


that is a tough story
as 2002 was a bit of a while ago

he may not have been the bicycle theif
the bike may have been gray market
the bike may have changed many times over the course of five years

this bicycle may have been found abandoned
this bicycle may have been bought at a yard sale

this guy may have had a warrant for his arrest
but the charges will more than likely be possession of stolen goods
hard to think that whe would have had the bike for that long a time and not ridden it then started riding it

that said...

bike thieves suck
if people did not buy stolen bikes there would be a heck of a lot less bike theft going on

who wants a bad karma bike anyway?

9:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love happy endings.

2:12 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home