This is a monthly feature to remind you that when you buy a used bike from the Community Cycling Center’s retail shop (1700 NE Alberta) you are not just getting a cool bike, you’re also helping fund their amazing education programs for low-income youth and adults.
[Note: The following was written by Breesa Culver of the CCC.]
Good karma bike for sale…
(Photo: CCC)
This sweet-looking 58cm Vitus roadie, for sale now at $685.00 was stolen from the Community Cycling Center in the summer of 2005, but came back to us this month with some great fresh vibes. We can see why someone would want to steal it – with its blue anodized bonded aluminum frame, carbon fork, and unusual 16-speed Sachs New Success rear derailleur (made by Campagnolo for Shimano cassettes), and a Durace front derailleur.
Beyond being happy about its return, we are marveling at this bike’s twisted path over the past three years on its way back to us.
The bike was originally for sale at the Community Cycling Center three summers ago. Then one day it was stolen. It was a daytime walkout theft, the kind that always leaves us feeling queasy and disappointed.
A few months later we got an anonymous tip that the bike was at a local pawn shop, H & B Too Pawn Shop on NE MLK. Mychal, our retail shop manager, went over to talk with the shop owner, who was sympathetic to our plight, but not sympathetic enough to give us back the bike.
But the pawn shop owner liked our mission so he began to volunteer with us. He came to drop-in nights over a number of months, getting to know the work we do. Meanwhile, the bike was still sitting at his shop. Eventually, he decided to “make it right” and donated the bike back to us.
Our buyer/mechanic (and drummer for local band Alan Singley & Pants Machine), Benjamin Jaspers, tended to the bike, installing new hoods and a carbon fork. The finishing touch is the fancy silver bar tape. It’s a sweet ride at a reasonable price, and we’re throwing the “Homeward Bound” story in for free!