Bike Justice

My brother told me a most awesome story this morning. The backstory: Apparently in February 2008 his friend, Olaf, had his bike stolen. It wasn't a fancy bike. Just an old beat up Trek Mountain Track. Still getting an old bike stolen hurts just as much getting a new one stolen. Usually when a bike gets stolen its gone. You fantasize about seeing your bike again. The guy who stole it riding by, not knowing you're about to smash his thieving face in with a brick. But that never happens. 99.9% of the time you will NEVER see that bike again. Unless you're Olaf. Apparently whoever stole it travels in the same circles as my brother and his friends. Because they saw it again and they knew it was his bike. Not once but twice. The first time my bro saw it he stole the front wheel off the bike hoping that it would delay the thief overnight so Olaf could come and rescue his bike but it was gone when they came back. So thats the end. You get one chance at getting your bike back... or do you?

Then a week ago my brothers other friend saw the bike again outside a bar and called Olaf and recommended he get a bolt cutter. An undisclosed amount of time later...


Bike freedom. Score one for the good guys. My brother said they spotted a guy looking sad with his broken lock later but thats what happens when karma catches up with your bike stealing / stolen bike buying nonsense.

When I was in Wisconsin something similar happened to me while I was working at Rainbow Jersey. We had a few of these really sweet small company Aluminum bikes. We had only one built up on the floor. It was one of a kind and one day while we were cleaning out the basement and being too trusting someone came in a stole it. Just walked in and walked out with the most expensive bike on the floor. About six weeks later I was driving around on my day off and saw a dude riding it and locking it to a rack outside a grocery store. This was before everyone had a cellphone so I had to race to find a pay phone and call my boss. He drove straight over and slapped his own lock on the bike and waited for the guy to come out. Come to think of it the guy didn't even have a lock on the bike. So the guy came out and got super mad at my boss and said he'd bought it from a friend for $200. My boss told him it was a $1300 bike and he was ready to call the cops and the guy sadly walked away with his groceries.

The tales of Bike Justice are few and far between but the sure feel good!