Stolen bike RECOVERED!

A few months back I posted here when my older son's Miyata cheapo fixie
was stolen. He had it at the University; locked with a cable lock. Whoever stole it actually left the padlock behind with the ruined cable.
Yesterday, my younger son spotted someone riding it. Later, he tracked the bike down to the U. Bookstore and waited for the rider to come out. The guy said
he found it out by the dorms abandoned (why didn't he turn it in?) and didn't know it belonged to someone (duh) DS told him it was Raleighdonson's bike
and that we were looking for it and that there was a reward. (!!!)
So they exchange info and when Raleighdonson got home from helping his grandmother do yardwork, he drove to this guy's house and got his bike back.
He gave the guy $20 for being reasonable. (humph)

but the bike is home now. The guy put a freewheel on it. Raleighdonson has no use for a freewheel (I dont know, i'm just telling the story)

Just so you guys know, keep looking for that bike.

Congratulations!

Mimi- fab story... I take it bike ok? in tact? This guy who "found" it had replaced cable as well as the new wheel?

Great it "found" its way home again... wouldn't it be great if this type of story was the rule, not the exception?

And does Raleighdonson now have two bikes instead of one?

Road Raven

Raleighdonson has two bikes now, yes. And since he's the slug of the family, he's not riding either.
I am not sure what you are talking about. It's a fixie and now it has a freewheel. It used to NOT have a freewheel, which I believe means that when your pedal moves in either direction, the wheels move too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

Road Raven

Raleighdonson has two bikes now, yes. And since he's the slug of the family, he's not riding either.
I am not sure what you are talking about. It's a fixie and now it has a freewheel. It used to NOT have a freewheel, which I believe means that when your pedal moves in either direction, the wheels move too.

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There's a new fad going around in young daredevil bikers to do trick riding much like skateboarding. They ride backwords too. Somebody wanted to use your bike for these riding gymnastics, or just to be "cool".

If it were me I would have brought the police to talk to the young man about where he got the bike. Could be he already was on record for bike swiping. People need to learn there are consequences for taking bikes- whether they assume the bike is "abandoned" or whether they maliciously steal it.

Glad you got the bike back though- a good ending! Maybe you should just sell it as a freewheeler now- you'll get more than $20 for it I'm sure.

I agree with you Lisa, I would have called the police or at least the campus police! and i certainly would not have given him 20 bucks for giving back something he "FOUND"

drift: Doesn't it turn the wheels backwards when you pedal if it is a "fixed gear" bike? Doesn't a freewheel mean the wheels don't turn when you pedal backwards?

So they put a freewheel on it, and now it's like all our bikes, not like a fixie.

Karen

yes, Karen, I think that's right

Awesome! Reminds me of when Dh's truck was stolen. I actually saw it being stolen from our apartment, told Dh, who ran outside in shorts and tank top, no shoes. Saw it idling in the street while one of the two guys was getting into his own car. Dh opened the driver door, grabbed the guy by his shirt and yanked with all his might ... to no avail. The guy hit the gas and drug Dh down the road. When he turned right, Dh went tumbling onto the street. After a trip to the ER with MAJOR road rash, he was thankfully okay.

The very next day, I spotted it parked not too far from our apartment. They had apparently dumped it after the episode with Dh. Good thing, too, because our livelyhood was in that truck. His tools and supplies for some work he was about to do, which we needed desparately. We never thought we'd see that truck or everything that was in it again.

Congrats on getting the bike back! I wonder if we'll come across my 9 year old's bike that was stolen recently. Hmmm!!! :)

Oh, so it USED to be a fixed gear, and now it's a freehub.
See here for the difference between freewheel and freehub:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech/fix/?id=cogs
Most bikes don't have actual "freewheels" anymore.

So now it can't go backwards when you pedal backwards anymore. So someone just wanted to put a regular wheel on the back, or make their other bike into a fixie using your wheel.

And Lisa, fyi, Raleighdonson has a fixie (he says) because he's too lazy to shift
gears. And (sigh) I believe him.

Very cool about your son getting his bike back afterall. He is too kind though, I would have brought the campus police with me so the guy could again explain how he got the bike.

Raleighdon offered to go with him too. :rolleyes: Raleighdonson said no thank you.

I would be very suprised if the person who had it was not the thief.... otherwise why would they have given up the freewheel and I am assuming the brake(s) they put on it so easily? Though they may have sold the fixed hub and wheel for more than it cost them to buy the freewheel I suppose. (btw - unless they put shifters on it too, they just converted it from a fixie or fixed gear, to a single speed, which only has one gear, but is able to freewheel, for those who like the cool-factor of a single speed, but aren't so sure about the not being able to stop pedaling part if its a fixie- some people use what's called a flip flop hub that is fixed on one side and freewheel on the other - take off the wheel, turn it around and you've changed the bike - but you really should have two brakes on a single speed!)

I thought you meant that the bike had lost the cable and the wheel, and so now there was a new wheel on the stolen bike, and I was guessing that along with the stolen bike there was also the pleasure of the replacement bike which will have been purchased before the stolen bike became unstolen, sorry for any confusion I caused... *Rave takes a deep breath and flaps off in a flap*
:p

This is amazing! I wish this had happened with the Blaupunkt stereo stolen from my car in 1985!