First, sorry about the delay. I was hesitant at first because I know I’m going to screw up names and details, then the weekend got away from me, then it was back to doubt.
But, I’ll do the best I can and invite anyone with better knowledge to correct me where I am wrong, and supplement where it would be good.
As I understand it, the people involved were Gene(1o1), Hurl(CRC), Mike (1o1), Will and I think one more person that I’m missing.
The guy came into the store around mid-day looking to sell the bike to Mike. Mike (and I think Gene was nearby as well) immediately saw that something was up.
The guy was obviously drunk and had flipped the wheel around to the free wheel. On a brakeless fixed gear .* To his credit, he had pretty good chain tension and tightened down the axel bolts pretty well.
But as Mike put it, he must have been riding around town like Fred Flintstone. In the snow. You know, that one day last month where we had it.
Also the guy had said something about trying to sell it at Hy’s Pawn, but they wouldn’t do it because he was too drunk.
Mike and Gene, certain the bike was stolen, went to check with Hurl to see if he or any of the other guys in the shop knew anything about a stolen black scrambler.
“A what?”
“Scrambler. Eighthinch.”
“Oh yeah.”
Hurl said yes, the guys checked Stolenbikempls and holy shit that’s the bike.
Now, that whole thing probably took less than half a minute, but when Mike went back to grab the bike from the guy- he was gone.
Immediately, 3 of the guys took off - another part where I’m shaky. I know Will went, another messenger, and either Gene, Hurl and/or another 1o1 guy.
They cased the neighborhood and were able to follow some tracks, but ended up with dead ends.
Then Will came up on the guy at a light rail station. And got the bike back. I’m not sure exactly how it went down. But he walked into an unpredictable (possibly volatile) situation – drunk bike thief – and came out with the bike and himself intact.
A little bit later on, after Will had taken the bike, another one of the guys came up on the thief.
He talked to him to see what happened to the bike, because they didn’t know it had been recovered yet.
They guys said something to the effect of “Yeah, somebody rode by and stole my stolen bike…”
Thank you to everyone involved and the whole community. We really do have a wonderful thing here. See you guys around.
-Kayden
Here’s a map of the locations involved – I’m not sure if that is the exact light rail station where it went down or the exact path.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5280839*Yes, I know riding a fixed gear [front]brakeless isn’t a wise choice. But it’s a little less dumb than riding a freewheel brakeless.
